Math Dictionary Sections: (16) Ratios, Rates, & Proportions; (17) Non-Standard Measurement; (18) U.S. Customary Measurement; (19) Metric Measurement; (20) Comparing U.S. Customary & Metric
Upcoming Assessments: Ratios, Rates, & Proportions Quiz (Thurs. 1/10)
We had a short and speedy week back from winter break, but we jumped right back into work starting our unit on ratios, rates, and proportions. The first part of this unit is predominately review as students have covered ratios, rates, and proportions in the past. However, it will become a bit more complex as we delve further into work next week. For this week, students worked on setting up their ratios correctly and converting them into various equivalent forms. We also covered how to turn rates into unit rates in order to determine better deals when shopping and creating a starting point for finding other rates (ex. when driving at 50mph, you would have traveled 225 miles in 4.5 hours). Students received a few extra Math Dictionary sections on measurement to go along with the unit. Though we do not formally cover the various types of measurement (i.e. non-standard meausement, U.S. Customary vs. Metric, converting units), students need to do a few basic conversions in order to do proper comparisons (ex. converting gallons to quarts to compare different volumes, converting feet to inches in order to compare differences in height, etc). Students were happy to hear they will receive a little extra help on assessments this year; in years past they had to memorize the conversion rates, but this year they will be given the relevant rate.
While looking for resources for this unit, I came across an awesome new (to me) series of educational cartoons with related activities called Math Snacks. I was super excited about it and the kids loved the first video I showed on Ratey the Math Cat and are looking forward to more videos in the future. As part of their reviewing over the weekend, I encourage them to try their ratio game, Ratio Rumble. It's a bit like the game Bejeweled, but requires the player to create combos to match a given ratio. The kids seemed a little excited by it when I gave a little preview today in class, so I hope they enjoy a bit of educational game play!
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| Ratio Rumble by Math Snacks |
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