The first lesson on bones and ligaments involved building one finger.  The challenge level was building a whole hand which we finally did.  It was great!

I believe that each student was created to build and problem solve.  Everyone receives a container of PlayDoh at the beginning of the year and they love working with it.  They get a break from reading, writing and math plus they can use their hands and play.  Every classroom should have PlayDoh!

It's common to have distracted students and some days it seems like engaging them is getting harder.  In my experience, fun needs to be a part of learning or kids will tune out.  So, on the first day of school, we did a hands-on science activity using Mystery Science.  We built a finger. I think it was a hit. 

Today we started our unit on fractions.  With PlayDoh, plates and plastic knives on our desks, we are building conceptual understanding by comparing medium and large "pizza" slices.  It will take time to understand what a fradtion really is but some students learn this easier because they are visual.  It's a nice change from the division algorithm.

​We hit a self-inflicted roadblock.  Some PlayDoh was old and dry.  I should have checked first.  We'll hit the concept again tomorrow but with better PlayDoh.

Today we used Legos to better understand the concept of division while practicing the algorithm to divide three digit numbers by one digit.

There was lots of excitement in the air when the Legos came out.  We put them in equal groups, took a break and worked through the algorithm.  We are making progress!

We continue to learn about fractions.  Today we worked with partners using fraction strips.  Then we added some important notes to our math notebooks.

This week we are using Kahoot competitions to test our understanding of fractions.  It's a great way to make learning fun and engaging. Check out our Top Five!

Today, we started a Mystery Science bridge building lesson (distance learning style).  We watched the video during our daily Google Meet, discussed designs in the chat, created prototypes and started building bridges out of paper.  Students are inserting pictures of their bridges into a Google Slides presentation and retooling/retesting designs.  So far, Mia was able to build a bridge, made with only two pieces of paper, that can hold over 700 pennies!  The competition continues next week.  My little engineering scholars are amazing!