My Thoughts on Math

This will be a new weekly post that students will repond to in class. I will give them a prompt to reply to regarding something in math they should reflect on.  I told students that I would pick only ONE out of both my math classes.....but it was too hard. I had so many great thinkers! So, I picked one from each class.

The prompt: You know several ways to multiply multi-digit multiplication problems.  Which method is your favorite? Why?

Erin C.
I like to break apart because you only have to do half of the problem at a time and then add it together.  So you for example could be doing 24x37.  You could break apart 24 into 20 and 4.  And you can break apart 37 into 30 and 7.  Now you do 20x30 (600) and 20x7 (140).  Then 4x30 (120) and 4x7 (28).  Add the partial products together and you get the total product.  24x37=888

Michael N.
My favorite method is the standard algorithm.  The reason why I like it is because it makes me work faster.  Like 94x4, you just multiply 4x2=8 and 4x9=36 and it will be 368.  But expanded algorithm takes longer like 13x2.  First you multiply 3x2=6 and 10x2=20.  Then you add 20+6=26.  It makes you have less time to do your work.

I look forward to sharing the students' thoughts on math with you each week!

Two of a Kind

Students have been working on multiplying 2-digit by 2-digit numbers.  They have used many of the strategies we have practiced to help them find the products.  One key strategy we practiced is breaking the number apart into smaller numbers. 

The Problem: A theater has 14 rows of seats with 23 seats in each row.  How many total seats are in the theater?

We used an array first to show our problem and then we broke the array into smaller arrays to find partial products.  The students did really well! Below are two examples of this practice.

All Wrapped Up!

I had a few requests to post a picture of our class pumpkin for the Fall Festival......here he is!

Halloween Science

This week students investigated this fall themed question:  Does the size of a pumpkin affect the amount of seeds inside? This was a great opportunity to go through a full Science Investigation with the students.

We read a story about a family looking for the perfect pumpkin for Halloween.  This family loved to roast pumpkin seeds after carving their Jack-O-Lantern.  They wondered how they could select a pumpkin that would give them lots of seeds to roast! Each family member had a different idea as to what might affect the amount of seeds inside.  We chose our research question based on one of these ideas.

We discovered that the size of the pumpkin had no affect on the amount of seeds inside.  There was no significant difference in the amount of seeds in the small, medium and large pumpkins.  Here are a few pictures from the investigation.

Candy Corn Math

Oh how the tiny white, orange, and yellow sugary treat makes us think of fall! Students helped me figure out how many pieces of candy corn I bought last weekend when I scooped up 5 bags of it on sale. They first had to figure out how many pieces were in each bag. We looked at the Serving size and servings per bag to help us. There were 24 pieces in a serving and 5 servings per bag.  Students decided to multiply 24x5, giving us a total of 120 pieces per bag. Then they knew to multiply 120 pieces in each bag by 5 (the number of bags I bought).  Students showed their work on what else.......a piece of candy corn!

Breaking Apart to Multiply

Students have been using the Break Apart strategy they learned with basic facts to help them multiply greater numbers.  We used place value blocks to show an array for 4x23. 

Then we broke the 23 apart into 20 and 3. We thought of 4x23 as (4x20) + (4x3). 

Then we must add each partial product 80+12, giving us 92 as our product of 4x23. Students have been using this strategy to help solve multi-digit multiplication products into the thousands!

Bye Bye Books!

Bye Bye Books is the title of the problem students needed to solve cooperatively in class Thursday.  Teams worked to apply reasoning and problem solving strategies to help Charlie give away 36 books to his friends. Teams were also given a Problem Solving Rubric which is the same rubric you see each month for a homework assignment.

This specific question gives students practice in finding all the factors of a given number.  A factor is an exact divisor or a number that divides.  Each divisor produces a quotient (the answer to a division problem) that is also a factor of the dividend (the number that is divided). For example, 4 and 9 are a factor pair of 36.  The students also had practice using square numbers.  A square number is a product of a number multiplied by itself.

Many students enter my class resistant to these types of questions.  I stressed the importance of being able to answer problems like this.  It is a skill they will need in the real world.  Students also must become comfortable with higher level questioning because the Math FCAT 2.0 focuses on more complex questions.  Problem solving and reasoning are a major focus in our classroom.

Below is the problem students were given along with a few examples of how students solved it.