Tessellations

I've posted in my room some of the tessellations that my seventh and eighth graders did. I really enjoyed doing this lesson with them.

This Week at ALPS...

Another busy week at ALPS is about to begin...Yeah!!! The first and second graders are about to explore the wonderful world of rockets. They've already shot balloon rockets across the classroom. This week they'll start to construct a water bottle rocket and launch them outside. Launching them in the classroom would cause a small catastrophe for me and Mr. Gonzalez. The third and fourth graders will be wrapping up their hot air balloon projects. They are presenting their powerpoint presentations on hot air balloons to their classmates. The fifth and sixth graders will continue learning about compound shapes and how to find the perimeters and areas of these shapes. I've decided to make it a little interesting and as result they'll have to design a zoo that will incorportate what they have learn about compound shapes' area and perimeter. It's a real world problem that they will have to solve. Finally, the seventh and eighth graders will be introduced to the three dimensional world of geometric solids.

Balloon Launch

As promised here is a short video clip of a balloon launching. The clip was filmed by one of my fourth graders. Saul did a great job. Thanks Saul!!! Also Mr. Gonzalez, our school custodian, was a big help with the balloon launches this whole week. Thank you Mr. Gonzalez!!! Enjoy.

Balloons, Balloons, Balloons

This week the third and fourth graders have been launching their hot air balloons. I've posted some of the pictures for your pleasure. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a video for you to view. Enjoy.

Math for the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh & Eighth Graders

For the students in my upper grade classes, I've been working with them in math. The fifth and sixth graders are learning about discrete mathematics. That means that they get to solve Euler and Hamiltonian paths and circuits. They also get to work on logic problems and game theory. This will be the final week working with them in discrete math. Next week we start working on those fiendishly hard word problems.
The seventh and eighth graders are learning about symmetry. They have worked hard on understanding the four kinds of transformations (rotation, translation, reflection & glide reflection). They know how these transformation relate to symmetry. This week we are going to work with tessellations and learn little about M.C. Escher.

What's New

Sorry for not updating the blog. The new year is busier than the old one. For the next six weeks, I'll be teaching math to the fifth through eighth graders. The first through fourth graders will be taught science.

I've been teaching the first and second graders the mysteries of flight. They've been learning about aerodynamics especially about lift. Instead of building paper airplanes, we've built boomerangs. We started off small. They built finger boomerangs out of index cards. We graduated to the full sized ones constructed out of foam board. Of course some of the student's boomerangs got caught stuck on the roof.

The third and fourth graders have also been learning about aerodynamics. We concentrated, however, on hot air balloons and how they work. They've learned that hot air is less dense than cold air and, therefore, lighter. That's why the hot air balloons are able to float in the sky. The third and fourth graders are constructing hot air balloons out of tissue paper. Next week we plan to launch them.

Tomorrow I'll write about what the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders have been doing in my math classes.

Mission Possible

The seventh and eighth graders have been building Rube Goldberg like devices. What's a Rube Goldberg device? Well, think of that old game "mousetrap" and you got a Rube Goldberg device. Their device is not to capture a mouse but rather pop a balloon. I like doing this project with the older students because it forces them to employ problem solving skills.
The fifth and sixth graders are finishing up their water bottle rockets. Their rockets has to have fins and a nose cone. They also needed to have a parachute system in their rockets. Tuesday's class got to launch their rockets. The students had a great time. By next Monday, we should be done with our rockets, and we'll start planning for a next project. Shhhhhh, can't tell you yet, it's a secret.