M is for Mathematical Monday {NEW LINKY}

I am excited to start a new Math linky! We have been doing some amazing activities in Math this year that I wanted to share with all of you, and I know you all are doing some amazing things too!  For Mathematical Monday's you can link up any post related to math.  Share what is working for you and your students this year!

This year we are focused on an exploratory or discovery approach to math.  I have mentioned before the Meaningful Math Task my district has completed drives our instruction.  A few weeks ago we worked on a triangles.  Our math task required students to cut seven straws into different lengths, ranging from 2-6 inches.  This was also a chance to review measurement to the nearest inch.

Notice the "triangle" the student created.  We discussed if this would be considered a triangle and why not.

Students then played or explored with the straws to create different types of triangles, they had no prior knowledge of the different types of triangles.  Students recorded each triangle's dimensions in their notebooks, for example 2+6+6.

Great example of an isosceles triangle!

Students were only to use three straws to create their triangles, but I did allow this student to use this triangle because she was able to tell me the accurate dimensions.

My kids loved this activity!  They did a great job staying on task and creating as many triangles as they could.

At the end of the activity I asked the children questions to help guide them to make some conjectures about triangles.  The following day we reviewed attributes of triangles, introduced them to the different types of triangles, and a classifying activity.

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