a year of math & science

wondering about mushrooms

When we were out searching for leaves to inspire some ATCs, some of the students came across mushrooms growing amongst the leaves. 

When we were going through the photos together, I asked them what they wondered about mushrooms. I wondered if they thought they were plants? The students recorded their questions in their science notebooks. Their questions included:

Why do mushrooms grow in the shade?

How do you tell if a mushroom is poisonous?

I wonder when mushrooms grow?

Why do mushrooms look like mini umbrellas?

What are the lines called on the mushroom?

Why do mushrooms grow together?

How many colours do mushrooms come in?

I wonder why most mushrooms are beige?

Yesterday, we took a break in the middle of the afternoon to go on a mushroom hunt. I was hoping to find a cluster of mushrooms for the students to observe. I was also hoping they would be located amongst fallen leaves to raise some more questions for the students about where they grow and what they need to live. I couldn't believe how many different types of mushrooms we found in our school's "backyard". I wonder how many times the students have run by these trees and never noticed these amazing little guys growing there?

The following is a little slideshow showing all the different types of mushrooms we found:

   

We had taken our notebooks out with us. I am so impressed with the way the students are using their notebooks in their own ways...I love the openness of them.  All I told the students to do was to record the title "Mushroom Hunt" and the date (which of course many didn't do!) and then it was up to them to record their observations. Some students used drawings only and many added detailed descriptions, labels or questions.

 

On our walk back to the school, the students asked if we could make mushroom ATCs, so we did. Of course, this wasn't planned so I had nothing ready. As we walked, I thought about the colours and textures of the mushrooms we saw and thought chalk pastels would work well. So as the students added some colour to their science notebook entries, I quickly cut up some black ATCs, found some chalk pastels and the students gave them a go! They really liked blending them with their fingers.

   

After we were all cleaned up at the end of the day, I showed them some photos of the mushrooms I had found in my neighbourhood. Some students had seen these before and couldn't believe how big they were. Lots of "wows" all around!

math games

I have been working on teaching the students some math games as a whole class. After they have a repertoire of games they know built up, they will be able to choose these to work on as part of a stations approach. So far, we have played the Sum What Dice Game, Circles and Stars, Place the Digits and Addition TicTacToe.

The Sum What Dice Game is an all time favourite and comes from the book Family Math by Jean Kerr Stenmark. Other versions of it are around. I like that everyone can play the "core" game and then as a teacher, you can ramp it up for different students by adding operations and numbers or kinds of dice used. For the core game, students create a gameboard with the numbers 1-9 on it and then roll two dice and find the sum. They then cover or cross off that sum or two other addends that make that sum. Today we moved up to three addends...so exciting! ;) For example, if a student rolls an 8, she could cover the 8, the 7 and 1, the 6 and 2, the 5 and 3, or the 4 and 3 and 1, or the 5 and 2 and 1, etc. After taking turns rolling and covering numbers, students are "out" when they have nothing left to cover and they total the sum of the numbers remaining. The player with the lowest final sum "wins". This game promotes flexibility and fluency with number as well as develops concepts of probability.

Circles and Stars is the classic introduction to multiplication game from Marilyn Burns. Students take turns rolling a die (once for the number of circles and then again for the number of stars). Students draw the picture and record the corresponding equation.

Place the Digits is also a classic Marilyn Burns game and a go-to game for me whether developing place value understanding in primary students or decimal sense in intermediate students. One of the greatest benefits of this game is the oral reading of the numbers. I've had 0-9 spinners for years and like changing things up by using cards, dice or spinners for this game. 

Addition TicTacToe comes from Jane Felling and Box Cars and One-Eyed Jacks. Jane and I have known each other for years and co-hosted an annual card and dice games math workshop for students teachers out at UBC for several years. I love fancy dice and find the students are very motivated to use them. For this game, we use double ten-sided dice (one little die inside another).

The students are doing SO much math while they are playing these games!

fall leaf ATCs

Because of the enthusiasm caused by the apple ATCs, yesterday we went out on a walk to look for fall leaves to create ATCs with. We had a lovely sunny afternoon to head out and explore a different area near the school. 

Each student collected a leaf and brought it back. I asked them to draw them on their ATCs like a scientist would, noticing all the little details and the form of the leaf. We used pencil crayon blending to try and get to an authentic leaf colour. 

 
The students are so proud of their little creations. Even though I had not originally planned on doing ATCs with the class this year, it has been a perfect little way to connect to our school goal of representing learning through the arts. I think we'll be trying some math ATCs soon!