MEASURING OUR GARDEN PLOTS!

When you get outside, it's amazing how much can be learnt from one activity! Here's what we thought....

Hands on Measurement in Maths on PhotoPeach

COLD SNAP : A FROSTY EXPERIMENT

SCIENCE IS AWESOME!

Our Oobleck Experiment:

This week we made Oobleck! We mixed cornflour and water and watched for the reaction. We were amazed to see that Oobleck could act as a solid or a liquid, depending on how we treated it!

First of all, our reflection about doing science....

Ava: science is fun because it's about trying something different!

Emma: I enjoy the hands-on approach of science

Eva: we learn from seeing and doing- I like learning that way

Ben: agreed that a hands on approach is a great way to learn

Annie: everyone got a go at being involved in an experiment

Lucas: I love the fun and mess of science
Tom: Science is important for future learning

Now for our conclusions about Oobleck....

Ben thought it happened because the corn flour solidified it and the water made it liquify

Alexa thought that because you mixed a solid and liquid together, it was like they were fighting to be the star

Tom thought there was a chemical reaction between the water and the cornstarch

Caitlin thought it was because there was a solid and a liquid and the solid kicked in with pressure and the liquid had no pressure

Jordi learnt that when you hold the oobleck the "cogs" hold it together and when you relax your hold, the "cogs" separate

Now we'll ask the scientists??

So we Tweeted it and this is what has happened so far? 

So now one of the Middle MY students will try Cam's suggestion  for their personal learning task!

MAKING OUR OWN MOVIES ABOUT MATHS HELPS US TO LEARN MATHS!

We were learning about decimals, how to multiply and divide them.  We created videos to show others how to perform these operations.  Before filming, we needed to revise the maths, write scripts, prepare our props and rehearse.  It took lots of teamwork and really made us think about the maths and how to clearly explain the process. We noticed some mistakes when re-viewing the movies...does this matter?

REACTIONS TO LEARNING THIS WAY!

Akon: It was a really hands-on way of learning - different and creative.
Amber: We were able to critique the movies and to see for ourselves where we made mistakes.
Simon: Because it was a fun thing to do, I think I will remember it better.
Tristian: It was a creative way to learn, a different way of sharing our maths.
Norhan: There were two purposes to this - having fun and learning Maths as well.
Lizzy: Watching the movies again was useful for revision.
Rylee: It was an easy way to learn from our mistakes...better than lots of teacher talk.

Hands on learning- ratio and cordial!

Today we experimented with cordial to learn about ratio and how we can use ratio in real life situations We learnt how to write ratios normally, as a fraction part and a whole. Here is some examples:
 
Ratio                 Fraction Part                  Fraction whole
1:2                    1/2                                  1/3
1:4                    1/4                                  1/5
 
Tristian and Ivan

I liked this learning activity because it was hands on and easy to remember because it was a fun activity and everyone enjoyed it . We learn well this way.

Daniel and Georgia

I think that learning in a fun way is a great way to get something stuck in your brain because you remember the fun experience. Now I know that when I have cordial never to put in 3 parts of cordial and 1 part water, yuck - Amber.

 

 

HISTORY AT OUR FINGERTIPS-SOVEREIGN HILL

Sovereign Hill from Marg Yore on Vimeo.
Lizzy says, "To sum up, Sovereign Hill has been my favourite excursion yet and was a life-changing experience. I feel very lucky to have been able to learn in a really fun, interesting and exciting way."

Eureka!

Ivan thought, "It was very hard to find the speck of gold but, once you found it you felt really good!"

Daniel reflected, "I enjoyed the day because I learnt a lot including how the Eureka Stockade was penetrated and invaded."

Madeline reported, "Gold, news, people, crowds, mines,finds, Eureka! At Sovereign Hill you are given a door into 1850's Australia, at the heart of the Gold Rush....panning for gold was fun and was the thing I was most looking forward to. It is quite a skill and was much harder than I expected....what I enjoyed most about the lesson was the "Detective Box." My group had Samuel Taylor Gill. We discovered from the clues that he was English, an artist and an alcoholic."

Luke added,"I thought it was a good idea to have a person down at the creek to tell us how to pan for gold and then we got to try for ourselves....the mine tour was a real eye-catcher and seeing all the old shops such as the blacksmith and the lolly shop was a real reminder of the olden days."

 Simon, "For me, it was stepping back into the past. I was amazed at how great all the volunteers were at acting and some were quite funny and very entertaining. Walking into the lolly shop was spectacular, as it was just like a land of lollies."

PROJECT PIES - HISTORY HOMEWORK TASK

For homework we had to create a model of something historical. It had to relate to Australian history, and we could use any materials. At first I had some trouble getting an idea, but I discussed some ideas at home and we thought making Aussie meat pies would be good. We had to make a poster to go along with the project. Here's some information I discovered: the first Aussie Four 'n Twenty meat pie was made in Bendigo in a small bakery in 1947.The Australian meat pie is so well liked around the nation it could almost be termed a national dish. For Aussies the meat pie is the treat of choice when watching sport. Basically this pie consists of a hand-sized pastry filled with minced meat and gravy – although it may also be filled with onion, cheese, mushrooms, chicken, seafood, crocodile, camel, vegetables or other fillings. Typically it is smothered in tomato sauce. It was great making the pies using lots of different ingredients. When I brought the pies to school my teachers helped me. My classmates were very excited and they enjoyed the pies and so did I. Some of the pies were labelled with history pins!

LEARNING INTENTIONS IN MATHS-POSTED BY AMBER

This term we have been using learning intentions. Learning intentions are statements that help guide us throughout the lesson. If we were focusing on multiplying double digits, the learning intention might be, "We are learning to multiply double digits and apply them in a mental and visual way." We use the learning intentions in many things, especially maths. The learning intentions help all of us to know what we are focusing on and keep us on track. At the end of the lesson we go back to the learning intention to see if we have achieved what we were hoping to. I personally think that learning intentions help me to stay an track and to raise the bar.

Learning Intentions from Marg Yore on Vimeo.

HANDS ON MATHS-MAKING MOCKTAILS!

Thanks to a great post on Bearwood blog in the UK (last year), we also experienced the meaning of RATIO in real life by making mocktails in Maths!!! It's great to be able to share ideas across the world!

Maths Mocktails from Marg Yore on Vimeo.

HOW AVERAGE ARE YOU?

We are learning about the MODE, MEDIAN and MEAN of a set of numbers! Firstly, we collected data on how many push ups each student could do in 30 seconds. There was a wide range  of scores! From the scores, we calculated the mode, median and mean...but, we would like to hear of some more situations that would help us practise our calculations.

                      Now it's your turn to help us!

Challenge our math-a-magical class with some great ideas to see how average we can really be!!! What scenarios could we use to practise our skills?

Our definitions:
mode: in a set of scores the mode is the score that occurs the most
median:a type of average-the middle value of an ordered set of values
mean:average of a number of different amounts

DECIMAL DOINGS!!!

In real life situations at school, we've discovered that decimals are used for money and for recording race times -we timed ourselves with stop watches and read our "decimal" race times!

Now can you help us please? In what real life situations have you used decimals? How else can we work with decimals at school?