Multiplication Madness!
Groups of, bags of, lots of, doubles, triples, products….it’s multiplication madness in Grade 4 this week! We’ve been looking at all the ways to think about, represent and calculate multiplication. We’ve used arrays of objects, drawings, number sentences and formal algorithms. We’ve discovered that memorising our times tables really helps! We’ve had speed competitions to find products, totals and differences. Each team works out their own strategies and the winners are constantly changing. We’ve also had fun writing math problems about events from camp. For example, if there were 17 sticks and 12 marshmallows on each stick, how many marshmallows were there in total? We are very good at using all four operations (+, -, x, /) in word problems now. Here we are solving each others’ word problems: Some people in our class have such a good understanding of formal algorithms, they can work with algebra. Stay tuned for interesting word problems and their solutions! Add your own word problem for a friend to solve....
Read MoreAverage Adam – Our Imaginary Friend
UPDATE! Today we finished our data investigation called Who Are We? After collecting lots of data about the people in our class, we could finally answer the question: Who is the average Grade 4 student? It was a little tricky to give a final answer. We had to organise our data and think carefully about whether to use the mean, median or mode for each category. Would you like to meet the average student? It turns out that no-one in our class fits the profile. We created Average Adam to be our imaginary friend and represent us all. Read about his features below. Average Adam Average Adam is a boy. He is 9 years and 6 months old and his birthday is in December. He is 137.5cm tall and he can jump a distance of 126.5cm. Adam has been at BISS for 1 year and he travels to school by bus. He loves Maths and his strength is logical intelligence. Adam’s favorite colour is blue. How do you compare with Adam? How are you similar? How are you...
Read MoreWho are we? (A Data Investigation)
This month, we have been getting to know each other through Mathematics. We’ve been writing questions, designing surveys and collecting lots of data about our classmates. We’ve learned to find and interpret the mean, median, mode & range of data sets. We’ve learned to use different graphs for different purposes. We’ve discovered the importance of scale and labels on our own graphs. We’ve gathered data on our ages, learning strengths, birthday months, time at BISS and modes of transport. We even measured our heights and jump lengths. Here we are, busily collecting data: In the end, we hope to describe our class composition and even answer the question: Who is the average Grade 4 student? Stay tuned for our...
Read MoreQuote of the Day!
“I feel like I just swam across the Atlantic in one day.” By Dave What a wonderful comment! It describes a huge effort and a great achievement. Congratulations on your progress in Mathematics, Dave! You have been working hard to understand place value in large numbers. Your friends and teachers are very proud of you. Keep sharing your thoughts and feelings with us. from Ms Y., Ms O’Dwyer & all your Grade 4...
Read MoreDo you Sudoku?
We’ve been solving sudoku puzzles to strengthen our logical-mathematical intelligence. We discovered that our class is filled with logical thinkers! We quickly moved from simple puzzles to 9×9 grids. The room was very quiet while our brains ticked away. As rows, columns and boxes were filled, people whispered, “Yes!” We had a great Friday afternoon of puzzling. Do you sudoku? If not, try these 9×9 grids! Are you a puzzle expert? Tell us about your favourite puzzles. Recommend some new logic puzzles to...
Read More