Tag Archives: class

Measuring everything in sight!

Posted on December 13, 2016 by aofradkin

Last week, our second grade math class was filled with fun measurement activities, more specifically, measuring length.  Here are some highlights.  A number of the activities were adapted from the Georgia Mathematics Standards of Excellence. For the first activity, I … Continue reading →

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What makes a triangle?

Posted on July 10, 2016 by aofradkin

Last weekend we went to a wonderful family camp with an Ancient Greece theme. I was tasked with coming up with a fun, hands-on geometry lesson for 5-7 year olds. These were my criteria for the activity: 1) Easy prep … Continue reading →

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Random Walks through a-MAZE-ing Triangle

Posted on October 1, 2015 by aofradkin

The main activity for last weeks lesson with the first and second graders was adapted from the book Math Circles for Elementary School Students by Natasha Rozhkovskaya (and it will likely be the first of many). The kids were split … Continue reading →

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Kid in the Machine

Posted on May 12, 2015 by aofradkin

A few weeks ago, we had a lesson on one of my favorite topics to have little kids play around with – functions!  When covering this topic with little ones, a very important first step is to create a cool … Continue reading →

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Cuneiform numerals

Posted on April 28, 2015 by aofradkin

When was the last time you paused to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of our number system?  Compare it, for example, to the Roman numerals, that we all become intimately familiar with in elementary school.  Why is it better?  To … Continue reading →

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Build and Describe

Posted on April 5, 2015 by aofradkin

Two weeks ago in class we did an activity we called “build and describe.”  This is how it worked: First all students got an identical set of blocks (initially two or three, depending on age group).  Next, one student built … Continue reading →

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Learning to fly

Posted on March 21, 2015 by aofradkin

This is a guest post by Boris Ovetsky about a recent science class at the Golden Key Russian School.  Enjoy! Starting with Ikarus, we all love to fly. Or at least imagine ourselves flying. We build plane models and kites; … Continue reading →

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Facing the impossible

Posted on March 18, 2015 by aofradkin

Two weeks ago in class we followed up our previous lesson on parity with some logic puzzles.  The middle groups (ages 6-7) were faced with the following task.  They were each given 5 cups, facing down.  Their challenge was to … Continue reading →

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The Parity of Jumping

Posted on February 25, 2015 by aofradkin

A friend of mine once told me a story of a revelation that he had when he was a little kid.  His bed stood very close to his brother’s and he often liked jumping from one bed to the other. … Continue reading →

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Fun With Multiplication?

Posted on February 12, 2015 by aofradkin

For the past few weeks in class, we have been exploring multiplication.  A few months ago, we had learned about and practiced skip counting, so this time around we started by discussing why this might not always be practical or … Continue reading →

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