Monthly Archives: April 2016

Weighty Matters

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This year I won a grant from our district’s Partners In Education Foundation. (Yay!) With the money, I was able to purchase quite a few platform scales for every third grade team in our district. Today I got to visit a class using the scales, and I got to see the amazing Julie Hooper teach a lesson I developed with my partner Regina. It was so much fun!

The class started with a computation warm-up which made my math heart happy. It was so amazing to listen to Julie’s students solve the problem in so many different ways. They were so comfortable doing it, too. You can tell they have internalized the idea that they are able to solve problems in ways that make sense to them.

After the warm-up, the class dove into the day’s lesson. Julie started by asking the students to name things that are heavy and things that are light.

She asked some thought provoking questions after they had compiled their list.

  • Is 100 pounds heavy to you?
  • Do you think it’s heavy to a weight lifter?
  • Are big things always heavy?

I love how the conversation got the students thinking about their current conceptions of weight.

Next, the students had the opportunity to explore two different scales. Julie asked them to notice and wonder as they tried out the scales. I noticed that 3rd grade students *love* to put as many items as they can on the scale all at once. They couldn’t believe how much it took on the larger scale to make the dial move.

After having some time to explore, Julie asked the class to think about which scale they would use to measure different objects in the room. The reason for this is because one scale can measure weight up to 11 pounds while the other can only measure up to 2 pounds. She was curious to see if students had already started noticing that the bigger scale would measure heavier things while the smaller scale would max out unless the objects were lighter.

After all of this exploring, Julie brought the class together to focus on the scale and to make connections between the scale and the number line. The class talked about whole number connections first, but then she drilled down to fractions and mixed numbers.

Finally, Julie asked the students what unit of weight they thought the fractional parts might represent. Someone volunteered ounces. Then she asked a wonderful question: “How many ounces do you think are in a pound?” Many students thought there must be 8 ounces in a pound, which makes sense given the number of parts between 4 and 5, but then she transitioned to the other scale to see what students would notice.

She wants the students to figure out that there are 16 ounces in a pound, but unfortunately she ran out of time for the day. I did like that the final comment from a student was, “That scale goes up to 4 pounds.” Just wait until they continue their work tomorrow!

Thank you to Julie for letting me spend an hour learning with her students!

 

18 Amazing Things

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This school year, my partner Regina and I facilitated an 8-month long cohort of math educators called Math Rocks. You can read about our first two days together in July here and here. I also wrote this post if you want a peek into our learning during the school year.

As our time together drew to a close, I asked each participant to write a blog post reflecting on Math Rocks. Today I went back through their reflections to pull out snippets to share to encourage other teachers in our district to apply for next year’s cohort. You can read more snippets from their reflections here.

Deb

Can I just tell you how amazing it is to read this? In my first few years of teaching, the path of my career and my understanding of math were steered in entirely new directions when I took part in an extended PD experience. I can’t express to you how much it means to me to be in a position now where I’m able to learn with and from teachers on their own journeys through teaching and math. I couldn’t be happier.