Attributes

April 24th, 2019

As we start to take a look into Geometry we discuss Attributes of shapes and this is so important when talking about geometry.  The link above goes to a great attribute core lesson Standards 3.G.A.1 that I really enjoyed watching, I think it used great simple graphics and was easy to follow along and understand.  So what are Attributes?  An Attribute is a feature or characteristic used to describe an object.  In our case we are describing shapes, different sizes, different colors, different attributes that make them similar or individual, alike or not alike.

We did an activity in class with shapes and we had to figure out their different attributes and had to fill in a chart.

Attribute chart

We then got to play with shapes and we made one difference trains with out shapes, meaning we made a train of shapes and each shape next to each other had to have only one difference in an attribute between them.

We had 5 shapes, 3 different colors and each shape had 2 sizes a large shape and a small shape for each shape in each color.  We made difference trains and also made Venn Diagrams and played the What am I game?  We had 30 shapes, as the professor named off the attributes we took away the opposite of what was said it was or took away what she said it was not.  

Can you guess me shape?

* I am not red---------> so we took all reds away

* I am not a circle--------> took all circles away

* I am not large--------->took all large shapes away

* I am blue----------->took all colors but the blue away, so all the shapes in front of us are blue.

* I do not have obtuse angles------> took everything away with more than 90 degrees.

* I do not have right angles-----> took everything away with right angles

What am I?   I'm not telling! Figure it out for yourself ;)

Measures of Central Tendency The Median and IQR

April 22nd, 2019

In my last post with Measures of Central Tendency I mentioned Inter Quartile Range and I wanted to show you just how we use those numbers and what they mean.
We use our Measures of Central Tendency to find the IQR Inter Quartile Range which is a measure of statistical dispersion, being equal to the difference between the 75th and 25th percentiles, or between the upper and lower quartiles.  We use a Box and Whisker Plot as an explanatory data analyses, its basically a type of graph that shows spread/distribution of data.  Using our data from Grab a Handful Activity we are going to continue to analyse data by making a Box and Whisker Plot.

The first thing we are going to do is order the data from least to greatest and make a number line with that range from the least to greatest numbers.

Now we need to find the Median (middle number) (also know as Q2).  We know from our Measures of Central Tendency the Median is 10 so we are going to draw a line to represent the Median.

Median is showed in pink. Also is Q2

Add Ordered Data #'s 235 and divide by 22 to get Mean

                                 

Next we are going to make draw 2 lines that represent the Minimum = MIN and Maximum = MAX

Min and Max lines then we will complete the box.

Now we need to find the Lower Quartile and we do this by looking at the data on the lower half below the median which is 7 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 10 10.  We take these 11 numbers and do the same to them as we do when finding the median of the whole data set to find the middle number and that would be a 9.  The #9 is Q1 the 1st Quartile.  We do the same to find the Upper Quartile but use the numbers 10 11 11 11 12 12 13 15 15 15 15, the middle number is a 12.  The #12 is Q3 the 3rd Quartile.

Q1 and Q3 are shown in Blue and box is completed

The Box and Whisker Plot shows the 5-number summary: Minimum, maximum, median, lower and upper quartiles.  The next picture shows how it is divided into Quartiles and will show that in Orange with percents written.

Most of the class picked between 7 and 10 within the 1st 50% of data set

Range: 8

Min: 7

Max: 15

Median: 10

Q1: 9

Q3: 12

Metric Measures in 4th Grade

April 17th, 2019

My 1st day of Service Learning.  The last two weeks they have been doing AZ Merit and today is their first day back to regular curriculum.  I am doing my Service Learning in Mrs. Bare's 4th grade class.  Her class walks in after specials and she is up writing on the white board and she turns around and says, "Warm Ups on the board!" I got the biggest smile and honestly learned to have a new appreciation for "Warm Ups"! I honestly never cared for Warm Ups or Exit Tickets because they make me have to rush and for some reason my brain tends to freeze when under pressure.  Time constraints cause major pressure for me but these kiddos in class handled it like champs, they scrambled about for a minute, sat down at their desks and had white boards and markers out in seconds ready to roll.

Warm Ups on Board in Service Learning Class

"What does the word Product mean?"  One students answers, "the sum of 2 numbers."  Teacher asks, "What do we do with the 372 and the 6?"  Another student says, "we add them."  "Are you sure?" Mrs. Bare asks.  Another students says, "We multiply them!" YES! She gives them all a few minutes and says,"White boards up!"  Now while most students did get it correct their were still a few that did not but these were students I observed not really paying attention and in their own world sort of to speak.  They then did the fractions problem and we started the daily lesson which was awesome!

The daily lesson was on measuring length and Mrs. Bare introduced Metric Measures to the class.  She started out by everyone making a help sheet so they will be able to do conversions on their own by referring to the sheet to help them.  I made my own at home to share with you.

Metric Conversions Chart Mrs. Bare did with 4th Graders (This one I made)

The students then made conversions that were written on the board.  

Examples:  4m = _____cm  You take the 4m and multiply them 100 and you get 400cm.

4m = _____dm  You take 4m and multiply by 10 and you get 40dm.

380m = _____hm  You divide 300m by 100 and you get 3hm.

_____mm = 12m  You multiply 1,000mm by 12m and you get 12,000mm.  The students first found the differences and figured out what was needing to be done to solve the problems.

Interesting Facts about M&M's

April 12th, 2019

M&M's Wikipedia

So it just so happens that there is a formula to what color of M&M's we all get in one bag of candy.  Our Professor actually sent an email to the the Mars company and got a response back telling her the exact percentages of color M&M's that go into each bag:

Blue 25%

Orange 25%

Green 12.5%

Yellow 12.5%

Red 12.5%

Brown 12.5%

Now compare that to our class totals let's see how close we came:

Blue 60/309 = 19%

Orange 55/309 = 18%

Green 62/309 = 20%

Yellow 33/309 = 11%

Red 48/309 = 16%

Brown 51/309 = 16%

So our total in class was off percentage wise just a few here and there but it allows you to see the comparison between the Companies proposed mix in bags to our actual mix.  I never knew Mars had an actual set formula so this was an interesting fact to me and wanted to share it. I know I often wondered how the mix of colors came about.  How about you?

Thanks for reading, 

Terri