A Trip to the Moon

I forgot how much fun Mantle of the Expert is, and I admit that I haven't really done a lot recently. I could make excuses, I've been screen printing, doing batik with the class, painting the mural at home, (I am so enjoying this but wish I could just spend all day every day working on it, rather than a bit here and a bit there. I am too impatient!) and trying to get this darn movie underway! Today I had 3 recording devices either go flat or die on me (luckily Yvette managed to get the footage off it for me. Thank you, Yvette, you're awesome!) and then the sound wouldn't play on the green screen footage that I did manage to get. So I will just quietly tear my hair out...
Back to what I intended to talk about, Mantle. We took a trip to the moon to gather rock samples. I had begun with a picture of a space craft that I drew on the whiteboard, and like when the boat was drawn for us as teachers during PD, the children started to talk. In a circle they shared who they were saying goodbye to before leaving Earth to go to the moon (I did it the same as the boat trip, tap on the shoulder etc).
I think I will just put captions with the photos, so you can see how much fun we had today.

Saying goodbye for real!

The excitement before lift off

Preparing to board the spacecraft

Walking on the moon

These are the expressions at lift off

2 children, new to the school, fully into it!

Upon return, the moon rock sample in Violet's hand is described in great detail!

So tomorrow we will receive a letter from Rose Teacup (anagram!) from the Museum of Fabrication, Invention & Pretence, asking if our company would be interested in travelling to other planets to collect samples for an exhibition. I will keep you posted, Mantle really is easier to write about than maths!

Between Zero & One

After a really great discussion with Dianne, I am back on track with everything. She gave me some examples of problems to use with the class, and although they solved the first two really quickly, it did become more challenging, and the children were able to really consolidate the new problem solving strategies as tasks became harder. The problems I had devised for them were taking too long to solve, and were more suitable for a higher level. But that's me... push them to the limit. Haha just kidding!
We also tried out the dotty dice game that was shown to us at staff meeting. The class really enjoyed it, and there was a lot of discussion surrounding improper fractions during the game. Then we adapted it. We tried out a number line with only zero to one, and the smaller number had to be the numerator, so no improper fractions. This worked really well too, and afterwards we talked about what worked well and what could be changed. The feedback I received was interesting. This is what they said...

• it is fun 
• we can compare the fractions
• we are putting them in order
• we can change improper fractions
• it is easy to play

Then a suggestion to try 3 dice, one as a whole number, the other two as a fraction, was given. They played this for what felt like ages. Funny thing is that when we talked about it, they said it wasn't challenging and that it was too easy to win!
So I was surprised when I asked them the following day what comes between zero and one, and I had responses like, "nothing" "9" and "ten numbers." We will get there!

4 in the group, I have 2 more in my class now, but I won't be changing my problem solving groups around. Dianne said it was OK to stay as they are. It works!

Too hard? They did get there eventually.

Ruby explains her strategy, but when you take out 1/32 and 1/32 from 32 jellybeans, the remaining fractions are not out of 30, it is still 1/4 of the total amount that is blue, and so on. This confusion made me realise how difficult my questions were for them!

And the best way to problem solve is to hang over the fitness ball!