Day 149 - Circle Time - Mrs. Tate - MSMS Grade 6 Math

This post first appeared on Mrs. Tate's Blog 

Recently 6th-grade students enjoyed the beautiful weather while doing some work with circles.  Each team was given a measurement of either a circle’s radius or diameter.  Half of the team computed what the circumference of the circle was using the formula (C = 2 x pi x radius or C = pi x diameter).  The other half of the team was given a tape measure, chalk, and piece of rope to draw the circle.  The students had to be creative with a “human rope” compass to accurately draw the circle.  After the circle was drawn students unrolled the tape measure and placed it along the circle’s circumference to see how close it came to the actual calculation.  Then the teams switched roles while working on an additional circle.  Students then calculated the percent error for each of their circles.  Lastly, they found the average of their percent error to see which team was the BEST!  Here are some pictures of them in action.

Day 98 - Sphero Activity Block Gears up for the Winter Olympics! - Mrs. Floyd and Mrs. Tate

This post first appeared on the Marshall Simonds Middle School Blog 

MSMS has been gearing up for the 2018 Winter Olympics during the past two Activity Block offerings.  Mrs. Floyd and Mrs. Tate have designed the Sphero and Ollie Olympics where students code their robot to compete in several individual and team events.  Some simple events like curling only involve one line of code where more complex events such as the slalom course will require many lines of code.  Events include: curling, bowling, slalom skiing, downhill skiing, synchronized Spheros, and swimming.  Here are some pictures and of the events in action!

The Curling target for Sphero Curling

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The various Sphero/Ollie Olympic events and courses

Day 49 - Musical Math - Mrs. Tate and Mr. Mullen - MSMS Grade 6

This post first appeared on Mrs. Tate's blog

A special thank you to Mr. Mullen for making our math sound great!!  6th-grade students were given several songs to choose from including Kum Ba Yah, Bingo, and Oh Susanna.  Students first had to calculate the fractional value of each note per measure by looking at the time signature at the beginning of the song.  After this step was completed, students manipulated the time signature my multiplying or dividing the fraction to change how the overall song would sound.  They rewrote what the new note would be above the original music.  Some students chose to make each line in the song a different time signature to really challenge Mr. Mullen.  Here are some pictures of the students rewritten songs and videos of Mr. Mullen in action!