Math Journal ... Wednesdays

09 May 2012
This post should have gone out on Sunday, but I was so busy with the jackpot event (downloading all those freebies), I put it off a for a few days.

We're currently in our 2D geometry unit - last week we were examining the different types of triangles, and angles in a triangle.  We completed two math journal entries to help us with our understanding of the concepts.

photo of Types of Triangles journal entry @ Runde's Room





For the first journal entry, we made 6 different triangles (scalene, equilateral, isosceles, acute, right, and obtuse).  (We folded our coloured paper in half and made all of the triangles along the fold so that we could open them and write on them).  We then wrote the terms down on the right side of the page, and matched each triangle to a term.  On the inside of each triangle we also named them a second way (example:  the equilateral triangle is also an acute triangle).  We also measured the angles of the triangles to come to the "big idea" that the sum of angles in a triangle is 180 degrees.  We wrote this on a circle at the bottom of the page.  When folded in half, the front says, "Important".


photo of Types of Triangles journal entry @ Runde's Room
This above entry went on the right side of the students' notebooks.  For "left side thinking", students had to write a student-friendly learning goal, include what they already know, write what they learned, give proof, and write a reflection.  For the proof, this time I asked them to answer a question.  I asked them if a triangle could have 2 right angles.  This particular student completed a mnemonic device for remembering the 6 ways to name a triangle.



types of angles in a polygon journal entry @ Runde's Room

The next day we continued with triangles.  I asked students to construct a triangle (again, along the fold of the paper), with an angle of 115 degrees, and two line segments of different lengths.  We measured the angles to ensure that our completed triangle had angles that added up to 180 degrees.  We then opened up our triangle to make a quadrilateral.  We talked about the line of symmetry (the fold line).  We also measured the angles of the quadrilateral, and the students found that the angles of a quadrilateral equal 360 degrees.  We made another "important circle" for our "big idea" that the sum of angles in a quadrilateral is 360 degrees.  This shape was fun to do because students had to figure out the measure of the reflex angle.




photo of Angles in a polygon journal entry @ Runde's Room





















photo of Angles in a polygon journal entry @ Runde's Room



This above entry was on the right side of our notebook.  We also completed our "left side thinking".  In this particular journal, one of the students made a cross-word type reflection with different terms from our 2D geometry unit.

I am so LOVING the "left side thinking" we've been including in our notebooks (and so has my principal).  If you think this is something you want to try next year, you have to check out A Teacher's Treasure Interactive Student Notebook - I can't wait to include more of her ideas into my math and language notebooks (yes, I'm definitely starting language notebooks) next year.

Happy Wednesday!!!  (half way there ... )





17 comments

  1. I love this. I started math journals this year, but felt I wasn't using it the way I wanted it to work. This gives me great ideas! Thanks so much!

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    1. Thank-you! I hope you find lots of ideas you can use in your journals.

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  2. I love what you do with the foldables in Math! You have a gift to bring it to life!!!! You make this notebook a learning tool your kids will hold onto and cherish all the way through high-school!
    As always, a fabulous post!

    ❤ Mor Zrihen from...
    A Teacher's Treasure
    Teaching Treasures Shop

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    1. Thanks, Mor! I hope they hold on to them for a while - it makes me so happy when they turn to their journals first when they have a question.

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  3. I love this - will definitely start doing this next year - thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. Thanks, Bonny! I hope you find lots of ideas to use in your journals next year.

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  4. Love this! We just finished 2-D and are currently working on 3-D. This is our big week of state testing, though! No fun this week! Boo!

    ps. I'm not sure if you know, but your blog is featured at TeacherHub "Shoutout to 26 Awesome K-12 Blogs" http://www.teachhub.com/awesome-teacher-blogs-by-grade :) :)

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    1. Miss P - thank-you so much for telling me about the TeacherHub post - so exciting!!! I hope your students ROCKED the test ... we have our provincial testing in two weeks.

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  5. what a great way to reinforce the students learning especially putting the learning goal down in their own terms. you should be recognized for all your great work, i hope your principal and students appreciate all your efforts. hats off to you. mary at apopovic@primus.ca

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    1. Thanks, Mary! We just started using the learning goal in our journals - it's a great addition to really make them think about what they are learning. I think my journals are just starting to get noticed - my principal and co-worker shared them today at our board's "share fair". Hope they went over well - I won't hear about it until Monday.

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    2. congratulations! you deserve to get recognized for all your great work. I find way too often that we aren't recognized enough. A little note of recognition goes a long way. So here is my note of appreciation and Happy Mother's Day. ps i passed along your blog to another colleague who is excited to see all your work. mary

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  6. these always amaze me...what's more is that you keep up with the journals...lol...I started the science ones...but ummm...lol...but I've done better with the math ones I guess :)

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    1. Thanks, Jen! To be completely honest, this is the first time I've actually kept up with the journals all year (in fact, I'm doing much better in math than in language). Think I'll have to switch to this kind of journal in language next year so I can keep up with them.

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  7. I am definitely doing this next year. Seriously...you are inspiring :) I might even do it in Science too! That would make science WAY better I am sure of it!

    ~Stephanie
    Teaching in Room 6

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  8. Why was I not following you before Mor's BIG giveaway?!? These are some awesome math notebooks!

    Summyr
    theteachaholic.blogspot.com

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  9. I really appreciate you sharing all that you do in your math notebooks. I love incorporating your ideas to spice up my lessons. Other teachers in my building have been popping in to see these journals in action.

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  10. Just a heads up that I mentioned your site here:

    Top 10 Triangle Foldables found on Pinterest
    http://moomoomath.blogspot.com/2015/03/top-10-triangle-foldables-found-on.html

    Thanks for the foldable,and triangle resource.
    Cheers,
    Donna

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