Hello to all my friends in Kelowna and Kamloops! I wanted to send along the text & pictures you’ll need to try the Acrobats, Grandmas and Ivan problem with your students. It’s a classic Marilyn Burns activity that I tried this last week in a grade 4/5 classroom with really cool results… I can see it playing out in a variety of ways at different age levels, perhaps even by partnering it with a read-aloud of the book Equal Shmequal by Virginia Kroll, a story in which forest animals take part in a tug of war with crazy outcomes!The Acrobats, Grandmas and Ivan task, with all its logical and algebraic thinking, presents a fun and engaging way to work with notions of equality and to explore many different ways to solve a problem. If you’re looking for a task to encourage the mathematical process of reasoning, this one’s it! Click here for a pdf of the problem (Acrobats) including the pictures you’ll need to represent the first, second and final rounds of the tug of war contest…Carole
Welcome!
I am Carole Fullerton, an independent consultant working with teachers around British Columbia (and beyond!) in the area of numeracy. I work with districts, whole school staffs, with school-based learning teams, in classrooms and with parents in an effort to promote mathematical thinking.
To learn more, please email me at:
mindfull(dot)consulting(at)gmail(dot)com
For resources, click the blue button above.
Enjoy!
Carole
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nice blog
You had just what I needed this morning! (Acrobats, Grandmas, Ivan) Saved me a ton of time! Thanks