Thunder and Lightning Join the Fun

Fourth and Fifth Graders at Mustard Seed School (known as Thunder and Lightning) received their first I Love Math problems for 2015 today.  Like the middle school students who began their problem-solving a couple of weeks ago, they will be thinking about non-routine problems that demand a high level of creativity and persistence.

If you are new to the I Love Math season, you might want to look at the last three posts.  They show the kinds of problems that students are solving and the spirit in which they are working right now.  The tone is playful and fun.  Yet our goals for the children are as serious as they could possibly be.

We share the problems here so that parents and students at all grade levels can work on them.  Pick any problem that looks interesting to you.  If you have a child in Thunder and Lightning, then we encourage you to ask your child about these problems.  For the matchstick problem, get out some paper and pencil and begin drawing.  Better yet, get some straws or matches and start making triangles.

The Mind Reader problem begs to be acted out.  It takes 5 minutes, and it is lots of fun.  Play along with your student, and prepare to be amazed.

So if you have tried the Mind Reader a few times, will it always work?  Why?  With so many random choices, why do you keep getting an "o" and an "a"?

While these problems are lots of fun, don't miss the significant math content held inside:

divisibility by 3

divisibility by 9

pattern recognition

uniqueness

randomness

concept of proof (when have you proven something?  how do you build an argument?)

Enjoy!