Seabury Navigators: September 2018

Saturday, September 29, 2018

A Meaningful Way to Understand the World Map

The first and second graders received a special note

from our Captains that the

S. S. SEABURY HAD SPRUNG A LEAK

and that all our clothing had gotten wet

and needed to be replaced.

Where in the world do we get new clothes?

One student replied "Amazon!"

And thus began our study of the World Map.

First of all, we learned the names

of the continents and the oceans.

We looked at authentic old maps and then each made

our own "antique map" of the world.

Several students wanted to put an old date on their maps

and one said,

"I know, I'm going to write 1985!"

That's a long time ago for a six year old!!

We put together puzzles of the world.

And then we got to work surveying where our clothes are from.

El Salvador

China

Haiti

Bangladesh

Indonesia

Vietnam

Cambodia

Taiwan

Nicaragua

Mexico

We each made a bar graph of our findings.

We marked the countries on a world map

and drew the best route the S. S. Seabury

would have to take to most efficiently

visit all the countries.

We'll discover later if the routes we chose

were a reasonable choice

as we mark the routes of the Explorers

on our big classroom world map.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Integrating Math and Social Studies Viking Style

We use math all the time without even knowing it. That is why it is important to incorporate every day real math into every day situations.

With that in mind, the Navigators and the Treasure Seekers went on a Viking Boat Math Adventure to learn an important strategy in solving math problems - the DRAW A PICTURE strategy. Notice the math thinking buzz in the video above.

The real world, authentic problem was based on two ships found in Norway, the Oseberg ship and the Gokstad ship.

Here is the problem we worked on:

A longship had twenty benches. Two Viking oarsmen sat on every bench. How many oarsmen were there on the ship?

Drawing the picture

Adding our own flair

Skip counting by 2's up to 40 oarsmen

The task naturally differentiates the students. This student is adding 2+2+2+2.....40 oarsmen

To this student, the math problem become 20 X 2 = 40 oarsmen

We then added one more person per bench so that the oarsmen would be able to rest.
3 + 3 + 3...
or 3 X 20 = 60
and even (20 X 2) + (20 X 1) = 60

Some of us added details to our picture.

Some of us tried the upper level problems:
How old is the Oseberg ship? 2018 - 850 = _____

Some figured out the weight of a Viking ship:

The ship and its equipment were made of different types of wood. It is estimated that the Gokstad ship was made of 6150 kg of oak, 880 kg of spruce and 225 kg of pine. How many kilograms of wood went into the makeup of the ship and its equipment?

The ship's planks were fastened with 150 kg of iron rivets, the anchor weighed 100 kg and the sail and rigging weighed 1000 kg. How much did the ship weigh altogether?

Imagine that there were 70 men on board and each of them weighed 80 kg. The weapons weighed 400 kg, the food 100 kg, the water 1500 kg and miscellaneous cargo 1000 kg. How much cargo did the ship have on board?

How much did the cargo and ship weigh altogether?

Notice the differentiation and engagement happening!

By integrating math into social studies, we also learned a lot about the Vikings in the process of integrating Math into Social Studies!

Here are some videos we watched:

http://irisharchaeology.ie/2012/09/the-oseberg-viking-ship-burial/

great pics of the Oseberg ship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xIy7FoiaQY

Vikings in a Nutshell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78kpzwGmBxk&list=PL9SLkANZIEtXMCv1FoQKr2M8U_laKKVC0&index=3

how to build a Viking ship

Notice the top view and the side view of the Viking long ship and the math thinking written in the corner with the help of a teacher

Making masterpieces in math class!

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Making Our Mark on International Dot Day 2018

The Seabury School students were part of the 13,000,000+ people participating in the International Dot Day 2018.

It's based on the book the dot by Peter H. Reynolds.

"Imagine the power and potential of millions of people

around the world...

...connecting,...

...collaborating,...

...creating and...

...celebrating...

...all that creativity inspires and invites."

We joined "the growing global community

of creativity champions...

...using [our] talents, gifts and energy...

...to move the world to a better place."

First graders can make a difference.

It's never too early to start making our mark.

To learn more about Dot Day, click here.

Monday, September 17, 2018

Ten Ways to Become Better Readers

The Navigators and the Treasure Seekers have been learning the procedures of the Daily 5 literacy management program, a program that offers choice (a best practice for gifted learners) and great results in becoming better readers, writers, and spellers.

We've been working on one of the 5 choices: Read to Self

We get our supplies, a book bin full of interesting books.

We find a good spot.

We start right away.

We read the whole time.

We stay in one spot.

We read good fit books.

We read the words, read the pictures, and re-tell the story--three ways to read a book.

We do "real" not fake reading.

We build up our stamina, starting with 5 minutes and working towards 15 minutes of independent reading.

We read quietly.

We read every day.

We have lots of books to choose from.

The habit of reading becomes a lifelong love of reading.

And where are the teachers? Teaching and conferring with individuals and small groups! It's a win-win situation for everyone!!

For more information on how we use the Daily 5 at Seabury, check out this Prezi that the first and second grade teachers presented a couple years ago at WAE-TAG - Washington Association of Educators of the Talented and Gifted.