Our class has reached an incredible point in their short careers as mathematicians; they have begun seeing math everywhere they go! Some students saw perpendicular lines when they crossed a busy intersection (and connected the geometric term intersection with the street-related noun of the same name). Others noticed that a pen is really a cylinder and our lockers are really rectangular prisms. One student saw a circular, mandala-like design in the blades of a ceiling fan. In class, we call these math moments and sharing them has become a daily occurrence during the first 5 minutes of our math classes. I am so proud of each student who finds a math moment in a regular everyday event. Please encourage your children to continue finding patterns and mathematical algorithms in their daily routines. This will strengthen their understanding and knowledge of math, as well as form stronger, positive ties to what we learn everyday.
To begin our study of geometry, we visited the playground to find geometric concepts. Then we took pictures of the playground and annotated the geometric concepts using Skitch. We searched for the following: 1. Lines Line segments Parallel lines Perpendicular lines Intersecting lines 2. Angles Right angles Acute angles Obtuse angles 3. Polygons (any closed shape) - Students had to identify four polygons Regular (all the sides are the same size) Irregular (the sides are different lengths) This project was harder than you think, but with a little creative thinking, we were all successful! |