Week 10: What makes a border? Why do people want to cross them?

As discussed last week, we're taking a deeper look into the nature of geography and borders. 


On Monday, we spent some time examining and discussing this image, making note of the various physical features. 

People pointed out mountain ranges (green on one side, less so on the other), lakes, rivers, areas that seemed greener than others, and coastlines. We then started talking about these features in terms of what it might mean to live there. Rivers irrigate crops. Oceans allow ports. Deserts can be inhospitable. Where would you want to live on this map? Where would you want to avoid? 

We also talked about how these features might form natural borders for people (and other life!). Oceans, mountains, and deserts have historically been difficult to cross, thereby separating people, cultures, languages, and religions through long stretches of history. People living on one side of a vast desert or giant mountain range might have very little in common with the people who live on the other. 

We eventually looked at this image with the political labels turned on: 

Before the labels were revealed, a few kids had recognized the region we were examining, but they knew little about it. For example, no one knew about the longstanding tensions between Pakistan and India. We discussed some of the current and historical issues in this part of world as a way of illustrating how the physical and the cultural can intersect and influence a border. 

With all of this in mind, we then examined maps of a fictitious landmass. Everyone was tasked with the following challenge: 

Given these physical features (coastlines, rivers, and mountains):

... and these regions of differing religions:

... and this map of the languages spoken in each region: 

... what borders do you might imagine would exist on this landmass? 

Here's a sampling of what people came up with: 

As you can see, there were plenty of ways to divvy things up. 

Later, we shared and discussed our maps, making note of similarities and differences. We talked about what was challenging about creating borders, and what influenced our decisions. How important was it to have a river or coastline for each country? How did religion or language enter into each borderline? What role did the mountains play? 

Then we extrapolated further: What would it be like in the countries where there was one predominant religion, but also small pockets of another? What about countries with more than one language? Would citizens coexist peacefully, or would there be friction? What if a country with a minority population in its borders lacked a sufficient water source? What if there was a scarcity of farmable land? 

We unanimously agreed that this was indeed a tricky process. It was easy then to see how the evolution of nations and states in the real world has been even more complicated and messy. 


All of this informed a discussion about a contemporary issue that is currently on the minds of many: The mass influx of refugees to Europe. 

Visit this link to view an astounding animation of the number of refugees entering Europe from 2012 to the current day. Here's a screenshot of a moment in time, but you'll really want to check out the animation in motion. It's a little staggering: 

Each white dot represents 25 people. We watched the animation a few times and discussed many questions: Why are so many people going to Europe? What causes someone to leave their home country for another? Why are so many people fleeing Syria? What about Somalia? What's happening in sub-Saharan Africa in general? And why are so many people going to Germany? Why France? 

We discussed some of what's been going on in those parts of the world, which hopefully provided at least some small amount of context for the tragedies that have since been in the news over the last few days. I'm sure there will be many more conversations to come next week. 

The latest development in our current read aloud book Esperanza Rising has given us another view of this issue, as Esperanza and her family have just crossed the Mexico/United States border, fleeing their own troubles for the promise of a better life in California. It will probably come as no surprise that things get complicated. 

Week 9 in review

Yet another newcomer has taken up residence in the Middle School Commons. Drop by to take a peek at the lovely new habitat the next time you're in the building!  

It was a short week, as we had parent/teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday. What time we did have was very heavy on Art. In addition to our two regularly-scheduled sessions, we also had an additional all-middle school gathering to hear about and see the work of visiting artist Leslie Sobel. Check out Monica's Middle School Art Blog for more info (and to see some of Leslie's work). 

---

In my Journalism elective, we unveiled the very first issue of the Summers-Knoll Wall Paper, which is our school-newspaper-on-a-wall. We opted to publish one large edition in a public space, rather than printing out individual copies in order to minimize the use of resources, as well as to create a space where students can gather to read and talk about the articles and features. (A blog version is also in the works...) The S-K Wall Paper is located right across from the large community chalk board as you enter the school. Take a look!  

As you can see, it's a team effort from kids ranging from 3rd grade to 8th grade. 

---

Last week in homeroom, we decided as a group that our collective geography skills could use some substantial work. There are a lot of ways to address this, and something that clicks for one kid doesn't necessarily work for others. One thing that has worked for at least a subset our group is a very competitive (but friendly!) attempt to get the highest possible score in the shortest possible time (with 100% accuracy) on this online Place the State game. (It's sort of like Tetris, but with states.) 

There are a few kids who have gone from near complete ignorance of the 50 states, to borderline mastery of them. (Of course, knowing the names and locations of the states is fairly arbitrary without learning more about the states themselves, but this has been an excellent first step for many kids.) 

Two kids who have consistently achieved excellent scores have been tasked with a new project: Freehand drawing all fifty states without a reference. Here's Kaz delighting in how challenging it can be: 

He has pleaded with me not to show a close-up of his work, but I can tell you that his first draft is probably substantially more accurate than most people in the country could manage. (And his second draft will be excellent.) WARNING: I've suggested that kids start challenging the adults in their life to try their hands at this. Study up! 

For inspiration, here's Senator Al Franken drawing a map of the United States of America freehand and from memory: 

---

Finally, in addition to making progress in our class read aloud Esperanza Rising, we're also making sure to devote chunks of class time to free reading. Student choice in reading material has a significant impact on their motivation and enjoyment. Here we see Eva flaunting the gendered implication of this anthology of short stories: 

Hodge Podge: Week 8 in review

This was an excellent year for Eco-Fair/Homemade Halloween costumes! 

It is impossible to adequately convey everything that happens each week, which is why a lot of blog posts lately have focused on one aspect of our work. This week, I decided to try to capture a smattering of what happens from day-to-day.

---

The first thing we do each Monday is attend an all-school assembly. Each week, a different homeroom is responsible for sharing something with the entire school. This helps keep our community connected with all of the interesting and exciting things that are happening around the school. This week, Spencer's group talked about projects that they're working on. The morning assemblies are only about fifteen minutes, so if you have time to spare at drop-off on a Monday, come join us! (Our class is up to lead on Monday, November 23rd.) 

---

In my Math group, we spent much of the week discussing the concept of multiplication. Many of us learned the "standard algorithm," but not necessarily how or why it worked. Some of us might not have even understood that there are, in fact, many different ways to multiply numbers. 

The "standard algorithm"

Our group spent the week learning and evaluating other methods of multiplication (and also firmed up our understanding of the standard algorithm). 

The Lattice method is one that is also frequently taught. It's fairly similar to the standard algorithm, but it breaks it down into slightly smaller steps. Take a look: 

Reviews were mixed at first on this method, but once mastered, it was generally appreciated. 

Compare that with this method, which is very cool and enticing:



Everyone was instantly captivated by this one. The video above is silent (a reminder: embedded videos sometimes don't show up in the email version of this blog. Check the web version of this blog if you don't see a fascinating video of someone drawing lines to multiply above), below are two videos with verbal explanations: 

This method received high marks at first for smaller numbers, but the grouping aspect of it quickly became unwieldy for many of us with larger numbers. Many found the counting aspect of it to be laborious with larger numbers. 


Finally, here's a really cool method with many names, including Egyptian multiplication, Ethiopian multiplication, Russian multiplication, or peasant multiplication.

---

Back in homeroom, we began a read aloud called Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan. The book is historical fiction, beginning in Mexico in 1926, and moving to the United States during the 1930s. In the first few days of reading, we've had conversations about social class, the Mexican Revolution, the customs and laws of inheritance ("wait, why can't Esperanza's mother inherit the land!?"), which lead all the way back to the Magna Carta. 

We'll be getting into migrant and immigration issues, the notion of organized labor, discrimination, and more. 

The book benefits from a decent grasp of North American geography, and after a brief pre-assessment, we decided as a group that we desperately needed some work on this front. 

Ella and Bora work to label their US maps. 

Completely unrelated, but I think it's funny, so here's Bora confronting Zombie Ella. 

---

Of course, the highlight of the week for many was Eco-Fair/Homemade Halloween. There was a strong showing of costumes this year, both in our class and across the school! 

---

We also did some writing, learned about simile and metaphor, worked with Scholastic News, made progress in our electives, had a rehearsal for the upcoming play, made Mason jar heart pump models in Science, worked on Music Cafe songs, and plenty of other stuff. A busy week! 

Math: Problem Solvers!

Can you see the patterns emerging?

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Singapore Math is the backbone of our Math program. However, we also do whole-group inquiry and instruction in our Math group. One frequent group activity is using story problems to develop and practice new problem-solving strategies. 

One such strategy: Making an organized list.

Here's a recent problem we tackled together, starting out as a group, and finishing individually:

This type of problem gets kids thinking about a couple of different things. First of all, it quickly drives home the importance of devising some sort of methodical system for keeping track of your work. You can attempt to do this sort of problem in your head, but you will quickly find that you are either repeatedly coming up with duplicate combinations (actually, they're permutations, but we'll get to that in another lesson), or that you're missing some entirely. 

Instead, it becomes necessary to document your work, and to attempt to do so in an organized manner. In this case, we started by making a chart listing the fish costs, then methodically working from largest numbers to smallest: 

Using the Glass Fish as our basis, we can see a pattern emerging with the remaining numbers in each permutation. Can you see it? (Within each set of numbers for the Glass Fish, the Gouramis go down by one. Once you've populated your chart to a certain point, you can begin to notice patterns, which can inform the choices that you try. 

We did this problem largely together as a whole group. Kids have since had opportunities to try similar problems on their own. Here's another that suggests that you should employ the same strategy ("make an organized list"). 

Kids almost always buy in when there are goofy drawings involved. 

Here, we see the Weebles, the Wobbles, and the Widgets, all working together to rescue poor Wally Widget. (An aside: Before passing this out, I stressed that I want them to become confident problem-solvers in real world math situations. Then I gave them this problem, which is patently absurd. They laughed.)

And here they all are working together. 

Here's how we all got started, 

...and here are some final results: 

The more we've practiced, the more consistently kids have been able to spot patterns early in a problem, then use them to solve them. 

Time for School

Shugufa in 2009

Our Global Village experience has continued to inform our studies. This week, we watched the documentary Time for School. It's a fascinating project that chronicles the journeys of seven children from around the world as they begin their formal educations. The kids come from radically different cultures and backgrounds, and we've been talking about how different factors can help or hinder an education. For example, Ken from Japan lives in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We watch as he begins school at six years old. He has already learned to read by his first day of class. He has tremendous cultural and family support, as well as a backpack stuffed full of new supplies. 

Neeraj in 2003.

Compare Ken's experience to those of Neeraj. On her first day of schook, she's about 9 or 10 years old (she's not sure), and living in rural India. Her mother takes an extremely dim view of education, arguing that she doesn't have an education, so why would her daughter need one? She also complains that the educated males in their village are unable to find work, and asks why should she bother educating her daughter as well? Neeraj is allowed to go to school only after a full day of hard labor. She attends a night school huddled around a small lantern with other girls from a similar situation. She walks home by herself each night, and arrives in her home after the rest of the household has gone to sleep.

We also meet children from Kenya, Romania, Brazil, and Benin. The first installment aired in 2003, and the filmmakers have followed up with each student twice since. The intention is to check in with each student multiple times over the course a twelve year period. (It's a similar idea to the more famous "Up" series, with a much more diverse set of subjects.)

You can view the original installment here: Time for School (2003). It's about an hour long, and it chronicles all seven children on their first day of school. It's fascinating in its own right. (But we didn't actually watch this in class.) 

Ken in 2003.

The second installment follows up on the kids three years later. It's about an hour and a half long. You can watch it online here: Back to School (2006) (We didn't watch this one in class either, but it's well worth your time.) 

Time for School 3 is available in two parts, and each is about an hour long. They show the students in 2009, and many of them are at crucial points in their educations. It also gives a recap of what we learned about each student and country in the previous installments. We watched these together in class, and you may have noticed your kids revisiting them at home to take notes on each respective student. 

Watch online: 
Time for School 3 (Part 1, featuring Shugufa, Jefferson, Neeraj, and Ken)
Time for School 3 (Part 2, featuring Nanavi, Raluca, and Joab)


There are plans for Time for School 2015, but it has yet to air. We've had discussions in class about where we think each child is by now, and why. 

In the weeks ahead, we'll also be exploring the nonprofits and NGOs that are doing work in these countries and communities to help students succeed. 

Math: A Singapore Math primer

Math groups at Summers-Knoll are taught four times a week at 8:55 AM. Almost the entire school (the 7/8s have Math later in the day) has Math at the same time so that kids at different points in math can join math groups that are at an appropriate level. These levels are determined by where each individual student is in their Singapore Math books. 

As I'm sure many of you know, Singapore Math is the backbone of our Math program. You can read a good primer about the program here. It is an article well worth your time, as there are aspects of the program that are unfamiliar to many parents and families. 

For example, the Singapore Bar Model! I've had a number of parents come up to me over the last few years saying, "I tried to help my kid do this problem last night, but I realized that I'd have to teach them algebra to do it." These parents have benefited from learning about the Singapore Bar Model, a useful way of thinking about and taking apart problems. 

Check out this slideshow to see how the Bar Model is taught and used throughout the program. Read through the whole thing. It seems simple at first (because it is!), but it can quickly become confusing if you skip ahead before understanding the earlier steps. 

This is true of the Singapore system in general: As a general rule, racing through the books is ill-advised. Singapore Math strives to teach students why things work in math, rather than just teaching an algorithm to use. It cultivates a deeper sense of understanding, which makes learning higher math concepts more natural later in their education. 

One way that Singapore does this is adding an additional pictorial step, such as the bar models. 

---

Here are a few other things to keep in mind when working with your child in Singapore Math: 

The 4B Textbook and Workbook. They differ in important ways!

There are two books at each level: A Textbook and a Workbook. They differ in an important way: 

- The Textbook introduces topics, teaches strategies to approach problems, and exercises to practice. 

- The Workbook only provides additional practice problems. There is no instruction in the workbook. 

This means that, on balance, the Textbook is far more important than the Workbook! 

I drew a helpful cartoon to reinforce this in class the other day: 

Here's how the Textbook and the Workbook interact. A child starts out working in the textbook, which introduces a new concept. Here's an example from book 4B, introducing the concept of symmetry:

Most students will work through these two pages on their own (though I will also do direct instruction, depending on student needs and the complexity of the concept). Then, they'll get to a little arrow at the bottom of the page. Here's a close-up: 

This means that the student can turn to Exercise 42 in the Workbook to find more problems of this type for additional practice. 

Here's Exercise 42 in the Workbook: 

Your child's math assignment is very individualized to the work I've seen them do in the classroom. For some topics, I might assign the Textbook lesson, as well as the corresponding Workbook exercises. However, in other cases, I may opt to have a student skip the Workbook exercise if they've clearly demonstrated repeated mastery of the concept in class. (This becomes a useful contract with students: "I won't make you do busywork just because the book suggests it. But that means that when I do think you need to do the extra practice, you'll know that I really feel you need it.") 

If your child is in my math group, you should start hearing about weekly math assignments, usually given in the form of a sticky note placed in their books. 

Of course, we do more than just Textbook and Workbook in our math groups, which we will discuss in a future post! 

A quick note about subscribing by email

A technical note: If you've signed up to receive entries of the blog delivered to your email, you might occasionally be missing some content. I just realized that videos that are embedded from Youtube don't show up in the email version. (And in the case of the most recent entry, that means that a lot of the post doesn't make much sense...) 

So you may want to pop over to the actual blog on occasion to check in! 

Have a lovely weekend! 

Greetings from Juna and Eva