Category Archives: Learning Opportunities

#20: Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Math Mini Sparks

Take Me out to the Ball Game! The baseball/softball season is upon us and what better way to prepare for the fun than by studying the ways in which math is used in these fine sports.

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #20: Take Me Out to the Ball Game

2.  Watch this video about how to calculate batting average. Comment about something new you learned from the video on your recording sheet.

 

3. Print off this page and calculate batting averages. Worksheet Source: http://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/future-eligibles#2017-eligibles

4. Watch this PBS video-Real Life Math Baseball. What math does he discuss in the video? Add several ideas to your recording page.

5. Share your math mini spark recording page and batting average practice sheet with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#18: Make a flip book

Full STEAM Ahead, Learning Opportunities

A flip book is a small booklet containing a sequence of images that gradually change from one page to the next. When the pages are turned quickly, they create the illusion of motion.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your STEAM mini spark recording page: #18 Make a Flip Book

2. Print this instruction page or open it up on your ipad.  Read all of the information.

How does the flip book work? Why 24 pages? What is the patent history for this toy? Record this information on your recording sheet.

3. Watch this video

4.   He outlines several different ideas.  Watch the video to get an idea of how to get started. Write the first few steps on your recording page.

5. On your recording page write down the materials you will need and the idea you will use for your story.

6. Gather the materials and add a picture to your recording page.

6. If you want to use your ipad for a light source, watch this tutorial

7. Make your 24 paged flip book. Add a picture of some of the pages to your recording page.

8. Have a friend take a video of your flip book in action.

9. Share your STEAM mini spark recording page and video with your teacher/EY coordinator.

 

#21: Caves

Early Enrichment

Where are there ice caves filled with hot springs? What unique feature do many cave-dwelling fish have? What animals lived in Britain’s caves during the Ice Age? find out the answers to these questions in this mini spark.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your early enrichment mini spark recording page: #21: Caves 

2.  Watch this video about caves.  Write down the names of 3 different types of caves mentioned in the video.

3. Read this fact page about caves.

 

4.

5.  Share your early enrichment mini spark recording page with your teacher or the EY coordinator in your building.

Early Enrichment #20: Math Challenges

Early Enrichment

Do you have what it takes to be a math olympiad?

Try these math challenges to find out! 

 

(1) How many squares and triangles are there in the following drawing?

Triange Squares

(2) Draw the following shapes in one stroke without lifting the pencil and without retracing the same line.

1stroke_2 1stroke_1

(3) Sam lives in an apartment building. There are 3 levels above her and 2 levels below her. How many levels are there in the building?

(4) What do the following letters have in common?

Y M A O T U V X

(5) There are 2 rings and 6 triangles. Move the rings and triangles so that each ring has 4 triangles in them.

New 3r7

(6)  Alphabet Spaghetti Puzzle

Spaghetti is famous for the way it all gets tangled up on the plate. Those of you who think they know their alphabet are bound to get all tangled up with this puzzle too, unless you read it and think about it very carefully!

What letter of the alphabet is the one which comes eight letters before the letter which comes five letters after the fourth appearance of the first letter to occur four times in this sentence?

Comment Below with your answers!

Questions from Math Top 10 and Math is Fun

Early Enrichment #19: Are We There Yet? (E.2)

Early Enrichment

This week we are traveling to visit one of the largest cities in the world, 

London, England! 

United Kingdom

England is a part of Great Britain or the United Kingdom, and makes up the southern half. You can see it below in Yellow. Can you believe London, England is 4,287 mi away from Omaha, Nebraska. To get there you would have to take at least two different planes!

Checkout these activities about London, England: 

  1. Read more about England
  2. Build your own London Bridge  
  3. Learn to draw Big Ben 
  4. Design an English castle and try to include at least 5 different shapes!

Share what you learned below or with your EY Coordinator!

 

 

#10: Horse-Riding Librarians

Social Studies Enrichment, , ,

How can you deliver library books to remote parts of the country? In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, jobless Americans in isolated regions of Kentucky relied on horse-riding librarians. Learn more in the Social Studies Mini Spark.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your Social Studies mini spark recording page: #10: Horse Riding Librarians

2. A part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s New Deal, the Pack Horse Library Project was “an ambitious plan to deliver educational resources to struggling eastern Kentucky families.” Championed by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) program also benefited women and children by providing women with a way to earn income.

3.  In this video of Untold History, learn more about the Horse Riding Librarians. Record 5 details about this program on your recording page.

4. Listen to this/read this 6 minute podcast, The Pack Horse Librarians Of Eastern Kentucky, from PBS.

How did people respond to the program?

Where did the books come from?

In the podcast they compared the Kentucky book project to other types of programs around the world. Record a few of these programs.

5. Share your Social Studies mini spark recording page with your teacher or the EY coordinator in your building.

 

Early Enrichment #18: Pi Day

Early Enrichment

Pi

Not, Pie, but Pi! Have you ever heard about it?

Pi is the 16th letter in the Greek Alphabet, and it is also a math symbol used with circles.

radius

Pi equals the circumference divided by the diameter (π = c/d). The interesting this about pi is that mathematicians who have been working on this number believe that it is infinite, meaning that it’s not the quotient of two integers. In other words, the number pi goes on and on and on, and we don’t know where it ends!

Today, March 14th or 3/14 is celebrated around the world as Pi Day! 

Try out this fun Pi Day Early Enrichment activity below. Watch this video about the never ending number and download the Pi Day Grid Art!

 

Pi Day Grid Art 

Share your artwork with your EY Coordinator!

** Project adapted from Tinkerlab.com

#19 Exponent Exercises

Math Mini Sparks

Stretch your thinking with this math mini spark!

Spark your math thinking!

  1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #19 Exponent Exercises
  2. Watch this exponent activity at Khan. Take notes on your recording page.
  3. Review exponents at Math is Fun. On your recording sheet, make a mini teaching page about exponents,  negative exponents, and what to do if the exponent is 0 and 1.
  4. Practice your exponent math by playing Power Play at Transum. Pick the level that fits you. Set your timer for 6 minutes. Play the level until you get a trophy and move up. At the end of the 6 minutes, add a picture of your trophy or trophies to your recording page. If you are doing this on paper, record the levels you tried.

5. Share your math mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#9: The First Filming of an Inauguration

Social Studies Enrichment

Have you ever wondered when the media first became involved in the Presidential Election process? The first Presidential Inauguration ever filmed was filmed on March 5th, 1933. It was the Inauguration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Spark your thinking!

1.  Set up your Social Studies mini spark #9: The First Filming of an Inauguration.

2. Click on the link below to watch this first inauguration ever on film:

3. Set your timer for 3 minutes and read part of the this Primary Source: FDR’s First Inaugural Address, 1933.  In this speech, FDR famously said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” What do you think he meant by this? How can being too scared stop people from solving big problems?

4. The United States Congress traditionally holds an inauguration luncheon in Statuary Hall to honor the president. The food served is often a reflection of the interests or roots of the incoming president. In 1961, Massachusetts-born John F. Kennedy dined on New England boiled stuffed lobster with drawn butter and deviled crabmeat imperial; spending his adult life in California, Ronald Reagan’s menu in 1981 included a California garden salad. If you were elected president of the United States what would be served at your inaugural luncheon reflecting your interests and/or roots?

5. Share your Social Studies mini spark page with your teacher or the EY coordinator in your building.

Learn more about this time period in history with this other Social Study mini sparks.

 

 

#16: Biography Study

Reading Enrichment, Uncategorized

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A biography is the story of a real person’s life, whether they are alive today, from centuries past, famous, forgotten heroes, or a unique group of people.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #16: Biography Study

2. Check out the this website. It contains biographies of many people. You will find world leaders,inventors, scientists and many more. Click on 3 of the names. What topics do the pages introduce?

3. Choose someone you have not heard of before and read that person’s biography. On your recording page, add the person’s name and 3 of the most interesting facts you learned.

4. Create a mini-quiz (5 questions or less) about your subject and add it to your recording sheet. Include an answer key.

5.  Repeat this process for 5 different people.

6. Share your language arts mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Check out the Who was Making History Badge or the Who was Badge at the EY website