Bansho Sharing

For our Patterning and Algebra unit, we tried doing several Bansho activities.

Bansho is a Japanese style of teaching Math, where each lesson has three parts. Each lesson starts with activation, where the class discusses some things that they know about what they'll be focusing on that day. Then, it's the Bansho, group work, part. Students work in small groups to collaboratively solve problems. They use any resources, strategies and tools they want. Finally, each lesson ends with consolidation, in which they share what they came up with and challenges they had.

Finally, we display our work and sort them into solutions and strategies that were similar, and we determine which ones were most effective and efficient.

Consolidating our learning from one day helps us determine what we need to focus on for the next day.

Math Blitz - How Far?

The whole Junior Division got together for our Math Blitz in the Gym and watched a ridiculous Math video made by your goofy teachers. You can re-watch it above.

We've been working to improve our problem solving skills and trying out a new way to organize our thinking. Above is the NWTT template (yes, another acronym!).

N = Notice

W = Wonder

T = Think

T = Therefore

Take some time to share this with your family! See if they can solve the "How Far?" problem. Did you solve it the same way as the rest of your family?

Getting Started with BANSHO

Based on the amazing Michael Wendler's BANSHO lessons, I decided to teach our Patterning and Algebra unit completely through BANSHO style, or three-part Math lessons.

Each task is organized in ABCD order (can you tell I love acronyms!). We start each lesson with an Activation, followed by our group-work Bansho question, and followed by Consolidation and then some individual Doing. Activation entails an introduction to the topic, and sometimes we look back to some of the strategies used for the last question. Bansho is the collaborative work to solve the open-ended problem. Consolidation happens once the groups are ready to share their strategies. We talk about which ones are similar and different and decide what strategies were most effective and efficient. The Doing usually requires students to work alone to practice their new skills. Sometimes, the Doing is taken home as homework.

Above is the slideshow we've been working with. There are some very challenging questions included, as well as some that feel like more of a review, especially now, since we've had a lot of practice.

Students have showed a remarkable range of skills through this unit. They are, of course, practicing their Math skills, but they are also building collaboration, communication, problem solving and perseverance and confidence. Watching them work together through challenging problems and then sharing them effectively is incredible!

Below are some shots from our first BANSHO lesson of the year:

Cool Math Links

Being a great Mathematician takes time and practice. Here are some awesome sites I've found to help you practice your skills online.

Study Jams is really cool! You can pick a strand of Math and practice it by singing Karaoke, watching a video, doing a Step By Step lesson or Testing Yourself.

Math Live has cartoon episodes starring Anna and Hank who give you a real world problem to solve, and then go back and practice the skills needed to solve that problem. Bonus: it's a Canadian site!

Math Libs is a fun site where you can fill in the blanks, like in Mad Libs, and generate silly word problems that you get to solve. Try it! The word problems are based on the grade 4 and 5 curriculum, but would still be good practice for our 6s.

6s, in case you were feeling left out, you can try M-G6 is a really neat site with lessons, activities and a glossary, based on the grade 6 curriculum.

Clara has been using Khan Academy at home and likes it even more than IXL! I've signed us up for a class account. If you want a membership, just send me your email address and I'll sign you up! You can answer Math questions, like in IXL, but there are little videos available to coach you if you get stuck. And, you can take hints if you forget how to do something!

You can also access the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives to solve problems in a digital hands-on way!

On Free Rice, you can practice your times tables and earn grains of rice to be donated internationally from the World Food Program at the same time!

Math - Practicing Operations

In Room 209, we've been talking about how learning, especially in the subject of Math, is like building a Jenga tower.

All the new things we learn are stacked on the top of our towers, but if we have a lot of holes in the bottom part our our towers, from those skills we don't know or haven't practiced enough, our new learning will fall right off, rather than it sinking in.

In order to help everyone have a solid tower, we've been practicing a lot in class. We have been focusing on our operational sense and making sure everyone has strong skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Some holes that are in many of Room 209's towers are multiplication tables and a clear understanding of place value. A recommendation for all students is to practice these skills daily. A great way to do that is in conversation with your parents, or "Math Boot Camp", as one family calls it, or by practicing your skills on IXL. Log in and practice place value and the basic operations. Don't forget to have some scrap paper near you as you work so you can work out more complicated questions on that!

IXL Month-Long Trial

I signed our class up for a free one-month IXL trial. IXL is a Math practice and game website and we had our first chance to try it out today.

Each student got two copies of his or her username and password - one to leave at school and one to take home.

I'll be interested to see what everyone thinks and I hope that this is something helpful to practice with either at home or during Pickle time. I think that it can really help us fill up some of our holes in our Math "Jenga Towers". Please feel free to leave your comments about your time on IXL here.

One of the cool things with IXL is that, like Typing Web, I can check out how everyone is doing and see how much time students are spending practicing their skills.

Two great tips from your classmates today:
-when you're practicing addition and subtraction, there is no space on the website to carry or borrow. I am not great at mental math, so I would keep some scrap paper nearby to help me work out questions and problems
-make sure to read your instructions very carefully. The difference between digits and values, for example, are very important

Math: Working with Coordinates

 One of my very favourite things about having all the great tech in our class is seeing how well all the Digital Degus learn in different ways on different days and differentiate their learning about any topic. When Kit was reviewing how to read a map with coordinates, students tried a whole bunch of different activities. Some read a giant map of Gatineau Park in a sort of "Treasure Hunt".

 Some students played an Ancient Civilizations low-tech version of Battleship.

 Thomas and Haydon played an app called "Coordinates" that lets you go on a Treasure Hunt, design your own maps and find hidden shapes.

Bansho! The Potato Problem

Human Fractions with Kit

Can you guess which fractions each set of students is representing?

Candy Bean Bunny Fractions

 To get ready for Easter, our class and our Fielding Friends worked on a Bunny Math activity to practice fractions on the same day!

Monkey Math

What does this monkey have to do with math?

We watched this video yesterday at our workshop. Can you infer why? Can you figure out a connection between this monkey and learning math?

Fiona's Sifteo Game - by Fiona

For my Math Presentation on Area and Perimeter, I decided to create a game on Sifteo. There are two choices on what you could create, you can do multiple choice or sorting. I did both of them. Creating your Sifteo game is pretty easy once you know how to do it. There's a choice on the multiple choice game for one player or two player. For one player, you press the answer that you think is right. For two player, you have to move this little tick, and once you think you have the right answer, you press it.

I think that doing a Sifteo Cube for your presentation is a good way to show what you know!

-by Fiona

Magic Math! Tic-Tac-Toe: The Sevens

Allison introduced me to "Mr. Numbers" on YouTube and this great trick for learning  your seven times tables. I know I always get tripped up on my sevens, and I found this very helpful. See if it helps you, too!

Mathady Presentation

The amazing Digital Degus create innovative, exciting reflections in Math. You should have seen Laryssa's last two presentations! She shared her version of Jeopardy, "Mathady" with us to demonstrate her learning about Area and Perimeter. 

Three contestants, Liam, Kaleigh and Vickie, got to participate as Hunter kept score and Laryssa hosted. Thomas even brought Anna up to watch on Skype!

There were a variety of questions in a variety of topics, each more challenging than the last. Many of the students were eager to participate and Laryssa did a phenomenal job sharing her creative ideas with her classmates!

For her next Reflective Math presentation, Laryssa created another game, her version of Hangman, "Hangmath", asking the audience to answer questions about the addition and subtraction of decimals.

Many of her classmates were eager, enthusiastic and inspired by Laryssa's amazing creation of these games and subsequent hosting!