This morning, in preparation for a Compass Points visible thinking routine, we discussed the formation and purpose of a compass and compass rose. We started by labeling the four cardinal directions (north – N, south – S, east – E, and west – W). Connecting to our work with fractions, we then divided our compass into eighths, adding the intermediate directions (northwest – NW, northeast – NE, southwest – SW, southeast – SE). To challenge our brains, we then divided the eighths in half to make sixteenths. Using our detective skills, we determined how to label these tertiary directions, combining the adjacent cardinal and intermediate directions (north northwest – NNW, west northwest – WNW, west southwest – WSW, south southwest – SSW, north northeast – NNE, east northeast – ENE, east southeast – ESE, south southeast – SSE).
As a connection to our unit on Japan and some origami done in art this week, check out this tutorial on making your own compass rose.
If you’d like to really exercise your brain, check out the following video that includes fractions, directions, and… degrees (angles), a math topic we will focus more on later in the year.
Challenge: Pointing Us in the Right Direction Padlet
- What questions do you have about the compass?
- How could you find out more?
- How could a compass help us explore our area of focus?
- How does a compass connect to our central idea of struggle and survival?
Some of the most exciting things about today were our… MISTAKES! That’s right, we got to see, in person, how quickly neurons can grow when we make mistakes. Our beginning task in math today was to represent the number 0.2 on a hundreds chart. Of the 8 people in class, 8 people made a mistake. That’s right, eight eighths of us had an incorrect answer. he best part was, 8/8 of the class also proved they had a growth mindset because rather than giving up, they asked questions, considered different points of view, and were willing to learn. SO scholarly!
Using the grid on the Google Doc in your Google Classroom. Show how to represent 0.2 by using the fill / paint can tool.
Google Classroom: Lesson 3.10: Exploring Decimals
Alert: This next video requires you to think carefully about what makes a whole.
To close out the week, we ended where we started, talking about parts of speech. Using our Jolly Phonics book as a multiple source, we explored concrete nouns, which are things you can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch.
Scholarly Multiple Source: Concrete vs. Abstract Nouns
We also worked together to generate a list of synonyms for some overused adjectives – good, bad, beautiful, difficult, minimum. Go to your Google Classroom to create your own thesaurus for common adjectives.
Google Classroom: Making a Multiple Source: Thesaurus