Summer SAVY, Session 2 Day 1, Adventures in Algebra (3rd – 4th)
Welcome to Adventures in Algebra!
Today, we spent a lot of time in the morning discussing class expectations related to behavior and thinking and writing about math. Then, we did our first Math Think. A three-act math task from Graham Fletcher, one of my favorite mathematicians and educators, helped us count quickly by patterns. We continued to work with patterns for the rest of the day. We generalized that patterns are repetitive, predictable, and infinite, and they can be found anywhere. We agreed that patterns are the basis for algebra. We developed our algebra vocabulary with the words, term, variable, and function. We analyzed growing and repeating patterns and described the patterns with functions. Students developed models to aid in defining the functions. You can ask students tonight to explain how many fish can sit at Courtney’s Deep Sea Cafe lunch tables and why.
Students’ algebra skills will be put to the test over the next three days. Our class has been hired to develop an Awesome Algebra game! In each lesson, students create game cards, which will be used as a math element of a board game they’ll plan, create, and take home for real play! We created 12 math questions for student games today. If SAVY had homework, I would encourage you to talk to your student about their idea for their board game. What will the theme be? How will the steps work? Tomorrow, we’ll draw our first blueprint.
Tonight, you can ask your mathematics to explain the difference between a growing and repeating pattern and to write you a math story problem for each kind of pattern, as we did on Awesome Algebra cards.
I’m looking forward to a great week with these mathematicians!
Ms. Amber Whiting