We have been learning about multiplication and skip counting in math. It has been a lot of fun solving the questions people have left in our comments on the Groups of Things post!

Another thing that has been fun for some of us is following the football playoffs in the NFL. Two of our local teams, The New England Patriots and the New York Giants, have made it to the final four teams. 

Perezoso says, "Go Patriots!"

Even Perezoso the sloth is excited, and he never gets excited about anything (except sleep).

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We decided to use what we have been learning about multiplication to figure out how many points the two teams got from touchdowns and field goals.

Touchdowns are usually worth 7 points and field goals are worth 3 points.

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Here is a “Mathlete Show” video showing how we used repeated addition, skip counting, and multiplication to solve some football questions. The hosts of this episode are “Oreo” and “Billy Bob.”

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The Giants and Patriots will play separate games this Sunday, and if they both win they will face each other in the Super Bowl!

Who do you think will win the Super Bowl? Vote on our poll below and leave a comment with your choice.

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Here are some football multiplication questions for you to answer:

1. If a team scores 24 points, how many touchdowns and field goals would that be?

2. What would 6 touchdowns and 4 field goals equal?

3. Can a team score 42 points without scoring a touchdown? 

We are starting to learn about multiplication in math.

Multiplication is really just a faster way to add together equal groups of things. Here’s an example from Jennifer:

7 groups of 3

Here are 7 Pikachus.

Each Pikachu has 3 bowls of food.

Because each Pikachu (a type of Pokemon) has an equal number of bowls, we can say that this is 7 groups of 3. You can figure out how many bowls there are altogether by adding 3 together 7 times:

3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 21

There are 21 bowls of food in all.

Multiplication makes it easier than adding up each 3. You can skip-count by the equal groups (3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21), or better still, memorize the multiplication facts. We also call multiplication “times” because you are adding the same number a certain amount of times. So, 7 groups of 3 also means:

7 x 3 = 21

Here are more examples of turning equal groups of things into multiplication:

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With multiplication you can quickly find the total amount of equal groups of things.  We will use this a lot in math when we start doing serious skip counting, figuring out arrays, and then division.

Here is a multiplication picture-problem for you to solve:

20 groups of 10

Here are 20 wacky students. 

Each wacky student has 10 fingers.

How many fingers are there in all?

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Can you solve the equal groups question above?

What did you think of our multiplication pictures and sentences?

Can you think of other problems from everyday life that we can use multiplication to solve?

We used a stone mortar and pestle to grind corn into cornmeal the way that the local Native Americans would have done.

a stone mortar and pestle

The local Native americans grew three important crops – corn, beans, and squash. These were called “the three sisters” because they always grew together and helped each other.

(To learn more about “the three sisters” watch this voicethread on our Native American wiki site.)

Corn was the most important crop because they could grind it into cornmeal for breads, porridge, or a portable snack, and it would last through the winter. They used a mortar and pestle to grind the corn into cornmeal.

The women and children would work together to grind the corn

We wanted to see what it would be like to grind corn the way the Native Americans did, so we tried it with a small stone mortar and pestle. This would be what the children used, while the women used large wooden ones.

a HEAVY stone pestle

Here is a video of us using the mortar and pestle and talking about what we learned:

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Have you ever used a mortar and pestle to grind something? Would you like to?

How do you think flour and cornmeal is made now?

What did you think of our video?

Recently we took a field trip to the local aquarium for a special program called “Native Americans and The Sea.”

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The  native people of this area lived right next to the Atlantic Ocean. They got lots of food and materials from the sea and the coast. During the summer they would move their villages to the shore for fishing, clamming and farming. Then in the winter they moved back into the forests to get away from the cold winter winds.

(For more information about their life through the seasons, click here.)

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How would they use this whelk?

At the aquarium we got to examine many of the animals and materials that the local tribes used.

We talked about how they would use these things for five different purposes: food, tools, clothing, wampum, and fertilizer for gardens.

Here is a slide show about what we learned:

Two weeks ago we were very excited to get a surprise package in the mail from our blogging buddies from 2KM & 2KJ in Leopold, Australia.

Package From 2KM & 2KJ!

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In the package we found a beautiful book written and illustrated by our Australian blogging buddies, called “Santa’s Blogging Adventure“

Santa's Blogging Adventure

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The book is fantastic!

It is a story about how Santa has to find the true meaning of Christmas by visiting the blogging buddies of 2KM & 2KJ, including us, Mrs. Yollis’ class, Mrs. Watson’s 2/3′s, Mr. Avery’s class, and B4. At each stop he learns a different important aspect of the holiday season.

All of the other classes in the story also got a copy of the book. We were thinking of making a video of us reading the story, but Mr. Avery’s class had the same idea and they already did it! To listen to Mr. Avery’s class read this amazing story visit their blog post here.

Below is a voicethread that we made thanking 2KM & 2KJ for the wonderful present:

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Our buddies from 2KM & 2KJ are almost finished with their school year because it is summer time for them in the Southern Hemispere. We hope they have a great summer holiday!

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Thank you so much 2KM and 2KJ!

Have a wonderful holiday season!

One of our classmates, Maura, started a blog last month to share her trip to New Zealand. She is excited to keep it going to share some of her art, writing, ideas, and adventures. Right now she has an excellent “caption contest” post. 

The blog is called Maura’s Marvelous Menagerie. Click on the link or the picture below to visit the blog and leave her a comment. 

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Be sure to check out the slideshow from her New Zealand trip!

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Instead of leaving a comment here, head on over to Maura’s blog and leave her a comment.

Our friend Juan Pablo is here to ask a very important question about reading.

Listen to his question, and then leave a comment with your answer.

So, what are some things you can do if your reading gets a little confusing?

What “fix up” strategies do you use to understand tricky parts?

During writing we have been learning about similes and… snowballs?

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First, let’s focus on similes. These are techniques that can make our writing more descriptive.

Similes are comparisons between two different things using the words like or as.

Here is an example from Braedon:

The creature’s enormous eyes were as bright as the sun.

The comparisons in similes help the reader visualize the writing.

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What do snowballs have to do with this? Hmm, that’s a good question…

Sometimes we need to move a little bit in the afternoons. It gets hard to do our best work if we are sitting too long. So, we have been having “snowball” fights in our classroom!

Well, they aren’t really snowballs. First we do some writing work on a small piece of paper. Then we crumple up the paper. These are our “snowballs.”

"Snowballs"

When Mr. Salsich gives the signal we throw our snowballs around the room and at each other. After everyone gets a few throws, Mr. Salsich gives another signal and we stop and pick up the nearest snowball. Then we gather on the carpet and share what other people wrote on their snowball.

It is a fun way to get some movement and share our ideas.

Caution: Classroom snowball fights can cause uncontrollable excitement and laughter.

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Here are some similes from the students about what the room was like when we were writing our similes:

The classroom was as quiet as a cat stalking its prey. – Joey

The room was as quiet as a butterfly – Shea

The students were very quiet, like an owl flying – Creighton

And here are some similes about what the room was like during our snowball fight:

Suddenly the classroom was as loud as 25 lions roaring! – Taylor

The classroom got extremely loud, like a cannonball smashing into a brick wall - Chris.

All of a sudden, the room was as loud as a herd of buffalo! – Kayla

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What do you think about having “snowball” fights in class?

Can you think of any similes for these sentences: The room was as messy as … The student’s smile was like a… The student ran as fast as…

I am very excited to announce that our blog has officially been nominated for Best Class Blog for the Edublog Awards!

What an Honor!

Voting is open until 11:59 pm. on Tuesday December 13th.

• You can vote once everyday, for as many categories as you want. 
• You can vote from any device that connects to the internet.

Click here to vote for us in Best Class Blog.

(You can also get to the voting site by clicking on our nomination badge in the left sidebar.)

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It is a great accomplishment to make the short list of nominations. Hundreds of other blogs were nominated, and we have made it to the final 54!

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Some of our blogging buddies have also been nominated in other categories.

Some of our friends from Mrs. Yollis’ class and 2KM & 2KJ have been nominated for Best Student Blog!

Click here to vote for Best Student Blog

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Mr. Avery’s class has been nominated for Best Use of Audio/Video!

Click here to vote for Mr. Avery’s class in Best Use of Audio/Video

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Finally, our group blog, Our World Our Stories, has been nominated for Best Group Blog!

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One vote per computer per day for each category.

Family and friends are encouraged to vote! Please spread the word.

We have been focusing on adding details to our writing so the reader can visualize what is happening. We want them to feel like they are right there in the story. One way to do this is to describe how characters are feeling instead of just saying they are mad, or cold, or happy.

Below is a PowerPoint slide show with some of our descriptions that “show” how characters are feeling instead of just “telling.”

Could you picture what the characters were feeling?

What words or phrases helped you visualize the feelings?