Tag Archives: math workshop

Math Warm-Ups March 4-8, 2013

I’m starting to feel like there’s not really such a thing as a “normal” week; every Friday I say something about how this past week hasn’t been.  So–this week was another “unnormal” week.  Here are our warm-ups:

Monday

Screen Shot 2013-03-08 at 8.10.09 PM

I was out Monday with a sick little girl, and somehow forgot to get a picture of that warm-up. This one is practice with both place value and decimals.

 

Tuesday

After reading the note from my Monday sub, I knew we needed to review what to do with the decimal point in this multiplication problem. Then, as in a stroke of genius, we made a connection to our fraction unit where we used fraction bars to help us visualize what the numbers were doing.

After reading the note from my Monday sub, I knew we needed to review what to do with the decimal point in this multiplication problem. Then, as in a stroke of genius, we made a connection to our fraction unit where we used fraction bars to help us visualize what the numbers were doing.

 

Wednesday

After we stumbled upon fraction bars again Tuesday, I gave them a problem where I had them use that strategy again (on purpose!). For many it was the visual they needed to help it click. But, for some others it just made them more confused! :( We had a great discussion about figuring out which strategy or model works for you and making sure you use that one well.

After we stumbled upon fraction bars again Tuesday, I gave them a problem where I had them use that strategy again (on purpose!). For many it was the visual they needed to help it click. But, for some others it just made them more confused! 😦 We had a great discussion about figuring out which strategy or model works for you and making sure you use that one well.

Close-up of the marking on the fraction bar: we took 1/4 out of each one of the 1/10, which made 6/24. Eventually we were able to simplify our answer all the way back to something that we could turn back into a decimal (1.5/10 or .150).

Close-up of the marking on the fraction bar: we took 1/4 out of each one of the 1/10, which made 6/24. Eventually we were able to simplify our answer all the way back to something that we could turn back into a decimal (1.5/10 or .150).

 

Thursday and Friday

Remember that "unnormal" part of this week? On Thursday we were only at school for about 20 minutes before we left to head to the middle school for the dress rehearsal of their Spring production of Guys and Dolls Jr. (which was FABULOUS, by the way!), so we didn't have math this day. We had the discussion over this warm-up today. Because many people got thrown off by both 1) the exponents in this problem and 2) the "backwards" nature of how I did expanded form, we did another example problem first (the number at the bottom). This problem is a great example of how the warm-up is often a response of something that happens in our math rotations: as we were reading the rubric for reading and writing decimals, we realized that we needed more practice with expanded form and so that group requested we do more with it in our morning work. Great idea, friends!

Remember that “unnormal” part of this week? On Thursday we were only at school for about 20 minutes before we left to head to the middle school for the dress rehearsal of their Spring production of Guys and Dolls Jr. (which was FABULOUS, by the way!), so we didn’t have math this day. We had the discussion over this warm-up today. Because many people got thrown off by both 1) the exponents in this problem and 2) the “backwards” nature of how I did expanded form, we did another example problem first (the number at the bottom). This problem is a great example of how the warm-up is often a response of something that happens in our math rotations–as we were studying the rubric for the standard of Reading and Writing Decimals, we realized that we needed more practice with expanded form.  So that group requested we do more with it in our morning work. Great idea, friends!

What are you thinking about our math warm-ups lately?  Do you have a suggestion for a decimal problem we could do?  Feel free to share it and we’ll try it, then leave you the answer!  We’re always ready to try something new!

 

Math Warm-Ups February 25-March 1, 2013

Last week was a little crazy, so we only had three warm-ups that stretched all throughout the week.

Monday

IMG267We came back to division (again) this week, as it’s a skill that many kiddos still have trouble with, even at this point in the year.  We have another unit of it in a couple more weeks, but we need the practice nonetheless.  The difference, too, this time is that we’re working on using a different strategy.  In the past–like when we were first learning how to divide–we thought about the number as a whole, and worked to find groups inside of it, rather than using the traditional algorithm.  Our focus was on understanding what division means, and we incorporated what we knew about multiplication as much as we could, as well.  This time, we’re trying to use the traditional method–still connecting to multiplication–but just organizing our thinking and our numbers in a different way.  We have been talking about reasonableness of answers, too, and use estimation to help us determine if our answers make sense.

 

The Rest of the Week

IMG269The rest of the mornings during the week were busy, we we actually took a couple of days to work through these problems.  You’ll notice a second division problem and then a good ‘ole adding fractions problem because we’re still fuzzy on this concept.  But truly, this is what is perfect about Math Warm-Ups–being able to easily revisit concepts that we need more time with.

 

Feast Week Part 7: THE FEAST!!

Ok, so I’m not at all sure how it got to almost the end of February and I didn’t tell you about the final part of Feast Week!  I know…I’m sorry!  But you’ve been reading blog all along, right?  We’ve been busy!

But here’s perhaps the most important part of the whole thing we called Feast Week–the feast!  (And just in case you haven’t read the first parts of Feast Week, you can find the first one here, and then the others are linked from there.  It’s worth your time if you haven’t read them!)

The day had finally arrived, and we were excited.  But no, we were not excited about the fact that Winter Break was just a day away, or because we’d be off for 14 days–we were excited because all of our hard work with fractions and recipes and cooking and baking and planning was about to pay off!

And it went even better than we’d hoped.  Thanks to some fabulous parents who were willing to let us throw out this crazy idea of our Winter Party to them (and then just told them to run with it!), we ended up with a lovely, delicious meal that helped us all see the fruits (and hams and green beans and ice cream pies) of our labors.  It was definitely a  FABULOUS FIFTH GRADE FRACTION FEAST!!

Anticipating our fabulous feast as we wait outside the cafeteria!

Anticipating our fabulous feast as we wait outside the cafeteria!

Looks good, doesn't it? Tablecloths and centerpieces and everything! So elegant!

Looks good, doesn’t it? Tablecloths and centerpieces and everything! So elegant!

Here's our handiwork! Looks yummy!

Here’s our handiwork! Looks yummy!

IMG678

That bowl is guacamole–I promise, it was pretty good!

Moving through the line

Moving through the line–sausage snack wraps were a hit!

A toast to food, fun and friends! (and fractions!)

A toast to food, fun and friends! (and fractions!)

IMG669 IMG670 IMG672 IMG674

WE LOVE FEAST WEEK!

WE LOVE FEAST WEEK!

 

Math Warm-Ups February 11-14, 2013

Another 4-day week for us, but only a 3-day warm-up week because of some very messy cubbies that needed to be attended to on Tuesday morning.  Happy calculating!

Monday

IMG157Can you catch the mistake I made in this warm-up question?  I didn’t catch it until we started discussing how to do it and figured out that you can’t round a decimal to the hundredths place if it’s already a hundredth!  So we changed it to tenths.  Oops.  HATE it when that happens, but LOVE that it continues to teach my kiddos I’m not perfect.  Teachers don’t know everything and they do make mistakes.  And we know how to solve problems like that when they happen.  So I guess in some ways this was a double-whammy warm-up: two lessons in one!  Only wish I’d planned it that way….:)

Tuesday

Oh, yeah, we were cubby cleaning.  There was too much mess to take a picture, so nothing to share here.

Wednesday

IMG158We had been working on place value and rounding with decimals for about a week and were ready to move on to adding and subtracting, which I was figuring would be pretty straightforward, and so relatively easy.  The way this one was worded, though, caught a couple of kiddos because they wouldn’t remember what “sum” and “difference” meant–definitions we reviewed as we went over the problems.

That second problem sparked another one, too, which was a goodie:

IMG159What do you do when you have a whole number and you subtract a decimal?  There isn’t a decimal to line up.  Or is there??

Thursday

IMG160There’s a joke in this warm-up (that’s probably only funny to me and my class).  See, we were noticing on Wednesday that many of the word problems we have in our math book involve running (Sally ran .89 of a mile on Monday, 2.3 miles on Tuesday and .5 miles on Wednesday, etc.).  In our groups we’d been talking about how guilty those references made me feel since I’ve been REALLY lazy about my running the last few months.  So Thursday I made the problem all about my running.  But since I can’t lie about what’s really happening, I made sure to say that we should pretend that I ran all those miles last week.

But aside from making us all laugh at my funny joke, there was another reason I wrote the problem the way I did.  We are going to be moving into multiplication of decimals next week and I wanted to see what they could do with that.  The problem could easily be answered without multiplying, too, for those that weren’t ready yet–and some just used repeated addition to get the answer–but some did try multiplication as a strategy.  Many of those figured out just what to do with the decimal point, and did so in a logical way–which I loved!  Rather than spouting off the rule about having the same number of decimal places in the answer as in the problem, they used what they know about the problem.  They got to the number 2282, and when thinking about what the final answer should be, thought “Well it can’t be 2.282 because that’s not even as far as she ran in one day.  It can’t be 228.2 because number is WAY too big.  22.82 makes sense because 3 miles times 7 days is 21 miles and the answer has to be a little bigger than that.”  THAT is the kind of thinking I look for and was so excited to see as I threw them this new concept.  It makes me excited to hear and see more as we dig in deeper this upcoming week!

Math Warm-Ups February 4-8, 2013

We had a pretty much normal week with warm-ups, so I have five to share!  This week we started working on decimals, and our warm-ups were related.

Monday

IMG133

 

Tuesday

IMG134There are two notes to make about this warm-up: 1) that should say “expanded form” rather than “extended form”, and 2) I realized after I’d written it that they weren’t ready to talk about that yet.  Sometimes I’ll do a warm-up about a brand new concept, especially if we’re going to talk about it that day in rotations, but that just didn’t make sense for this one.  I was out with a sick baby, and we weren’t going to talk about it for another couple of days, so we skipped that part until later.

 

Wednesday

IMG135

 

Thursday

IMG136So this was the day when we came back to expanded form.  I was glad that we waited, because I could tell from their responses that they didn’t have a clear idea about what it meant.  Many wrote the number in words–which is word form instead of expanded form.  Once I showed them what it was, many remembered, and so after the whole number we tried it with a decimal (the part at the bottom).  The whole idea of expanded from with decimals is new (both to my students and to me!) and was added in because of changes we’re making to align closer with Common Core standards.  Once you start talking about how it works, though, it’s really the same idea as with a whole number.  Most picked up on it pretty quickly.

 

Friday

IMG138

Math Warm-Ups January 28-February 1, 2013

Another busy week in Rm. 202!  This week we only had three warm-ups because of our schedule.  Enjoy solving them!

Monday

IMG127This warm-up was a nod to the next part of our geometry unit–coordinate grids.  We’re also going to continue to practice “old” skills like adding fractions to keep them fresh–and because many kiddos still didn’t quite get it during our fraction unit.

 

Tuesday

IMG128One thing that I want to make sure I always highlight for my kiddos is the fact that they know many things that help make math easier in their heads than on paper.  I want them to be flexible thinkers, and know how to do things in more than one way.  This one was a way to get them thinking about using  known (in this case a multiple of 10) to help them figure out a problem.  Below it is the number string that we worked through after the initial conversation.

 

Wednesday

IMG129Can you tell we ran out of chart paper this day?  Nothing like using every last bit of it!  While this question could have been seen as “easy” to some, I was hoping that since we’d done these before, kiddos could dig deeper and share a problem that was harder than just this plus this equals 125.  I LOVED it when Luke through out a problem with exponents!  We had a great conversation about how they work, and the best part is that we’re going to do more with them during our upcoming decimal unit–as we discuss expanded form.  It’s so great when kid provides a natural connection without even knowing it!  You can’t plan that kind of stuff.  Beautiful. 🙂

 

Math Warm-Ups January 22-25, 2013

This was a short week because of the MLK holiday on Monday, so we only had four warm-ups this time around.  Most were related to our current geometry unit, except for the last one from yesterday.  I’ll explain that one at the end.

Tuesday

IMG122Besides just knowing polygons and their names, a major focus of this unit is being able to figure out unknown angles using information that is already known.  That septagon that I made is actually created from 3 separate triangle pieces (that we know and have figured out the angles of), so then here I was asking them to use that known information to determine the measure of this new angle.  Many of them also used the idea of a “right angle + some more”, and the fact that it was an obtuse angle in their calculations.  We also focused on the way this question was worded: many went right to telling me WHAT the angle was rather than HOW they figured it out, which is what I was actually asking.  This is an important test-taking strategy that we were able to highlight, as well.

Wednesday

                                     IMG123     IMG124

This question was an extension of what we had just been talking about the day before.  Our focus was on all the different names that one polygon could have, as well as the continued use of known angles to determine unknown ones.  The “G” refers to the way that rhombus is labeled in the set of Power Polygons we use as manipulatives.

Thursday

IMG125This warm-up was a review of old knowledge, but then we used it to connect to our new concepts from this unit.  I reminded them (since of course this seemed like something they did AGES ago!) that area is just like all the work they did with arrays during our study of multiplication.  We also were reminded of how we could use our knowledge of order of operations to correctly write the equation of how we figured out the perimeter.  The lesson following this asked them to be able to create new rectangles based on this one, but with different area/same perimeter  or different perimeter/same area.

Friday

IMG126Hopefully you’ll notice the difference in this one.  This week we were looking at winter benchmarking data noticing that our 5th graders seemed to have a hard time showing that they are solid in computation skills.  It’s clear that we need to do more practice with computation even when it’s not the unit we’re in, as well as more practice with timed situations (the benchmark we use asks them to complete a certain number of problems in 8 minutes).  Other than the benchmark and standardized testing, they aren’t asked to do this.  Simply having more opportunities like that could be helpful.

Feast Week Part 6: Now We Cook!

So before we could FEAST in Feast Week, we had to have a feast, and that meant we had to make it!  So Friday afternoon, before our big party, we got busy making things.  Remember, our appetizers were party pickles, sausage snack wraps, fruit, and guacamole.  We got into our tribes to work.

Check out our culinary creations:

IMG659 IMG660 IMG661 IMG662 IMG_0644 IMG_0645 IMG_0646 IMG663 IMG664

If you missed any of the previous parts of this tale, check out the Feast Week tag for parts 1-5.  Next up: THE FEAST!!

Math Warm-Ups January 14-18, 2013

This week’s warm-ups are geometry related, as we are at the beginning of a 2D geometry unit now.  My hope was that they were review, since they’ve had similar units for many years.  And for the most part, they were.  Oh, and you’ll notice there are only 3 this week; the morning schedules were a little rushed on Tuesday and Friday, so we skipped them those days.

Monday

IMG111

And speaking of having done it before, my kindergartener is actually talking about these very things right now, too!  When I shared this question with him, he was able to tell me which were polygons and which were not!  The definition was simpler in kindergarten, but the idea was the same.  Cool!

Wednesday

IMG112

This one was pretty easy, but was a conversation starter for that day.  It helped us take the next step to putting quadrilaterals into categories.

Thursday

IMG113

When we first talked about this one, we were unclear about the definition for a parallelogram.  We spent our group time on Thursday clarifying this.

What do you know about geometry?  What questions would you ask for a geometry math warm-up?  Share some with us in the comments!