Sunday, June 5, 2011

Epic

During math the other day, I made a few puzzle-like items available to the students and invited them to explore a bit. Pentominoes, Tangrams, and Pattern Blocks are super fun and offer some really interesting and profound mathematics for kids to noodle on in interesting ways. I also had a box of dominoes, and thought that the kids might make some interesting connections around decomposing numbers (for example, a 7 domino may be represented as a 5 side and 2 side, or a 3 side and a 4 side, or a 1 side and a 6 side) which would be really super helpful for when I want them to do arithmetic without counting on their toes.  haha Not even kidding.


It took the dominoes group less than 15 seconds to begin a domino relay. You know what I'm talking about, right?

Do I really need to tell you how addicting these are?

The squirrels have become obsessed with making designs with the dominoes.

 This group of girls called me over every few minutes to watch the 
progression of their simple face to this fantastic vixen.

I am amazed at the level of intense focus and overall cooperation required to make a relay that 1) works and 2) stays up until you are good and ready to knock it down. 
This one minute video is a pretty accurate representation at the fascination with 
which they approach this task.

3 comments:

  1. Ack! Video not available. :(

    My kids absolutely adored all math manipulatives this year. Whenever I'd say "It's time for Math Workshop" I'd get a chorus of "Yay!". They started with the domino thing right away when I gave them little plastic square tiles.

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  2. @ Seaschell: Oh my Gosh! Someone else who says "math workshop!" We have been attempting to create a "math workshop" at my school that mimics our success in Reader's and Writer's workshops. We use lots of Van de Walle, and it's coming along...It is refreshing to hear others use the terminology!

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