Fourth Grade Update: Setting the Gold Standard

Our study of the novel The Wright Three has sent us on many wonderful tangents this year, but none have been as mathematically mysterious as the Golden Ratio. Used and observed by architects, artists and philosophers throughout history, the Golden Ratio is a number that seems to reflect the universe's natural desire to make things beautiful, or so many believe.


The ancient Greeks believed that humans who exhibited the golden ratio were naturally more beautiful and attractive. We decided to put ourselves to the test--could we be ancient Greek supermodels? First, we practiced measuring and calculating on a scale drawing of a real Greek sculpture that was designed with the golden ratio. Then, with the help of partners, we measured the dimensions of our own facial features and made several calculations. Let's just say there are few potential Ancient Greek Idols in our midst!

Read More

January Update: A Busy Month Culminates in Applied Technology

I found myself with access to a stack of iPads this week and couldn't let the opportunity pass. I quickly updated my plans to incorporate a technology piece that was a perfect extension of the work and explorations we'd been doing at each grade level. Here, then, is a quick summary by grade level of what our January has been all about and then a note about how we used tech this week to enhance and extend our learning.

1st

We've transitioned into visual/spatial reasoning in January, which is a fancy way of saying we've been developing the problem-solving muscles in our brains that utilize visual information to find logical patterns in forms, shapes, colors, etc. We've used two classic geometrical tools to do this: tangrams and pentominoes. This week with the iPads we focused on 3 nice apps to apply these developing skills: Blockaders, Zentomino HD Lite and Zen HD Lite - Relaxing Tangrams. They are all free, find them for your devices!

Tangrams consist of 7 pieces

Pentominoes consist of 12 pieces of 5 sections each

2nd

2014 has been all about roller coasters! We started with some of the basic science, like how coasters get their speed and what "G force" is. Then we went into research mode and dug up some detailed information on famous coasters throughout the world. On the iPads this week, we found the perfect app to begin testing our own coaster engineering skills: Coaster Frenzy. Students have to design, test, and modify their track in order to increase speed and make the ride fun. There is also a wonderful creative aspect to designing a coaster that would be safe AND fun.

3rd

Using Benjamin Franklin's fascination with magic squares as a trigger, we've been playing around with "magic math," especially different types of magic squares. That led us over to a cousin of the magic square, sudoku, and all 3rd graders have now been formally introduced to that classic (and addictive) game. The apps we used this week were ProMagic Square and Sudoku 2. There are probably several thousand sudoku games out there, but this one was a hit for its easy interface.

4th

Well, pentominoes and more pentominoes! As you know, students created 3-D pentominoes at home using 5 6x6x6 inch cubes. We are using those in class for real-life architecture challenges, like the reading nooks we have lovingly called "pentominooks." This week with the iPads we stuck on the theme of pentominoes but with a special creative twist: students used the app iMovie to create movie trailers in which the characters, theme and title all centered around pentominoes in some way. I will share those soon in a separate post.

5th

OK, 5th is the one grade that didn't indulge much in the iPads. We've been busy, though. In January we kicked off a long-term unit on Mindset--a way of framing and perceiving the world and yourself for long-term success and growth. At the same time, we are continuing with our civilization projects. Most recently, students designed (with elaborate detail) the fictional fruits that are the basis of their civilizations. We got some inspiration for our fruit creations from a documentary called Fruit Hunters. We only saw the trailer in class, but Mr. Koch has seen the whole thing and recommends it (Netflix)! :)

Read More

4th Grade Update: Blueprints In Progress

The mysteries of The Wright 3 continue to deepen as our 3 main characters are gradually unraveling the strange but true history of the Robie House in Chicago. Along the way, though, we let the book send us off on related thinking challenges and projects, and one of those projects is to slowly design our own homes. Little by little we've learned some basic concepts of architecture and also focused on the Math that architects use. We've created a basic layout for our homes designed to suit a family of 5, and then drawn a scaled version of the home (1 inch = 5 feet) aiming for a perimeter of about 200 ft. We've also learned about the aesthetics of a "facade" and explored using repeated elements to create a visual pattern that is pleasing to the eye.

Blueprints in progress

Calculating perimeter

Repeating elements to create a pattern on this "facade"

We've also pulled out the 3-D pentominoes in order to follow the thinking of one of our main characters in The Wright 3. We try to model his constructions, but also explore by making our own.

Here's some of the art glass in the Robie House

One of the most beautiful traits of the Robie House are the art glass windows designed by Frank Lloyd Wright himself. When I came across some old "transparency sheets," the perfect project idea came to mind. "Let's make our own art glass windows!" It was also a nice moment to discuss the "ancient classroom technology" of overhead projectors and transparencies. We mimicked Wright's designs but gave them our own unique flair of personality, first on graph paper and then transferred onto the transparencies. They look A LOT better on a sunny day, but the pictures below should give you an idea...

We've also taken time these last few weeks to review/practice our deductive reasoning skills with the help of logic grids. If you've seen our younger grade updates you'll see they've been practicing as well. We never stop doing them--they just get more and more complex!

Read More

4th Grade Update: The "Wright" Stuff

Other grade levels are enjoying novels as a supplement to their units this year, but 4th grade is the only group using a novel as the primary launch pad for all their explorations. The novel is The Wright Three by Blue Balliet. Here's a book talk/preview:

To set a foundation for reading, we first built up some background knowledge on architecture in general, including some basic concepts and a scavenger hunt of some famous buildings. This included a DI-like design challenge where the students had to create skyscrapers out of very limited materials (tape and two types of paper) in a very limited time. They did quite well!

Since the book centers around the Robie House, a work by Frank Lloyd Wright, we then did some background research on Wright, and each week we are building on that knowledge.

Another huge connection from the novel are pentominoes, a set geometrical and mathematical tools with all kinds of uses. We started with 2-D pentominoes and worked our visual-spatial skills with a number of challenges.

One student designed "Texonimo" in honor of the Lone Star state.

 We've since pulled out some 3-D pentominoes and that opens up a whole new set of challenges!

At the same time, the book itself has made us intrigued with The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. None of us understand the connection yet, but it keeps popping up in the story. This trailer of the old black and white movie sure got our attention, too!

Our most recent challenge that demanded creativity, innovation, cooperation and organization was another design challenge using LEGO bricks. In our "Think Like an Architect" challenge, students were presented with a client (a family of 4) with specific needs in a home. They then had to design the home to meet those needs. We had some wildly innovative samples!

Soon we'll delve into the more technical and mathematical aspects of architecture, but this was a way to understand the creative problem solving with which an architect approaches his or her work.

Read More