Smathing Pumpkins

In Sky we do math in different ways at different times of day. It doesn't just happen in Math Group. It is a big part of what we call "S'math," science and math together. We draw a lot of our activities from AIMS Education Foundation (http://www.aimsedu.org/). AIMS stands for Activities Integrating Math & Science. We also draw on other sources, and we like to draw in any themes we are pursuing as well as student interests.

Last year we did an AIMS activity about apples. This year I thought I'd put a twist on it and do it with mini-pumpkins. After dividing into groups of 3 (at least one boy, at least one girl, at least one old-timer, at least one new-timer) we worked with the mini-pumpkins. First we looked at them with our "scientist's eye," observing closely and noticing details. Each student drew the group's pumpkin, using observation skills. Then they came up with estimates for how many teddy bear counters they thought it would take to balance the pumpkin in a scale. Once estimates were done, each group worked together to weigh the pumpkin and record how many teddy bear counters it took.

The last part of the activity was to think about the distance around the pumpkin, the circumference. Students estimated how many teddy bear counters would make a train as long as a string that went around the pumpkin in its fattest part. They also estimated how many unifix cubes would make a train that long. Then they worked together to cut a string that went around the pumpkin and to do the actual measurements and recording.

S'marvelous S'math

We include activities in our curriculum that we call S'math because they use science and math together. One source for ideas is AIMS Education Foundation (http://www.aimsedu.org/). AIMS stands for Activities Integrating Math & Science. We also draw on other sources to "cook" up our plans, drawing in any themes we are pursuing as well as student interests.

This year our whole Lower School theme is "Way to Grow." Some of our early S'math activities focused on plants, using our Sky Class garden at times. We are also studying the human body and learning about its systems and parts. One activity focused on the skeleton as we explored bones and joints. More recently we did an activity (drawn from Marilyn Burns) in which students were asked to estimate how many times a strings equal to their heights would go around their heads at the forehead. We then went on to explore other body ratios (How does your height relate to your wingspan? How does your height relate to the length of your leg?)