We had another fun day with these SAVY math students! Today we started with the book Your Place in the Universe by David Chin. We have explored large numbers, and this book compares large sizes.  (For example, how do 8-year-olds, ostriches, giraffes, California Redwoods, skyscrapers, Mt. Everest, galaxy clusters, and the universe compare in size?)

Then, we briefly looked at more palindrome patterns in the numbers 1-100, and the students mastered a prime/composite Kahoot game. The class solved today’s mash-up and logic puzzles together.

Would you rather: Have a one-time payment of $1 million OR 1 cents on day 1; 2 cents on day 2; 4 cents on day 3; continuing to double for a month? In pairs, the students used calculators to solve the question. We read the book One Grain of Rice by Demi. This is a mathematical tale of a raja who did not share rice with the hungry villagers.  But, a clever village girl named Rani devised a plan. In the end, we learned Rani had collected over a billion grains of rice (1,073,741,823 to be exact)! The group was surprised by the power of doubling numbers!

After lunch, we learned about Fermi’s problems.  These are open-ended questions that require students to make assumptions, estimates, and educated guesses to creatively solve them. Many don’t have clear-cut answers, sometimes alternative paths to solutions are possible, and they take many steps to solve.  (How many grains of sand could fit into a classroom? How many hairs are on my head?)  The students were all given a water bottle and a small package of Skittles.  They worked to determine how many Skittles it took to fill the water bottle and created a poster explaining their solutions.  Then, the pairs presented their ideas to the group.

At the end of the day, we played “I Have, Who Has” with place value, and ONO 99. ONO 99 is like a mathematical UNO game in that the players must add up the running total and announce it with each discard while staying under 99.  Special cards (reverse, draw 2, minus 10, and 99) add fun to the game.

Dinner table questions:

We look forward to tomorrow!
Warmly,

Ms. Elizabeth & Ms. Sharon