Day 135 Play a Party

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.SP.3 Recognize that a measure of center for a numerical data set summarizes all of its values with a single number, while a measure of variation describes how its values vary with a single number.

6.NS.3 Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.

6.NS.4 Find the greatest common factor of two whole numbers less than or equal to 100 and the least common multiple of two whole numbers less than or equal to 12. Use the distributive property to express a sum of two whole numbers 1–100 with a common factor as a multiple of a sum of two whole numbers with no common factor. For example, express 36 + 8 as 4(9 + 2).

6.G.1 Find the area of right triangles, other triangles, special quadrilaterals, and polygons by composing into rectangles or decomposing into triangles and other shapes; apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.

SP.1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

SP.3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

The Learning Objective: Find the dimensions of a rectangle given the area and perimeter

Agenda:

1. Jumpstart with football pushups 
2. Plan-A-Party Rough Draft
3. Plan-A-Party Final Draft
4. Plan-A-Party Supplies

The Assessment: I circumvented the room as students worked on the plan-a-party and jumpstart.

Glass Half-Full: In two out of three classes, the Plan-A-Party went very well. Students were able to identify the dimensions of the rectangles.

I was especially happy with having students determine the dimensions of the room. This involved students finding a perimeter of 66 and an area of 270. Even some of the students that typically do not struggle had difficulty finding the solution to this problem. Work organization proved to be essential for students that met this problem with success and without much assistance. As we discussed earlier in the year, listing the factors one at a time and in order is a great way to discover what factors work and having a through understanding of what factors will not work.

To take this another step further for students next year I could even try to show them (or have them show me) how this type of problem can be solved algebraically. I am willing to venture a guess that none of the students could do that if I simply asked "come up with a rule algebraically for the length or width of all rectangles."

On a separate note this is a good jumpstart to have timed after students have learned central tendencies. We had good discussion and good thinking pertaining to the questions about mean and mode.

One Regret: My assessment was not done very thoroughly and this cost me in one class where the entire class was wondering what was wrong. What I wish I rather did was have students find the area and perimeter of one part of the party (such as the Pool Table which had a perimeter of 14 and area or 10). From there I could better diagnose who had troubles and why.

Link of the Day: The Fast Clapper lesson courtesy of Nathan Kraft.