Fun with Fractions

I came across these fraction magnets from Lakeshore a few months back and included them on my most recent Donorschoose wish list. Time has passed, and sadly, there have not been any donations towards my proposal of math materials requested for my classroom. I completely understand, with the current economy, why people may not have extra money to donate, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. 

We started a unit on fractions this week so I knew that it was time to get crafty again. This simple fractions puzzle set only costs $12.99, but I was able to create them myself for less. I really love these realistic looking food items and thought dividing food was a great way to teach fractions that would be meaningful to young students. When sharing food, being fair ** having equal parts** is essential!

I went to google images and searched each kind of food that is pictured in the image I saw on the Lakeshore website.  I have a color printer at home, so I did have to use my own colored ink (no biggie) and I printed two copies of each food item. I then cut one picture into equal parts (halves, thirds, or quarters). I have a student whose mother feels so sad that we no longer have a laminator at my school and she, very kindly, offered to laminate items for me because she has a laminator at home and gets a great deal on the paper. I sent the photos home in my student's homework folder and received nice, crisp laminated photos the following Monday! I simply added a small piece of sticky magnet to the back and voila! I did not write the fractions on my pictures because I wanted my students to be able to tell me the fraction by looking at the image and thinking about it, not just reading from the image.

 I think I made a pretty good replica and saved myself at least 10 dollars. 

I then spent that 10 dollars I saved on the ingredients to make these delicious cake balls from Bakerella's AMAZING website, but my staff was very appreciative, so it was worth it. 

Some photos of my food fractions...

D to the R

I am very excited/proud/happy to announce that I was accepted into the Doctoral Program at PSU!

 Despite my last minute application, I was chosen to be one of about 15 members of the Fall 2009 cohort. My specialty will be in Curriculum & Instruction and my research for my dissertation will probably focus on multicultural and culturally/linguistically appropriate education. 

I am in for at least 3 more years of school, but I am really determined to get it done. The woman who interviewed me told me that only about 50% of people who start doctoral programs actually see them through to completion. I do not plan to be part of that 50% who drops out.

During any frustrating, difficult, and insane times I can always remind myself of the wedding invites..... 

Dr. and Mr. Toppel request the honour of your presence

 at the wedding of 

(insert name of yet to be conceived child)

It will be a long road ahead filled with 124+ credits, comprehensive exams, and the longest paper I will ever write, but I am really pumped for the journey.

P.S. Now I am bound by my conscience to run a marathon, sew a quilt, and write a children's book as I pledged in my application essay that I would do (thankfully, I did not give myself a deadline on that!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Big smiles before school...excited for St. Patrick's Day....

A little dazed and confused after three hours in a school lock down due to a situation nearby involving the police, a SWAT team, and a man refusing to come out of his house...

Money Saver

One of the math skills in first grade is understanding place value and being able to identify the quantities of hundreds, tens, and ones in given numbers. I saw these jumbo place value magnets on the Lakeshore Learning webpage and really wanted to have them so that I could help my students to better visualize place value. The price of the set is $39.95. I called the store to see if the items were in stock and unfortunately they were not. I was hoping that I could use my teacher discount or a special promotional coupon, but no such luck. They are able to special order catalog/internet items and without an additional shipping cost, however coupons still do not apply.

I decided to get crafty. 

I am a big fan of magnetic strips that have magnet on one side and allow you to peel away paper on the other side and stick it to something. I make a lot of magnetic "manipulatives" and visuals because I find them versatile and easy to use on the whiteboard which is a magnetic 

surface.

I purchased some large sheets of craft foam from Michael's Arts and Crafts store. Each sheet was $ .99 and I needed three different sheets for the project (blue,  yellow, and green). I also purchased a roll of magnetic tape from Joann Fabrics for about 5 or 6 dollars. 

I cut 3 5"X5" squares in green and drew  1/2"X 1/2" gridlines.

 I cut 1 5" X 5" square in blue, drew horizontal lines every 1/2" and then cut 10 long rectangles every 1/2 inch (rectangles measure 1/2" X 5"). 

Finally, I did the same with yellow and

 cut the rectangles even smaller into 1/2" X 1/2" squares. 

I put magnets on the back of all of the pieces and now have virtually the same math product for a fraction of the price. Considering the small amount of magnet I used and the low price of the foam, this project cost less than $5.00 altogether. I will use the rest of the magnet tape for other projects so I am only including the approximate cost of the portion I used for this project

 when figuring the total cost. 

With all the budget cuts and freezing of funds that we are experiencing, it is nice to know that there are less expensive alternatives to all the great educational products out there. Making these place value magnets myself definitely saved money and it was not very time consuming at all. I even made an extra set to send home with a student who wanted some extra practice.

Open Ended Problem Solving

UPDATED

Problem solving encompasses an important set of skills for young learners. For students, being able to find a solution to a problem and explain how they came up with their answer utilizes higher order thinking skills especially when the problems posed have many possible solutions. These types of problems require children to be creative with their answers and provide them with opportunities to think outside of the box. 

I recently started a session during math which I call "whiteboard review." During this time, we focus on whatever num

ber is that day's date. For 

today, our focus number was 26. We use this number to do a variety of math operations and then culminate with an open ended problem to solve. Each day we do the following:

• write addition or subtraction equations that equal the date
• write the date in tally marks
• tell whether the date is an odd or even number
• draw the date in tens and ones (we use rectangles for groups of ten and circles for ones)
• ***"purchase" candy using the number of cents that matches the day

*** The last activity is the newest that I have introduced and the kids really like it. I purchased three types of candy at the store; a Hershey bar, a pack of gum, and a Tootsie roll.  I put magnet strips on the back so that they can stick to the whiteboard. Under each type of candy I listed a price. 

Tootsie rolls: 1 cent

Gum: 5 cents

Hershey bar: 10 cents

**3/17/09 Candy types have changed since I last posted, but I wanted to update with a photo**

I wrote the problem on the board and change the amount of money each day to match the date:

I tell my students they should spend the exact amount of money that they have. The problem gets harder as we get closer to the end of the month. When we began, the solution was simple. On the first few days of the month, there was only one way to solve the problem each day. As we reached numbers like 10, there started to be more possible answers and it is interesting to see how the kids think it out and how they come up with all the possible solutions. It was actually a nice progression so the kids could get used to what I was asking before the solutions got complicated. 

Take, for example, the 10th of the month. Possible solutions include:

10 Tootsie rolls

2 packs of gum

1 Hershey bar

5 Tootsie rolls and 1 pack of gum

The students draw representations, shapes, letters, and words on their whiteboards and they came up with the coding of H for Hershey bar, G for Gum, and T for Tootsie rolls. I write all their ideas on the board in the code: 

10 T

2 G

 1 H

 5 T & 1G

My favorite part is that no two whiteboards look the same. It is not like asking for the solution to 2 + 2, it allows for more creativity and individual differences.

I also have large cardboard coins that I purchased at the Learning Palace that I use with the problem as well. I laminated the coins and put magnet strips on the backs, so that they too, can stick to the whiteboard. When I tell the students how much money they have to spend, I ask them to show me different combinations of coins that would add up to that number of cents. This is a great way for students to practice recognizing coins and adding mixed coins (both first grade math skills).

I started this activity at the beginning of February, but I do not want it to get old and boring, so I added a little motivation by telling my class that I will purchase different items for the month of March and that I will give away the candy on the last day of school in February to students who consistently demonstrate responsibility and appropriate behavior at school. Next month, I might get different types of candy or possible change the amounts that each costs.

At Home with Math

In getting ready for conferences tomorrow I was trying to prepare some simple math games that I can teach to and send home with a few families so they can help their children with math skills at home. I came across this great site called At Home with Math. My favorite part about the site is that the information is presented in the exact same format in English and Spanish (yay!) which is terrific because one of my students who struggles in math has a mom whose primary language is Spanish and this saves me the work of translating the documents. They will contain the same images as the documents in English which is important when sending information home in more than one language. The documents, although written in different languages, should look the same and one should never be of a lesser quality than the other.

This site offers 10 activities (with extensions and alternative versions) that parents can do with their children at home. What is great is that the math activities incorporate typical household activities and materials such as cleaning up toys, junk mail, coupons, and sharing which makes them easy to incorporate into daily routines.

I always feel conflicted about giving families extra "work" to do at home, but often I find that parents enjoy these kinds of activities and are very interested in helping their kids and they appreciate suggestions. Often parents want to help but may not know how or what kinds of skills they should be helping with.

I am going to print out packets in both languages to have ready for a few of my kiddos tomorrow. I think when informing parents about what skills their child needs to work on, it is always helpful to provide examples of how to practice and to give parents materials to use so they can go home with a plan!