Kites: The weather promised to be breezy on Friday, and we were hopeful. The morning was breezy, the late afternoon was breezy, but the wind disappeared in the early afternoon when we went to the lower field to give our kites a chance to fly. It also emerged that the straws we used were more easily bent than the ones we’ve used in the past. So, sadly, our kites were sent home to end their days as colorful sculptures . . . Still, a lot of good learning went into the construction of them, and it was another chance to work in blended groups with our friends in Diane’s group.
Bread: In science class on Wednesday afternoon, our group made bread with Kate. Then they brought it to our room so it could rise (overnight in the refrigerator) and get baked the next day. Her original plan had been to do it at least once more, adding some ingredients and having students observe the difference between the two doughs. However, Kate is extremely sensitive to gluten, and the close contact with flour turned out to be a problem for her. If I can find the time in the remaining days of school, we’ll do something similar to her plan in the classroom, but we have a lot of other things still to do. Still, this is a good cooking skill to have, so we’ll try to do it.
Some rose better than others, but they all tasted good!
Pictures and Games on the Cartesian Plane:
While Diane and Jeri’s group were away on Wednesday and Thursday on their year-end trip, we launched Geometer’s Sketchpad to do some math with the full Cartesian grid. At first, many students were confused by the 2-number coordinate address of specific points, but gradually it made sense. We had found some instructions for interesting pictures on an internet site. Students were soon plotting points and connecting dots, occasionally checking with each other to see if their results were similar.
On the second day, we played a partner game that involved placing virtual pieces on the screen to get 5 in a straight line before one’s opponent did the same. By the end of the second day, everyone seemed to be quite secure in their understanding of coordinate locations in all 4 quadrants. And it was a lot of fun!