Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Family Fun Night
Friday, February 6th is Family Fun Night! Be sure to bring your child for some fun game playing time with you and his/her friends at Fern Bluff Elementary.
Tournament Registration
If you haven't registered for tournament yet, do it now! If you don't know how, email us at MPCBobcats@hotmail.com for detailed instructions.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
WEEK 17: 1/27
Today was the final day for DIV I students and their journey in the land of Kings and Quadraphages. DIV II students practiced Ramrod with the recycling rule today and DIV III students are still exploring the many operations and possibilities of Stars & Bars.
Friday, January 16, 2009
WEEK 16: 1/20
This was a big week for game rules! We have introduced the basic concepts of each of the games to the students and are learning to play. As usual, there might be one or two rules that come after the main concepts have been learned. These make the games exciting and offer additional strategical options. Ask your child what a quadraphage or a cuisinaire rod is or what the big deal is about stars and bars!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Tournament Registration
Today we sent home instructions on how to register your student online for the National Math Pentathlon Tournament. Please take some time in the next two weeks to get your child(ren) registered! If you have any questions, be sure to email us. Thanks.
WEEK FIFTEEN: 1/13
All of us started our first lesson on a new game today! Generally, on a first week we introduce concepts (through exploration and activities) that will be used when learning the game during a subsequent week. From www.mathpentath.org, here's the MATH we are learning behind all the fun!
DIV I: Kings & Quadraphages
Horizontal, vertical, and diagonal movement, which is the basis of many mathematics/ science concepts, is practiced in this simple, but challenging entrapment game. In addition, students experience a dynamic use of counting skills while exploring deductive thinking and the topology of open and closed regions. Students take turns placing a chip (referred to as a square-eating Quadraphage) on a grid-type gameboard and moving their pawn (the King) to entrap the opposing King.
DIV II: Ramrod
The game of Ramrod combines the ability to know all facts for each number family with strategic thinking. Cuisenaire rods and a gameboard that connects rectangular (sum) boxes composed of different metric lengths provide the setting for students’ active investigation of addition and subtraction, measurement, estimation, spatial reasoning, and inductive and deductive thought. In this game students must plan ahead to construct “RAMROD” (addend) combinations of two rods that complete a rectangular (sum) box length in the playing area of the gameboard. Such (addend) combinations result in captures that relate to the game goal of being the first to complete their 24 cm rectangular region of the gameboard. The ability to associate each of the colored rods with their corresponding number value facilitates students’ skill to mentally compute all of the facts for each number family represented on the gameboard.
DIV III: Stars & Bars
This multiple classification-logic game uses geometric attribute cards and a grid-type board to help students develop understanding of multi-variable relationships. For each play students try to maximize their scores by placing cards onto the gameboard and comparing them to adjacent cards that are one, two, three, or four-ways different. The horizontal, vertical, and diagonal placement of the cards onto the gameboard contributes to the development of logical, computational, and spatial thought.
DIV I: Kings & Quadraphages
Horizontal, vertical, and diagonal movement, which is the basis of many mathematics/ science concepts, is practiced in this simple, but challenging entrapment game. In addition, students experience a dynamic use of counting skills while exploring deductive thinking and the topology of open and closed regions. Students take turns placing a chip (referred to as a square-eating Quadraphage) on a grid-type gameboard and moving their pawn (the King) to entrap the opposing King.
DIV II: Ramrod
The game of Ramrod combines the ability to know all facts for each number family with strategic thinking. Cuisenaire rods and a gameboard that connects rectangular (sum) boxes composed of different metric lengths provide the setting for students’ active investigation of addition and subtraction, measurement, estimation, spatial reasoning, and inductive and deductive thought. In this game students must plan ahead to construct “RAMROD” (addend) combinations of two rods that complete a rectangular (sum) box length in the playing area of the gameboard. Such (addend) combinations result in captures that relate to the game goal of being the first to complete their 24 cm rectangular region of the gameboard. The ability to associate each of the colored rods with their corresponding number value facilitates students’ skill to mentally compute all of the facts for each number family represented on the gameboard.
DIV III: Stars & Bars
This multiple classification-logic game uses geometric attribute cards and a grid-type board to help students develop understanding of multi-variable relationships. For each play students try to maximize their scores by placing cards onto the gameboard and comparing them to adjacent cards that are one, two, three, or four-ways different. The horizontal, vertical, and diagonal placement of the cards onto the gameboard contributes to the development of logical, computational, and spatial thought.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
WEEK FOURTEEN: Earthquake Day
To get the students back into the games, each division had an Earthquake Game Play day. Every five minutes the students would rotate to a new game, with a new partner, and play the game that was currently in progress. This challenges the students to quickly determine the strategy of the former player to try to make progress or win the game before their next rotation five minutes later. It's a great way to remember the games we've been playing and play one-on-one with many of their friends in class!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
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