Family Math Night at LREI

Students and Parents look forward to Family Math Night every year.  

Students in grades one through four celebrate mathematics, as well as continue to hone their fluency in combination facts by playing fun games. Fourth grade students create their own math games as a capstone experience, and then teach them to family and friends during Family Math Night. Continue reading

PROCESS POST: Little Red Square Area/Perimeter-Comments

Grade 3/Relationship between perimeter and area (Same perimeter: different area)

Things to think about for next year’s project:

  • Book Laura Drawbaugh (Parks Dept.) to come and speak about the progress of reconstruction of Little Red Square. This is a two-year project, so we potentially could repeat this lesson next year.
  • Ask Laura to print out large one inch chart paper for drawings (30″ wide, unlimited length). It’s also thicker paper.
  • Maybe do “measure your foot” TERC lesson after this project (but have the students take the string and create different quadrilaterals using the same perimeter). Then they could create their own “T-Chart” individually and reflect on the data regarding the relationship between same perimeter and different area. This will reinforce the concept on an independent level with each student, and provide further practice. Most importantly, it will help make every student accountable for the learning because it’s an individual lesson. Teachers can base formative assessment on this. It is also a “Low floor, high ceiling” problem because every student has a different size foot, and will be working with their own perimeter, and reflections are open-ended.

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Area, Perimeter & Little Red Square Park

Third Graders Explore Area and Perimeter by Measuring a “Pocket Park”

As part of their study of area and perimeter, third graders in Elaine and Jessie’s class measured the perimeter of “Little Red Square”, the small pocket park that lies just in front of LREI on Sixth Avenue. Each class divided into small groups and used trundle wheels to measure the four sides of the park. Then they calculated the perimeter by adding up the side dimensions. When the class looked at the set of data, they realized that their perimeter data varied, and they attributed this to the inexactness of using the trundle wheel. They decided to use the middle number of the data set (the median) as their “working” perimeter for the park. Continue reading

Apollo Theater Problem

How many New York City blocks is it to the Apollo Theater from LREI? 

(The Apollo Theater is located at 125th Street in Harlem)

This problem seemed easy enough until Tasha’s second grade realized that the West Village, where LREI is located, isn’t laid out in an organized city grid system, like the rest of Manhattan is. An interesting math problem ensued, and the class enlisted Nick, LREI’s resident historian to help us understand why the streets in the West Village are so confusing! Continue reading

Robin & the Stairs; Odd & Even Numbers

Tasha’s second grade class watched the video below and came up with several mathematical questions to investigate:

  1. How many steps could there be on the stairs if Robin is on the middle step?
  2. Is the step Robin is on odd or even?
  3. Can I count by “twos” and land on the middle step?
  4. What step could Robin be on?
  5. What step could Robin not be on?

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Security Camera Equations & Algebra in First Grade

Students in first grade have been working with the equal symbol, and the greater than/less than symbol. They’ve created number stories and equations using the data they collected from counting the number of security cameras the stores in the neighborhood have. Some of these equations are simply true statements, and some have missing addends, or missing sums, depending on the story they created. Continue reading