Monday, February 18, 2013

What Do Frogs and Fractions Have in Common?



The answer is plenty if you are investigating fractions on a line plot.  The students created origami frogs using index cards while watching this video. 

Next, they created a number line by folding a sentence strip to create the fractional portions.

Then the fun began. Students worked with a partner to measure how far their frog could jump in fractional lengths. After 10 jumps, they plotted their data on their line plot and used that data to solve problems involving fractions. This was a excellent activity for practicing those computational skills. Thanks for sharing Lisa!

Student Videos Using Educreations

For a while now I have wanted my students to be able to create their own videos to explain a math concept.  I knew Educreations would be the perfect vehicle for this.  It's simple and easy to use.  There are other programs that may work as well (Screenchomp and Explain Everything) but I likeEducreations, it works for me.  

The problem with implementing this (I thought) was giving the students access to an Educreations account.  I had already set up a class group on Educreations, but wasn't doing much with it. Do I let them use my account and password or do they have to set up their own account?   I even wrote an email to the creators telling them how great it would be if my students could use my account but have their own page to create their videos.

Well, almost immediately after I hit "send" a little birdie said, "read the FAQs".  Guess what I found?  Q: "Can my students record their own videos?" A: "Yes. . ."  I was thrilled to find out that students can be given a link or the code to join our class group (easy). I set up a sample student page so I could see exactly what the students see when they log in. While logged in as a student, I started clicking and eventually clicked on "My Profile".  Low and behold what do you think came up?  A screen to create their own videos! Problem solved. It's the little things that make me happy.

Check out Sarah's video on Fractions.


Goodbye!

Wow! I can’t believe I have not posted anything this entire school year! I’m not sure what that means. I have decided that I will be retir...