10/22 - Math Curse

Today we read the book Math Curse.  The book covers many ways we deal with numbers in everyday life and how almost everything can be a math problem.  You have 10 things to do, but only 30 minutes till the bus leaves. Is there enough time?  You have 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants -- can you make 1 good outfit?

Some of the questions asked in the book are as simple as "How many quarts are in a gallon?" to the not so simple "If an M&M is about one centimeter long and the Mississippi River is about 4,000 kilometers long, how many M&Ms would it take to measure the length of this river?"

After reading the book, we went back through to try to answer all of the realistic and also the wacky questions.

10/15 - Symmetry

This week we learned about symmetry.  We talked about things we might find in the world that are symmetrical. 

The kids played a fun game.  Standing across from each other they took turns trying to mirror their partners actions.  They also had a good time playing with small animal figurines and mirrors.  They moved the mirrors around to see symmetry and how the angles affect what they see.

10/01 - How Big is a Million?

This week we read a book called How Big is a Million?  Big numbers like million, billion, and trillion are exciting, but sometimes it's hard to understand what that really means.  The book gave us examples like if a million children climbed on each other's shoulders, they would reach higher in the sky than airplanes can fly.  Also, if a billion of them made a tower, it would reach past the moon.

Each of us then made a picture about what we would do with a million dollars.  There was a wide variety of ideas, everything from buying money, fancy cars, horses, and more siblings!