So Puzzling!

Published on December 6, 2009 in Problem Solving & Working Mathematically and Space. 0 Comments

Good morning Grade 4/5s!

This week will be the last time we will be having our regular numeracy sessions. I hope that you have enjoyed doing maths the way we’ve been doing it. :)

This week we will be looking at puzzles and visual challenges. These puzzles are fun, exciting and challenging at the same time (and they really make you think!).

There are two games this week. They are both spatial games, where you need to manipulate objects. The first game is called Phit. It  is a little like traffic jam, as you need to move shapes without overlapping them.

Click on the link below to start a game of Phit.

http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-phit/index.html

The second game is called Bloxorz and is more difficult. You need to move the rectangular prism using your keyboard arrow keys. The aim of the game is to get it into the square hole without falling off the edge. There are 33 levels in total, each getting more difficult. Click on the link below to start Bloxorz.

http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-bloxorz/index.html

Here are a few hints for Bloxors:

  • The circle button can open / close a bridge or it can create new helpful tiles.  You can just roll over it to activate it.
  • The cross button also opens / closes a bridge or creates new tiles, but you need to stand on it upright.
  • The orange-coloured tiles have to be rolled over with the long sides of the recrangular prism. You can not stand on them vertically, as they are too brittle and will give way.
  • The button that is shaped like 2 semi-circles will separate your prism into two cubes. You can move them separately and switch between them by pressing the space bar. However, the cubes need to be joined before going into the hole.

 

Good luck and I hope you enjoy these challenging games!

Miss Klintoukh

Open up your mind!

Published on November 29, 2009 in Information, Mental Computation, Number, Operations and Problem Solving & Working Mathematically. 0 Comments

Hello grade 4/5 problem-solving experts!

This week we will be looking at a different type of problems to the ones you’ve already looked at. Our challenges this week will revolve around Open-Ended Problems. The good thing about these types of problems is that there is no one correct answer – you can solve them in many ways. This week you will be required to think how YOU will work something out and how the problem can be solved in other ways. So if you are working on a problem and you see someone next to you with a different answer, don’t worry! There is more than one correct answer!

The online activities this week are games that will exercise your logical thinking. They are challenging, and you will need to attempt them several times before finding the answer. (I had to try them many times to solve them too!). Every student will need to have a go at each of the games.

The first game is an ancient and well known puzzle called Tower of Hanoi. You will need to change the number of rings to 3 at first, but you can make it harder once you solve it.

http://www.puzz.com/towerofhanoi.html

In the second puzzle, you have to pick which object is the heaviest. It sounds easy and it starts off with simple problems, but it gets very tricky!

http://www.onlinegamingzone.com/seesaw.html

The last puzzle is also challenging. You need to move all the penguins from one side to the other, but you can not leave the baby penguin without its mother because it will fly away. This may take you a few tries to solve.

http://www.onlinegamingzone.com/penguin.html

If you need to reset the game, click the Refresh Page button.

 

I hope that you will find these games both brain-stretching and fun!

Miss Klintoukh

Percentages, Decimals, Fractions… Are they the same or are they different?

Published on November 22, 2009 in Number. 0 Comments

Good Morning 4/5s!

This week we will be looking at Fractions, Percentages and Decimals. Is there a link between them or are they completely different? We will be seeing if they are related and how we can use them to show parts of something whole.  

Your activities this week will involve a fair bit of thinking, as you will need to make connections and apply the knowledge you already have. It will be both challenging and rewarding! 

There are two online activities for this week and every student needs to do both. You must, however, start from the first one.

The first online activity involves recognising fractions. You will need to do 20 attempts at the first one, and record your number of correct answers and accuracy as a percentage. This will need to be pasted into your maths book. Click on the link below to start your first activity:

http://visualfractions.com/EnterCircle.html

In the second activity you will get to experiment with designing your own park. You will be given instructions on the type of park that is required, but you can be as creative as you like! The activity is both fun and challenging, and there is no one correct answer. The link below takes you to this second online game, but remember to do the activity above first.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/maths/number/percentages/play_popup.shtml

Hope you find these online activities helpful in developing your maths skills and knowledge!

Miss Klintoukh

Do you want to be a Mathionaire?

Published on November 15, 2009 in Information, Mental Computation, Number, Operations and Problem Solving & Working Mathematically. 0 Comments

Hello 4/5 Problem Solvers!

This week we will be continuing our exploration of operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We’ll also look at a few more word problems and how to use the operations to solve them.

For your online activity this week, you will be playing Who Wants to be a Mathionaire! It’s like the game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” on TV, but with a Maths twist! There are 3 levels – Addition, Multiplication and Super Challenge. Everyone must start at addition and work their way up. The games should help you master those addition and multiplication skills as well as have a go at some more challenging mathematics!

So turn your thinking caps on and click on the links below to begin! Remember to start from the first link.

Addition – http://www.mathsisfun.com/games/mathionaire-addition-quiz.html

Multiplication – http://www.mathsisfun.com/games/mathionaire-multiplication-quiz.html

Super Challenge (you may need to use a dictionary for this one!) -http://www.netrover.com/~kingskid/mathquiz/mathionaire.htm.

Unfortunately, just like with Deal or No Deal, you will not win any real money. However, you will need to fill out a cheque with your winning amount and paste it into your maths book (to keep a record of your hard-earned reward!).

I hope that you enjoy the activities this week and find them useful for your mathematical thinking! Remember to leave feedback about any activities we do this week. Your comments have been fantastic and help us plan more exciting activities for you all!

Miss Klintoukh

That PROBLEM is too WORDY!

Published on November 5, 2009 in Information, Mental Computation, Number, Operations and Problem Solving & Working Mathematically. 0 Comments

Good Morning Grade 4/5!

Today is a little bit sad for me as it is the last time that I will be posting your numeracy work for the week! Miss Klintoukh will be taking over from now on, but I do want to take the opportunity to thank you all for your hard work! I hope you have enjoyed the new numeracy program as much as I have this year! All your PAT Math test results show improvement and this makes all your teachers smile! I hope that you are all very proud of your achievements and I also hope that you continue to love, enjoy and USE mathematics throughout your lives!

Now, to get down to business:

This week we are going to be looking at number operations (+, -, x and division). We will revise how to actually add, subtract, multiply and divide and more importantly, we will be going over word ptoblems where you have to USE the operations to solve the question! You MUST have your thinking caps on as there is a lot of work to be done!

On Mathletics this week during your computer time, you will need to go to the following:

Under: Operations With Number each group needs to go to:

Circles – under something easier click on the following:

  • column addition
  • column subtraction
  • columns that subtract
  • multiplication facts

Squares & Triangles can just click straight on: 

  • Adding colossal columns 
  • Subtracting colossal columns
  • contracted multiplication
  • short division
  • problems: multiplication and division

Diamonds- you need to go to ‘something harder’ then click on:

  • Mass word problems
  • long multiplication
  • divide decimals: 10, 100, 1000 
  • Long division

PLEASE DO EACH ACTIVITY IN ORDER! Each of you need to have 3 tries at getting 100% each time you do an activity. If you get 100% on the first or second try, then of course you can move on to another activity.

Use your time WISELY as this will give you GREAT preparation for next year and beyond!

Good luck and farewell! I will miss you all so much and I promise to keep you posted with any baby news!

Mrs. Hamilton :-)

Can you REPEAT yourself?

Published on October 27, 2009 in Problem Solving & Working Mathematically and Space. 4 Comments

Good Morning Terrific Tessellators!

This week you will be learning about 2D shapes that TESSELLATE!

We will begin by checking out the works of a Dutch artist named MC Escher. He used tessellation in his artwork and made some amazing optical illusions! Let’s take a look!

http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/opticalillusions/escher.html

Below are some more pictures in google images that will really impress you!

http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=escher+optical+illusions&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=

This week, during your computer time, you will have a chance to create your own tessellating shapes using an online computer program. See what wonderful and interesting shapes you can come up with! To get to the site, click on the link below:

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/Tessellate/?version=1.6.0_15&browser=MSIE&vendor=Sun_Microsystems_Inc.&flash=10.0.32

Please make sure that you play games, such as the tessellation boards, the ‘bird puzzle’ and the magnetic tessellation boards. Enjoy being artistic and creative this week!

Mrs. Hamilton

What do you MEAN?

Published on October 18, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Good Morning!

Today we will be learning about AVERAGES. Another word for average is MEAN. (We don’t mean being horrible and nasty though!)

I have noticed that people have had a go at finding the average on the Mathletics website, and have not scored very well. Not to worry! After this week you will all be absolute professionals at finding out how to do this! (It is actually very easy!)

We will be using Mathletics during our computer time this week. You need to make sure you complete the three sections under the heading:

Chance and Data

* Finding the Average

&

* How many Combinations?

and under the heading ‘Something Harder’ click on

* Mean.

If you do complete all three sections you can go to the following website to have a play with finding the mean. You might like to use numbers that relate to you, your friends, your family, your lotto ticket?!

http://www.mathsisfun.com/data/mean-machine.html

Enjoy!

Mrs. H :-)

To graph or not to graph? That is the question…

Published on October 11, 2009 in Chance and Data. 3 Comments

Good morning once again!

I hope you are all enjoying learning about chance and data. So far we have only focused on CHANCE and now we will be learning about collecting and displaying DATA. You will be asking and answering lots of questions, so get your thinking caps on!

This week we are using Mathletics for our computer time. This week you need to go to the Chance and Data section once again, but this time you must select the activities listed below:

Chance & Data ONLY – under Something Easier and Something Harder

‘reading from a column graph’

‘line graphs: interpretation’

‘Sorting data’, ‘column graphs’

‘interpreting tables’

 ‘divided bar graphs’

As you can see there are lots of activities, so use any spare time this week to get through them all!

Work hard, and have fun!

Mrs. Hamilton :-)

Deal or No Deal? (5.10.09)

Published on October 4, 2009 in Chance and Data. 7 Comments

Good Morning Everyone!!

I am sure that many of you have seen the game Deal or No Deal on the television. This week you will be playing this game online! Keep in mind that , sadly, you do NOT win any real money.

When you are playing the game we want you to keep a track of how much you win each time you play and think about the following questions:

  • What are the chances of you winning the $1,000,000?
  • What are the chances of you winning $0.01c?
  • What random events take place?
  • What events happen that are independent of other events?

Please reply with answers to the questions!

To play the game, click on the following link:

http://www.youplay.com/games/play/31/0/

Have fun and good LUCK!

Mrs. H

Take a CHANCE! (28.9.09)

Published on September 27, 2009 in Chance and Data, Information, Mental Computation, Number, Operations and Problem Solving & Working Mathematically. 0 Comments

Good Morning Everyone!

This week we will begin to learn about CHANCE & DATA. We will be discussing what words like: impossible, possible, likely, unlikely, certain and uncertain mean.

Chance activities will involve lots of game-playing and lots of data collecting!

This week we will be using Mathletics as our computer activity. You can ONLY click on the Chance and Data option and you will need to click on the following activities:

  • What are the chances?
  • How many combinations?

Remember to repeat the activities several times and if you are not getting 10/10 or close to 10 each time you MUST use the support button to help explain what it is you do not understand. If you complete each activity at least twice, then you may use any spare time to play live competitions.

Good LUCK! (Hmm, will you need luck, or are the odds in your favour?)

Mrs. H :-)