Pet Pen Problems

Today we embarked on perimeter as part of our measurement unit.  Students worked through several stages of problem solving as they considered a pen for a new pet.  First they were given the dimensions as footsteps and found they could not recreate the pen without a more standard form of measurement.  They then used reasoning to deduce the animal to be placed in the pen.  Finally, with a perimeter of 56 feet, students were asked to make an ordered list of all the possible whole number dimensions.  They used this list to discover the pattern than an increased length results in a decreased width.  Next week we will consider the best pen design by looking at the resulting area.

Another focus of our day was on growth mindset.  Students reflected on their own mindset and got to explore some online materials that ultimately gave them their mindset temperature which they were able to record.  A lot of students are really latching on and I can already see a change in attitude when it comes to embracing challenges.  We also enjoyed a quick freeze dance game taking further encouragement from Bruno Mars. :)

For our Jacob's Ladder reading today, students considered the story of Daedalus and Icarus and examined it based on sequence, cause and effect, and consequences and implications.  Next week we will go a little deeper into theme, inferences, and literary elements.

Finally we took back up with our medieval times project and continued with the rook in our Chess sketchbooks.  Students also practiced setting up and beginning a game with opening moves.

Medieval Times Kick-off

Today was a blast!  We began with hink pinks for our morning Jumpstart.  I am hearing a lot of "this is hard" which I love!  We continue to work on building that growth mindset and changing our tone to one of enthusiasm at the challenge!  Next I introduced our new Medieval Times projects and we got in the spirit with some middle ages activities!  First students created their own helmets with aluminum foil, which took a day's share of problem solving.  There was definitely some creative design thinking at work!  Then we mounted our horses to compete in a jousting tournament.  We had some pretty impressive lance wielders!  Lastly, students created their own catapults and we worked in some math with measuring our launches!  Wrapping up the day, students did online investigations of castles, got to choose their knightly names, and began their Chess sketchbooks which will serve as the first phase of our project.  This week might be hard to top!

Our tournament champion!

Chess!

Today we looked at homophones as our Jumpstart activity.  We then finished up our math project, using estimation to create a yeti model based on the size of it's footprint.  Students were able to reflect on their strategies and process as well as make some comparisons between our body ratios and that of the yeti's.
Everyone was able to finish their strength assessments on Thrively, and then we broke out our new chess sets for their commencing games.  We have been focusing each week on a different player on the board and the moves of the game so today has been much anticipated!  We will continue to look at the history of the game and society from which it came as we learn new strategies and hone our skills!  We will work our chess knowledge into our year-long Medieval Times project we will kick off next week!