Equilateral Triangle Pumpkins

Last week we learned about different types of triangles based on their sides: equilateral=all sides are equal, isosceles=at least two equal sides, and scalene=no sides are equal. Then we practiced identifying, tracing, and classifying the types of triangles on our geometry templates. Later, we created these equilateral triangle pumpkins in the math task options station during math workshop, which basically consisted of drawing a jack-o-lantern with at least 3 equilateral triangles--on the eyes and nose. Many of us, however, found ways to incorporate lots more equilateral triangles, though.

 See if you can find them all!

Sign created by Makaiah and Torre

The One and Only Ivan: Our 1st Reflections

We are currently reading The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, a book that is currently being read by countless other classes worldwide as part of The Global Read Aloud Project. While we began reading the book quite awhile ago, our progress has been a bit slow due to our busy schedule the past few weeks.

This week, however, we have had a chance to read more, so today we made it to page 52.

Afterward, we took some time to reflect on what we had read so far, by choosing from a list of several fictional prompts.

These are a few of the response choices:

♦ Ask questions about things that you're wondering or things that seem confusing to you.

♦ Tell about what happened in the story.

♦ Describe your feelings about the characters or events.

♦ Describe your favorite part.

♦ Make a prediction about what will happen next.

♦ Tell how you would react if you were one of the

characters in the story.

♦ Describe a part that surprised you.

♦ Write a letter to the author or a character.

Some of us chose to respond to one of the prompts in-depth while others decided to respond to several. When we were though, many of us chose to draw a picture to go along with our reflections.

  Here are a few of our responses to The One and Only Ivan so far:

When we were through reflecting, some of us chose to share our writing with the whole class--and with our blog readers, so feel free to check out the videos below:

3 States of Matter

Today we learned about the three states of matter (solid,liquid,and gas), and to help us learn how they are different, we morphed into particles to "become" a class solid, a class liquid, or a class gas.

A solid's particles are packed in tightly together, which helps it keep its shape. 

Notice how we, the particles that make up
our class solid, are packed in closely together. 

A liquid's particles are packed loosely, which allows the liquid to move freely and take the shape of its container. Sometimes particles of a liquid bump into each other, too. 

As part of the class liquid, each particle had to move around near one another--which meant, occasionally, the particles softly bumped into each other.

The particles of a gas move about freely and quickly, rarely bumping into each other since they are so far apart. 

Notice in both pictures, above and below, the particles of gas are spread out much further than when they were solid or liquid particles.

When we were through morphing from solid particles, then to liquid particles, and finally to gas particles, we gathered with our teams and together worked as a team to "become" a solid, liquid, or a gas together.

Thankfully, the weather cooperated with us, and it was a perfect day for this learning activity!