Today I felt the urge to jump off a cliff. It really was one of those moments that I couldn't wrap my head around WHY these children didn't GET IT?!? It was the first day of learning Mode and Median and those first moments with the glassy look in their eyes terrified me.
At least until a moment later when I had them all up out of their seats with their whiteboards having them act out median. We stood in number order with their number on their whiteboard, the line stretching across the classroom. I had them sit down going in order - least (#1) then greatest (#32), least (#2) then greatest (#31) until we got to student #17 who happened to be our median for the day (a student went home early so we had an odd number). The kids celebrated the student and then we dove into our textbooks to find other median "heroes".
After it was all said and done - we will need to review this concept again - definitely tomorrow, maybe again next week, definitely again before testing.
So I whipped this up tonight. A cute little scoot game and then another thing to stick into the math center rotations. Isn't it adorable?
32 task cards with an answer key. 5 or 6 numbers per card to learn how to find median and mode in a group of numbers. Sometimes there isn't a mode... I'm so tricky. :)
It's over at TPT in case your class needs it!
We are working on Data/Statistics as well in my classroom. We have the kids "STOP! THINK! Put the numbers in order!" (said as a chant), then do their data of the work. The minimum is circled (I call it a little squishy circle) and the maximum is squared (a square is a "strong" shape). The students partner slide the numbers: minimum to maximum, next smallest to next biggest, etc. The last number left in the middle with no partner (the median) gets a triangle because a triangle is in the middle of a teeter-totter (good visual for the kids). The MOde (MO=most often) gets a rectangle because a rectangle can grow to fit more numbers inside, just like a mode is more of the same number.
ReplyDeleteThe visuals really help the kids. I have this in a mini-poster version as well, if you'd like it :)
Erin
http://adventuresinthirdgrade-brown.blogspot.com/
Thank you for the information!
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