Despite being a rainy day, fourth grade scholars were ready risk-taking and reflection.
Even before the bell rang, students found friends with whom to play some games that got everyone thinking.
While Wednesdays are short, we managed to pack in a plethora of powerful ponderings, and projects.
After recording our words for the week, but prior to capturing our notes and noticings, we did a sort to help use inquire into our words. Some groups examined spelling patterns, others explored syllables, still others sought to sort by categories of meaning. It was amazing to see how many different ways we could look at our words and wonder.
 
Part of our discuss focused on our word “composite,” which reminded us of a lot of other related words – compose, company, compass, compose, companion, and… dot com (.com). This, then, launched us into a discussion of other “dots” and their meanings. We are definitely interested in exploring this further.
I wonder if these were the result of the problem solving process.
We were grateful to have Mr. Sheldrick join us as a special guest for this portion of our day. He got to see some incredible inquiry in action!
Not done yet…
After word work, we engaged in the Visible Thinking Routine: Think. Puzzle. Explore. to help us dissect dozens of diagrams.
Students started with a set that they scrutinized alone for several minutes prior to sharing. Scholars then circulated to additional sets of images to add to their thinking and begin puzzling about what they thought.
Some of students’ thoughts and puzzles were share with the whole group.
This activity is the first in a series that will help us design our own problem solving process.
As we neared the end of our Think. Puzzle. Explore., two fifth grade students arrived to introduce themselves and to share a bit about peer mediation.
They were very professional and knowledgeable about the process (which just happened to be one of the diagrams we had just examined). Hmmm… I wonder why these diagrams were included in our collection.
- What do you THINK about them?
- What questions or PUZZLES do you have?
- What do these diagrams make you want to EXPLORE?
Our last inquiry before we headed home for the day launched us into the world of… multiplication (with a touch of geometry).
After clarifying the difference between a ray and an array, students were tasked with using 25 centimeter cubes to create as many arrays as they could.
Before using the blocks, though, this group of gentlemen built an array with their clipboards. Clever!
Students were excited by their discoveries and were eager to communicate their learning in concrete, pictorial, and abstract ways.
This is where we are headed…
Multiple Sources to exercise your math-magical brain: