5th Grade MCAS Math--Perkins Style!

Thanks to Ms. Meadows and Ms. Alert and their 3rd graders for all their excellent work on our first MCAS Math week. This week we're turning to the 5th grade.

Just as a reminder:
Sometimes kids feel as if they learn math in school and then they will never use it again. That’s just not true. People on the construction site of Old Colony need all their math skills. They use math all day, every day.

That’s why students everywhere have to study math. We’re going to do it, Perkins Style. We’ll show you a math question from a previous year’s MCAS test for fifth graders. Then we’ll give you another question using real data from the construction site.

Our students can study for their MCAS by solving both problems. Fifth graders, print these out and give them a try! We’ll show a few worksheets on the blog later on this week.

Question 5.1 This is a question from an MCAS test.



Here's our Perkin's version.



This is the floor plan of an apartment being built in Phase One of the Old Colony construction project. It shows how the rooms will be laid out and their dimensions. It even suggests what it will look like with furniture inside!

Bedroom #2, outlined in red, is a square. It is 11 feet long and 11 feet wide. What is the area of the room?

A) 22 square feet
B) 44 square feet
C) 121 feet
D) 121 square feet


Question 5.2: This is a question from an MCAS test.



Here's our Perkins version.



This is a part of a floor plan for one of the apartments being built across the street. The detail you see here is of a bedroom. The red lines in the drawing trace the outer walls of the bedroom. It too is a quadrilateral.

Angle M is:

A) a right angle.
B) an obtuse angle.
C) an acute angle.
D) none of the above.

3rd Grade MCAS Math--and the Answers Are...

This is our first week of studying MCAS math, Perkins Style. That means taking actual MCAS questions from previous tests and asking students to solve them as well as similar mathematical situations from the construction site across the street. Who says you don't need math after you're done with school?

Our third graders did wonderfully on both questions. We can't show everyone's work, just one representative student from each class. Don't worry, kids, you'll have another chance to get your answers up there soon.

Next week, however, the fourth or fifth grades will take a turn.

Three Artists Take in the Construction Site

What's going on at the site across the street? Different people see different things. Here are three students' views of what's new--besides snow, that is.

Studying 3rd Grade MCAS Math--Perkins Style!

Sometimes kids feel as if they learn math in school and then they will never use it again. That’s just not true. People on the construction site of Old Colony need all their math skills. They use math all day, every day.

That’s why students everywhere have to study math. We’re going to do it, Perkins Style. We’ll show you a math question from a previous year’s MCAS test for third graders. Then we’ll give you another question using real data from the construction site.

Our students can study for their MCAS by solving both problems. Third graders, print these out and give them a try! We’ll show someone’s homework paper on the blog later on this week.

Question 3.1: This is a question from an MCAS test.


Here’s our Perkins’ version.

The Phase One of the Old Colony construction project, the one that’s happening right now, is building 116 homes for families. Phase Two, the next part, proposes to build 170 homes.

How many more homes are proposed to be built in the second phase of the project than the first phase?

A) 44 homes
B) 54 homes
C) 64 homes
D) 116 homes

How did you get your answer? Please show your work in the space below!

Kindergarten Adventure: NAME THAT CRANE!

Our kindergarten kids have learned a very important lesson: When you are curious and ask good questions, you get good answers. Sometimes you get an adventure as well!

If you drop down to the previous post, you'll learn that our kindergarteners read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. After hearing the story, they wondered if the workers at our construction site had names for their machines.

So we asked the folks at Suffolk Construction. They said that most of their heavy equipment may have names like "front-end loader" or "bulldozer," but few have their own special names like Mike Mulligan's Mary Anne.

Don't be sad, kindergarteners, you will be able to change that--at least, for one very, very big piece of machinery.

In a few weeks, a huge 400-ton crane is going to take up residence on our construction site. Its job is to lift and move the steel columns and beams that will become the new buildings' frames. The crane has to be a giant to do this work. It will look something like the one in the picture below:



Will it be the same color as the one in this picture? We don't know. We DO know that the crane doesn't have a nickname now. But, it's going to. Even better, our kindergarteners are going to name it!

Starting soon, our kindergarteners will begin their NAME THAT CRANE! campaign. They will begin by nominating names for the crane. Eventually they will vote by secret ballot, of course, and tally up the results. By the end of the experience, not only will that crane have a name, but the kids will have also learned how to vote in a democratic election.

Kindergarten Question

Ms. Breneus's kindergarten class got their first introduction to the classic, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. Even though the book was written in 1939, it was as new to them as what's going on across our street. They loved Mike; they loved Mary Anne the steam shovel. And they started to wonder if the workers at our construction site had names for their front-end loaders and dump trucks.

We guess this is yet another question to ASK THE EXPERTS!

We will do that and get back to you soon.

Ask the Experts: Why is a flag on the crane?

One day the kids in Ms. Meadows' third grade class were talking about the construction across the street. They wondered about the flag way, way on top of one of the cranes (look carefully and you can see it!). Yes, the boom--the long arm of the crane--is an excellent flagpole. But that wasn't really an explanation. Kids at the Perkins are starting to learn that if they ask questions, they can get answers. It was time to...


ASK THE EXPERTS!!


Several kids wrote letters to ask the question, here is Renny's:



Once again, our expert was John O'Toole, Senior Project Manager for Suffolk Construction. "First of all," he said, "the flag is a proud sign of our heritage and our country. All the workers and unions on the job are glad to work with it on site."
Then he went on to explain another reason. "It lets us know which way the wind is blowing." Why do workers care about that? Sometimes the crane's job is to operate the pile driver, said Mr. O'Toole. At our site it is acting like a big hammer, driving 100-foot long cement pile into the ground. As you can imagine that heavy cement hits the ground with a lot of force. And each time it does, the oil greasing the crane flies off--almost like the water droplets coming off a wet, shaking dog.

If you were a worker, wouldn't you want to know which way the wind was blowing so you'd know which way that oil was going to fly? Otherwise, you'd get pretty greasy before long!

ps. Now you may be thinking: What's a pile? It's a column that can be made of cement and steel, wood, or steel. What's it for? If you're curious, look it up or wait for a future post. Or, look it up and wait for a future post!

We Were the Only Ones on Vacation!

WE'RE BACK!

And it looks like the construction crew didn't have as long as holiday vacation as we did. Here are some before and after pictures taken from the school's front door on the last day before vacation, December 23rd and our first day back, January 3rd.

Things are different out there. Less snow, of course, but what else can you find?

LEFT SIDE, DECEMBER 23


LEFT SIDE, JANUARY 3


RIGHT SIDE, DECEMBER 23


RIGHT SIDE, JANUARY 3