Saturday SAVY, Day 3 – Spatial Smarts with Ms. Gruchot (1st/2nd)
Dear SAVY Families,
We had another fantastic day of Fall Spring 2025: Spatial Smarts. The mathematicians once again blew me away with their knowledge, curiosity, and creativity. I am confident that each of them is walking away from this course with an increased spatial awareness.
We started our day reviewing the concepts from weeks one and two. In order to review dimensions, we went back to our pop-up book. We discussed how the pop-up book takes a two-dimensional piece of paper and changes it into a three-dimensional experience for readers. The mathematicians received two pieces of paper, scissors, and glue, and they were challenged to make a pop-up book of their own. After a couple of minutes of exploring and trying to create a pop-up book without guidance, the mathematicians were shown a simple way to make a pop-up, and many were eager to follow the steps to do so. I encouraged our mathematicians to continue writing their pop-up book at home and explain to their family members how to take a two-dimensional object and change it into a three-dimensional object!
After this, we moved on to the final major concept of our class: projections and cross sections. A projection is another example of a two-dimensional view of a three-dimensional object. We started by looking at shadows of unknown objects, as shadows are common examples of projections. Our mathematicians had fun predicting the object that I was holding up just based on the shadow. Many object reveals came as a surprise! This prompted a discussion about what shadows can truly tell us about the object being projected.
We then looked at cross sections. The mathematicians used their math journals to draw predictions about what the cross-sections of an apple look like. Will all of the cross sections look the same? Will they be symmetrical? To practice making their own cross sections, our mathematicians used new Play-Doh and dental floss. The dental floss was used to make a clean cut so that the mathematicians could examine the polygon that would be created by the cross-section. This was definitely a highlight of the day!
To end our time at SAVY, students worked on a final project that brought together all of the skills learned in our class. Our mathematicians were instructed to create a map, as maps require a great deal of spatial awareness to create. I challenged students to use their own neighborhood or a familiar neighborhood as inspiration so that they could ensure the scale of their map was correct. If they finished drawing their map, the mathematicians were challenged to create a net, mat plan, and lines of symmetry for one of the buildings they drew. Additionally, mathematicians were encouraged to consider the changes that may occur in their neighborhood over the next 10 years and how their neighborhood will respond to those changes. Our mathematicians were able to use blocks to create their building using the mat plan that they drew.
To end the day, our mathematicians had the chance to present their maps to their peers. Each map was unique and showed the mathematicians’ skills within their creations. We finished our SAVY class by returning to one of the first questions that was asked of the mathematicians: What does it mean to be spatially aware? Our mathematicians’ new knowledge of dimensions, shapes, and more certainly helped to expand our thinking from our week-one answers.
Discussion Questions:
- What does it mean to be spatially aware? How did this SAVY course build your spatial awareness?
- How did creating a map allow you to develop your spatial awareness?
- Next time you drive down your street, will you be able to better recognize the buildings, nature, and people around you? If so, consider adding additional detail to your map!
Thank you for letting me learn alongside your child for the last three Saturdays. It has been incredibly rewarding to work with such bright minds. I hope to see some of the mathematicians back at SAVY this summer!
Sincerely,
Ms. Gruchot