ShapeGram Fun! Thanks Tony!

Mrs. Yollis' class loves ShapeGrams! Creating digital drawings with ShapeGrams is a wonderful way to learn about geometry, muster some technology skills and shortcuts, be creative, and have some fun! Tony Vincent created ShapeGrams and he brings humor and an amazing skill set to each creation. 

Mrs. Yollis is not being paid to promote ShapeGrams. 

Here is a collaborative slideshow featuring our most recent digital drawings. Some have a spooky Halloween theme!

Which  ShapeGrams creation did you like the best and why?

What is your favorite ShapeGram tip? What makes it so useful?

 

Minecraft Math!

Recently, Mrs. Yollis' class has become a BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) room. During our geometry math unit,  students were building in Minecraft.

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Guest Post by Shayna 

During math,  students were allowed to make solid figures on Minecraft. First I made a cube, and then set my goal to make a square-base pyramid with five flat faces. However,  there was a problem. In Minecraft, it will not let you tilt a single cube, so I could not get the flat triangular faces I wanted.  I ended up with a stair-step square-base pyramid.  

As I was building it, Mrs. Yollis mentioned that it was hard to count how many cubes were on each level because they were all one color. She recommended that I make each cubic unit a different color, so the other classmates could count how many were in each layer. 

I started out with three colors, diamond, iron, and lapid lazuli. Then when I was almost done, two of the same colors were side by side making it difficult to count. So, I tried adding a fourth color, black obsidian. It worked! 


I took these pictures as I got closer to being done. When I finished I took a final screen shot. My pyramid had seven layers. 

As you can see, I am starting to color each layer. The top cube is diamond colored. 

The top layer is one cubic unit. 
The second layer is a 3 x 3 = 9 cubic units. 
The third layer is a 5 x 5 = 25 cubic units.

The fourth layer is a 7 x 7 = 49 cubic units.
The fifth layer is 9 x 9 = 81 cubic units. 

How does the pattern continue? 

What is the volume of my pyramid?

We noticed that the even square numbers (2 x2 and 4 x 4) were skipped. 

Later, we built my pyramid with the one inch blocks that Mrs. Yollis had. We also build a pyramid using all the square numbers. Then I took a picture of that and put it with the others.

In Minecraft, each square face must line up with another square face. That was the reason I could NOT build the pyramid on the right.   

Have you ever built a solid figure in Mincraft?

Your pupil,

Shayna

Video Tutorials: What Are Quadrilaterals?

In our polygon unit, we are learning about four-sided figures called

QUADRILATERALS!

Many  people were confused about why some shapes have more than one name.  Here are some tutorials to help you learn about quadrilaterals.

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What is a parallelogram?

Here is an interactive parallelogram.

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What is a rectangle?

Here is an interactive rectangle.

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What is a rhombus?

Here is an interactive rhombus.

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What is a square?

Here is an interactive square.

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Maybe you'd like to watch the Polygon Movie again and meet these quadrilaterals in person!  



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Have you used our quadrilateral tutorials? 



Which tutorial helped the most?

Circle: Radius and Diameter Exploration!

In our class, we are studying geometry, and

today we learned about circles.
 

Mrs. Yollis' necklace was made of CIRCLES.

The playground had many CIRCLES. 

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CIRCLE VOCABULARY 

We  learned that circles have a center point. It is the same distance from anywhere on the circle.  

In addition, we  learned that a line segment drawn from the center point to the outside edge of the circle is a radius.


The diameter is a line segment. It passes through the center and has endpoints on the circle.

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After the vocabulary lesson, Mrs. Yollis' students were ready to make their own CIRCLES.

Chalk was tied to a piece of string. The string was the RADIUS. 

Here is one radius with a length of 1 yard. (36 inches)

 We also created a radius with a length of 3 yards!

 Next, we went outside with our two radii. (Radii is the plural of radius.) 

One student sat in the CENTER.  

We pulled the radius tight, and students pulled the chalk around the center. 

QUESTION:  With a radius of 1 yard, what was the diameter? 

(Answer given below.)

ANSWER: A circle with a 1 yard radius will have a diameter of 2 yards.

1 yard    x     2  =    2 yards

or maybe you prefer it in feet:

3 feet     x    2    =   6 feet

 The bigger circle was much harder to make! 

It had a radius of 3 yards (9 feet).

 It was hard to keep the radius pulled in a tight line segment. We had to restart at times.

 Keep dragging the chalk around the center point!

Finally, we were were able to complete the circle. It was time to measure the diameter!

 ANSWER:  The circle with a radius of 3 yards has a diameter of 6 yards.

3 yards     X     2     =   6 yards

or maybe you prefer it in feet:

9 feet     X    2    =   18 feet 

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Some students confuse a flat circle with a 3-dimensional sphere.

Take this quiz to see if YOU know the difference!

Circle or Sphere? on PhotoPeach

Were you able to create a perfect circle in class?

Do you have any tips?

Tutorials: Identifying Quadrilaterals!

In our polygon unit we are learning about four-sided figures called

QUADRILATERALS!

Many people were confused about why some shapes have more than one name. Here are some tutorials to help you learn about quadrilaterals.

*     *     *     *     *

What is a parallelogram?

Here is an interactive parallelogram.

*     *     *     *     *

What is a rectangle?

Here is an interactive rectangle.

*     *     *     *     *

What is a rhombus?

Here is an interactive rhombus.

*     *     *     *     *

What is a square?

Here is an interactive square.

*     *     *     *     *

Maybe you'd like to watch the Polygon Movie again and meet these quadrilaterals in person!  


*     *     *     *     *

Have you used our quadrilateral tutorials? 

Which tutorial helped the most?

Quiz: Types of Triangles

There are three types of triangles.

equilateral

(3 equal sides / 3 equal angles)

isosceles 

(2 equal sides / 2 equal angles)

scalene

(NO equal sides / NO equal angles)

Types of Triangles! on PhotoPeach

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Would you like to try another quiz? 
Check out Mrs. Ranney's Name that Angle Quiz! 

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Which triangle is the hardest to identify? 

If you take a picture of a triangle in your house and send via email, Mrs. Yollis will add your triangle to the quiz!

The Polygon Movie!

Mrs. Yollis' class has been learning all about geometry. 

This week, the students are learning about POLYGONS! 

(A polygon is a closed figure with straight lines.)

 

In this 2008 drama, Circle tries to get a starring role in the new movie, Polygons, but is forced to accept the fact that A CIRCLE is NOT A POLYGON and never will be.  Don't worry, it has a happy ending!

Click here to watch the movie!


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Do you have any polygons in your house? Tell us about it!

Which shape was your favorite character?

 

 

 

Angles: Acute, Right, and Obtuse!

In geometry, we are learning about angles!

An angle is a  figure formed when two rays share the same endpoint.

 
Below is a special angle called a right angle. 
It is also called a 90˚ angle.

 

Any angle less than a right is called an acute angle. 

Any angle greater than a right is called an obtuse angle. 

Below is a quiz. Can you guess the angle?


Name That Angle! on PhotoPeach


Do you have any photos of angles?


Send them to Mrs. Yollis and she will add the shots to the quiz!

Update: New angles added to the quiz from:  Ryan, Miriam, Amitai, Finn, Adia, Tucker, Ileanna, Mrs. Watanabe, and Ben! 
Thanks!

Circular Circles!

In our class, we are studying geometry, and

we are learning about circles.
 

Mrs. Yollis' necklace was made of CIRCLES.

The playground had many CIRCLES. 

     *     *     *     *     *

CIRCLE VOCABULARY 

We  learned that circles have a center point. It is the same distance from anywhere on the circle.  

In addition, we  learned that a line segment drawn from the center point to the outside edge of the circle is a radius.


The diameter is a line segment. It passes through the center and has endpoints on the circle.

     *     *     *     *     *

After the vocabulary lesson, Mrs. Yollis' students were ready to make their own CIRCLES.

Chalk was tied to a piece of yarn. The yarn was the RADIUS. 
A student sat in the CENTER. 

Keeping the RADIUS tight,

the chalk was dragged around the CENTER creating a CIRCLE!.

 

It was hard to keep the chalk the same distance from the CENTER. 

Finally, we had a beautiful CIRCLE.  

Screech, our local hawk, was too busy hunting to be interested in circles.

 

After the class circle was drawn, 

students broke into teams to create their own CIRCLEs.

 

  

One group used the CENTER from the class CIRCLE.

Now there were two CONCENTRIC CIRCLES!

 

 

 

After the CIRCLES were made, it was time to measure the RADIUS and DIAMETER.

The DIAMETER of this CIRCLE was 6 feet.

We divided the DIAMETER in half and got a  RADIUS of 3 feet.

 

Here we used a benchmark unit of 1 yard to predict the DIAMETER. 

Some students marked off their guess using giant steps. 

Each team's circle had a different radius, and of course, a different diameter!

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Some students confuse a circle and a sphere.

A circle is 2-dimensional.

A sphere is 3-dimensional.

Here is a quiz. Do you know the difference?

Circle or Sphere? on PhotoPeach

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How do you like our circles? 

What circles can you find around your house?

Try measuring the radius of a circle you find at home and let us know what the measurement was.

Remember, to find the diameter, double the radius!

Space Figures!

In math, students have started a unit on geometry.

Today students partnered up to build 3-dimensional figures. Each group was given edges (toothpicks) and colored vertices (clay).

How many faces?
How many edges?
How many vertices?

How many space figures you can name?