Category Archives: Learning Opportunities

#13: Mad About a Million

Math Mini Sparks

One of my favorite pictures books is A Million Dots by Andrew Clements. This book provide readers with several different ways to visualize a million.  This math mini spark asks you to explore this fascinating number!

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #13: Mad About a Million

2. A Million Dots by Andrew Clements is a book that actually has 1,000,000 dots in it (along with many other fascinating facts!).  One million dots my seem kind of hard to imagine, but check out the book and see for yourself.

3. Watch The Making of Hero, a drawing composed entirely out of 3.2 million ink dots. Write your reaction to the final project on your recording page.

4. Do a little experimenting with stippling.  Try the activity shown in this video. Add a picture of your work to your recording page.

5. Figure out a problem involving a million.  Show your work and reasoning for your answer on your recording page.

      • How tall would a stack of one million pennies be?
      • If your leaky faucet dripped one million drops, how much wasted water would that be?
      • How long would it take you to count from 1 to 1,000,000 assuming that you counted one number every second for 8 hours a day?
      • How old would you be if you lived for 1,000,000 minutes?
      • How long will it take for your blink one million times?
      • Come up with your own “million problem”

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

 

Early Enrichment #12: Building Strong Shapes

Early Enrichment

This is an easy, fun experiment to find out how strong different shapes are. Shape 1 sheet of paper into different shapes and see how much they can hold. We made a triangle, square, and cylinder.

AFTBstrongshapes-1

A hypothesis is a special word that scientists use for “an idea that you can test,” it is also a kind of prediction. Make a hypothesis of which shape will hold a book best. Do you think a circle will be stronger than a square?

Test your hypothesis out! Does your shape hold more than one book?

Can you think of other shapes or structures that might be stronger? Share your ideas below!

Activity from  All for the boys 

#12: Inventor Collection

Full STEAM Ahead, Learning Opportunities

In the STEAM mini spark, learn about inventors. The USPTO collection cards show goofy caricatures of inventors! They’re made to celebrate all kinds of inventors from different backgrounds.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your STEAM mini spark recording page: #12: Inventor Collection

2. The USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) has a collectible card series for kids. The cards feature caricatures of various inventors and are designed to recognize a wide variety of patent holders from diverse backgrounds and demographics in an effort to encourage and inspire future generations of inventors and innovators from various walks of life.

3. Go to the USPTO website  and you will find over 20 inventor collection cards.

4. Each person has a information for you to review. Make a record of each of the people with a few facts for each on on your recording sheet.

5.  Create a kahoot or other quiz about the people featured on the cards.

6. Share your STEAM mini spark recording page and your quiz with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Check out the Kids Invent Stuff Badge the Problem Solving Invention Badge at the EY website.

Check out the STEAM mini spark about  inventorJuliette Gordon Low.

Early Enrichment #11: Beethoven’s 245th Birthday

Early Enrichment

Did you know that on December 17th, 2015, Beethoven would have turned 245?!

So who is this guy, and why is he so important?

Beethoven is one of the most famous composers in history. He played the piano and composed a lot of different symphonies. 

For this Early Enrichment activity, build your own musical instrument out of recycled materials and see if you can play Happy Birthday for Ludwig von Beethoven. 

homemade-musical-instruments

Share your pictures and/or videos with your EY Coordinator! 

Early Enrichment #10: Hour of Code Reflection

Early Enrichment

Last week around the world, many students in our school district participated in the Hour of Code. Did you?!

f you didn’t get a chance, check out this video and the link below.

If you didn’t get a chance to code, check out this link: https://code.org/learn

For those of you that participated, reflect about your experience. Comment below answering the following questions.

(1) What was your favorite part of the Hour of Code?

(2) What was challenging?

(3) What is your favorite coding website or app?

(4) Why do you think coding is an important skill to know?

(5) Do you think you will continue to practice Coding?

#13: BOTB Reading Goals

Reading Enrichment, Uncategorized

The Battle of the Books is a quiz-bowl competition where students work on teams to read books from this year’s list.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #13: BOTB Reading Goals

2. Check out the reading lists for elementary and middle school. If the list has not been updated, email your EY teacher so they can be changed.

3. How many books do you want to read this year?  Add a list of the book titles that you are going to read to your recording sheet.

4. Everytime you finish a book, add a picture of the book to your recording sheet.

5. When you meet your goal, share your language arts mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Check out the BOTB badges at the EY Website

#12: Factors & 276

Math Mini Sparks

This math mini spark will do a little bit of review on how to find factors and will take you on a journey to find out why the number 276 is amazing!

Spark your math thinking!

1. Set up your math mini spark recording page: #12: Factors & 276

2. Watch this short reminder video on the factor pairs. Take notes on your recording page showing the factor pair rainbow for 100.

3. Watch this Numberphile Video that takes proper factors and does some pretty amazing math. A proper factor of a number is any factor of the number except the number itself. Make a mini math dictionary on your recording page with at least 10 of the math terms from this video

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

#11: Code.org: Video series

Full STEAM Ahead, Learning Opportunities

Since the “T” in STEAM stands for technology, it seemed only right to add a post about the code.org video series. Get started on this mini spark to join in on the coding fun and who knows, maybe even begin your career in the computer sciences!

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your STEAM mini spark recording page: #11:code.org: Video Series

2.  While you are anxiously waiting for Code.org to begin, why not dig into information on coding and all things computer?  Perhaps you find yourself wondering how the internet works?  Or maybe you’ve always dreamed of sitting down with Mark Zuckerberg to learn a few programming tips and tricks.  Now you can!

3. At Code.org there are 7 topic and each topic has 7-10 short videos.

4. Here is a link to videos that will get your brain wrapped around those intriguing topics and more!

5. After looking them over, choose one main topic to explore. On your recording sheet, write the that topic and title of the videos you will watch. Set up a section for each of the videos.

6. Record new ideas or something that you enjoyed from each of the videos. Also record any terms that were new to you.

7. Make a visal about the topic you choose and include 8-10 details.

8. Share your STEAM mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Check out the Code Crusher Badge and the Code.org Video series badge at the EY Website. You can use this project for one of your projects at the code.org video series badge.

 

 

#3: Exploring the Ocean

Social Studies Enrichment

Alvin is a special underwater vehicle that lets scientists dive deep into the ocean to explore amazing things! It helps them check out weird creatures living in super tough places, see volcanic eruptions underwater, and discover all sorts of cool stuff in the deep blue sea. It’s like a submarine for scientists, and it goes on exciting adventures beneath the waves!

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your Social Studies mini spark recording page: #3: Exploring the Ocean

2.  Read this book all about ALVIN and deep sea diving. Make a mini dictionary with interesting terms. Record the definition of each of the words you pick. Include at least 10 words in your dictionary.

3. Watch this video about Alvin. Choose 5 of the questions to answer. Remind your teacher that the answer key is in the Social Studies mini sparks folder.

  1. What year was the submersible Alvin first commissioned and what was its purpose?
     
  2. Who was the scientist that led the push to build the Alvin submersible?
     
  3. Describe one of the significant discoveries made by Alvin in the late 1970s.
     
  4. How did Alvin change our understanding of life on Earth and other ocean worlds?
     
  5. In what way did Alvin capture the world’s attention after the Titanic was found?
     
  6. What upgrades were made to Alvin that increased its dive depth capability?
     
  7. How has Alvin contributed to the field of deep sea research over the years?
     
  8. Discuss the importance of deep submergence technologies that have flourished due to Alvin.

4. Share your social studies mini spark recording page and visual with your teacher/EY coordinator.