Spring SAVY 2020: Day 1 – Secrets of the Moli Stone (1st/2nd)
After our first SAVY session this past Saturday I was blown away by the enthusiasm and excitement from our group of students! All of them came with a willingness to try new things, and it was fun to hear about their talents and passions as we went through introductions. We sure do have one talented group of first and second graders who have already shown an interest in deepening their understanding of math. In the Secrets of the Moli Stone, students become mathematicians on a team of archaeologists who are researching number systems used by people long ago. Throughout this session, they will display their knowledge of value and number systems in order to figure out what certain symbols mean on this mystery stone.
In the morning we got to know one another while studying archaeology. Students created their own “secret rooms” with artifacts and hieroglyphics about themselves. During next Saturday’s session students will actually become archaeologists and uncover the secrets the other students have chosen to incorporate into their rooms! After getting to know one another we discussed the concept of systems in depth. A system is a group of related parts that move or work together. I was so impressed with how the students could sort between what a system is and is not after introducing this concept. I think several of them were blown away by how many systems there are all around us!
In the afternoon we continued our journey of uncovering the Moli Stone through looking at the patterns within our own base ten system. We played three games that helped students explain place value and face value, regroup and rename numbers, and understand the importance of place value in addition and subtraction. We used this knowledge to make generalizations about the numeration system.
The Meneki Neko Bank was our first challenge. It challenged them to find how many ways to make 47 cents using dimes and pennies. Students loved hearing about Meneki Neko and the legends behind this Chinese and Japanese good luck charm. After our task was complete, students had the opportunity to create their own good luck charm! Next, students were introduced to Card Capers. In this activity, students worked in pairs to create the largest two-digit number. While this may seem simple, students could only draw one card at a time, and had to choose where to place the card before drawing the next one (ones place, tens place, or discard pile). After each team played several rounds, they created “cheat sheets” with the strategies they used to create the largest number. Finally, students played Some Sum and Some Difference using the rules from Card Capers. This game continued to deepen students’ place value knowledge as they had to create the smallest and largest sum and difference while only drawing one card at a time and placing it down before drawing the next card! By the end of our session, students were one step closer to solving the mysterious symbols on the Moli Stone. We ended our day by learning a trick which incorporated the elements of place value and magic!
I cannot wait to continue our journey next week as we focus on grouping within our numeration system. See you Saturday!
Mrs. Waight
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