Maths Term 3 Week 1

This week we are doing maths a bit differently. We are using an integrated theme approach to maths and working as whole class, buddies and individuals instead of our normal group work. Our theme this week is based on the 1970’s song little boxes.

We listened to the lyrics and discussed what we thought the song was all about (houses that all look the same) We then looked at pictures like these and discussed what we could see.

Our discussion then turned to shapes, both 2d (like rectangles, squares, circles) and 3d (like cubes, cuboid, sphere) We discussed their attributes, what made them different and played games.

The language we learnt was...

2D - flat, corners, sides

3D - edges, vertices, faces

The following day we looked again at 3D shapes and discussed their attributes. We looked 5 main shapes (dome, triangular prism or A frame, square based pyramid and cylinder) In buddies we looked at these 3d shapes on the computers and how people had used them to create different designed homes. Either with a buddy or individually we sketched our favourite house and then let our creative juices flow. Using cardboard, scissors, cello tape and glue we create models of our designs. Here are some photos of our progress.

When we finished, we needed to paint them and display them on the wall.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we moved from geometry (shapes) to measurement. We discussed our models and how scale works. We then measured our class and created a design together based scale (1m to 1cm) We then had fun using different standard unit measurement tools (rulers and trundler wheels to measure other things in and out of the classroom. 

Finally, we had a challenge - was the turf by Room 7 25m long - true or false.

What do you think?

It was a really fun week exploring a different way of doing maths. We can’t wait until we do it again!