It's Friday and we're handing out MCAS Math homework for the weekend again. In part, we're helping students get ready for the statewide MCAS tests. But, there's another important reason--
Sometimes kids feel as if they learn math in school and then they will never use it again. That’s just not true. People in all sorts of jobs use math. People across the street on the construction site in Old Colony, for example, need all their math skills. They use math all day, every day.
That’s why students everywhere have to study math. We, however, are going to do it, Perkins Style. Each Monday we'll give third, fourth, and fifth graders one math problem from a previous MCAS test. Then we’ll give them another similar question using real data from the construction site. Our kids are learning to be elementary school students and engineers and architects at the same time! In fact, this week, we are using the actual floor plans from some of the apartments in the new buildings.
Here are this week's problems. Good luck, kids!
This is the third grade's actual MCAS problem:
And here's the third grade's construction site problem:
Here's the fourth grade's actual MCAS test problem:
And here's the fourth grade's construction site problem:
Here's the fifth grade's actual MCAS test problem:
Last but not least, here's the fifth grade's construction site problem:
