We have been thinking about our Mathematical Superpowers so that we can build our Community of Inquiry. We all have different strengths in Maths. However, if we collaborate we are stronger! We have created our own Maths Justification League...
The Justice League have their individual strengths: Together they are stronger!
Today students planned their own learning and chose to attend workshops linked with our Inquiry- Beauty in Maths!
Nicola did a workshop on perspective drawing and vanishing points. Steph called her picture "The Never Ending Pathway." Below are some of the sketches that we did. What Maths can you see in these pictures?
Some absolutely outstanding skills, and some equally as awesome attitudes, were certainly on display at \the ASB centre on Wednesday, as the year 3,4 and 6 girls from Worser Bay School played in the Futsal tournament.
The Thunder, The Lightning, The Boltz & The Fireballz (we came up with the names ourselves!) all played their socks off! Not to mention we had an awesome time!
The year 3’s and 4’s gave it a right go! Got stuck in and had a ball! Nobody wanted to take a rest, but we were definitely spent by the end! James could not believe the zest on display! You guys are absolute champions, I’m sure you’re all keen to keep playing and I hope to see you playing futsal together out on the playground!
The two year six teams scored over 70 goals combined! And let in only 2!... But the most remarkable part of all, is that every single team member scored at least once! Now that's rare for any team! Some of us were super experienced, while for some it was our very first time playing, but our team work and desire to give everyone a chance to show what they had was the true meaning of Manaakitanga. Well done girls, some clear leadership was certainly on display.
All of the girls want to give a special thanks to all the parents and of course Stu from Team Wellington (He thinks that there are a few future Football Ferns at Worser Bay, and James agrees!)
Can you keep this sequence going?
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. 13, ...
We were pleased that many of our students can... we've been exploring Fibonacci numbers and how they keep cropping up in nature. Here are some videos to whet your interest...
We also explored counting spirals in pinecones and draw our own spirals using Fibonacci numbers, we're wondering where else they are around us. Here are some of our first thoughts:
Ziya - it made my mind super screwy. I know I can do maths with patterns and swirls.
Pyrenees - it makes me wonder how many more things have spirals. I wonder about trees and fingerprints and in Maori tattoos.
Sammy - it made me feel like dizzy and swirly. It makes me want to learn more about swirls.
As part of the Information, Communication Technologies (ICT) Student Council group we have been brainstorming ways that we can help others to learn computer skills.
All of our students are involved in a student council group as it promotes a Positive Purpose. Not only does this have the benefit of helping others, but it is said to be one of the most therapeutic things we can do for ourselves. Mahatma Gandhi is quoted as saying, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
We have been teaching younger students how to use the Dash robot and also how to use the coding programme, Scratch. We have enjoyed sharing our expertise.
We have been talking about ways that we can become practitioners or experts so that we can help novices to with digital technologies. We have been working with buddies to learn more about Scratch.
Ollie and Finlay: We worked on scratch, we did four things. 1. If you press the B key it will become bigger, if you press the S key it becomes smaller, when it hears a sound it changes colour, if it is on the 25% of the screen it says I like it here. this is what we did for ICT.
James: I am trying to make a game that the sprite can move left to right and jump properly.
Jan: I learned how to use lists in scratch. I think I am nearly a expert in scratch because I nearly can code anything I want.
Angus: I learnt how to use multi colour and use controls as well as creating a pattern behind your character. I also learnt variables so you could get lots of money!!!
Tommy and Hunter R: We made our sprite colourful and get bigger and smaller.
In writing, we always edit our work. We not only reread our writing, but we also make any changes to improve it. We are having a go at doing the same thing in our Maths. We are looking at how we can EDIT our maths.
Part of editing our maths, is looking for any mistakes we have made that just don't make any sense. Sometimes we can be in a rush, and we skip this step.
We practiced this by searching for errors in problems and circling where the error is. We then had a go at fixing them up.
We also had a go at making our own problems, with sneaky errors in it. We solved each other's problems and tried to spot the error.
We have been working through logic problems. We know that accepting challenges and staying with a problem helps the brain to grow.
Can you solve this puzzle?
Why Logic Puzzles?
1. They develop Critical Thinking skills so that you can problem solve in different situations.
2. It exercises the brain. Practising these types of puzzles helps the brain to make connections. It helps your brain get used to focusing on a single problem.
3. It will help you to be a more successful Mathematician. You will be able to apply logic to work out Maths problems successfully.
Jan: This is a puzzle that asks you how many triangles there are. I had to persevere a lot to get the answer...
Sarah Flannery, at age of 16, won the Young Scientist of the Year award in Ireland.
This is Sarah talking about maths and the role her parents played in her own amazing achievements.
“My parents definitely let me see that mathematics was this beautiful subject. I think a lot of people never even hear those two words in the same sentence.
So they gave that to me, and they gave me, through these different puzzles, where even I thought I couldn't start out on them, they showed me, no, you have lots of tools, and techniques, and ways to visualise, and get started, and you can do it.”
