The Case of the Teachernapping

I had a bit of a scare today as I was whisked off unexpectedly.  My twin sister, Mrs. Donaldson, took over for me and helped the students put their CSI knowledge, Habits of Mind, and math data skills into action to find me.  They processed the crime scene for evidence, used deductive reasoning, interviewed a witness, and found my location based on the median of the information I was able to provide.  It turns out that I was taken to a surprise party where our class was named ALERT class of 2015!  I am so proud.  I was able to make it back in time to celebrate with students.  I am looking forward to our awesomeness continuing in 2016.

Ready to process the crime scene with our crime solving gear.

Interviewing the eye witness.

Teachernapping Video 1

Teachernapping Video 2

Teachnapping Video 3

Teachernapping Video 4

We also managed to squeeze in some research on trials.  We have looked at crime scenes, forensics labs, and now will follow the evidence to court.  Students used Nearpod to read an article covering the basics of a trial and watched a BrainPop video sharing the difference between criminal and civil cases.  They also competed as defense vs. prosecution on the mock trial game at this website.  Next week we will take a virtual field trip through a courthouse and look closer at the parts of the courtroom system to prepare for our real field study there later in the semester.

Math Bingo

Today students focused on math as they had some choice activities to review median, mode and range.  Following some good work and discussion they took a wrap up assessment to show off their learning.

Here is the recap of winners by Delaney...

Today we started off with sp and bb. Before our bb we got to watch everything is awesome from the lego movie. We did math bingo and the first 3 to complete it were: 1 place was Delaney, 2 place was Srianeesh, 3rd place was Kevin. The 3 runner ups were Rohan, Makell, and Ivan. After bingo we did or end of the unit math test for mode median and range. The 1st winner for bingo gets a prize like all bingo games.

Bingo Champions!

Bingo Runner-ups!

Here are just a few of their awesome products!
Srianeesh Explains Range
Mode Tutorial by Delaney
Lunch Line Data by Olivia
Kevin's Attendance Survey Data
Ivan Median Review

Here are some online games for further practice:
http://www.kidsmathgamesonline.com/numbers/meanmedianmode.html

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/math-games/send-trolls/

http://www.turtlediary.com/game/mean-median-mode-range.html

 We also got to take a virtual tour of a courthouse at this site: virtual field trip.

Forensics Lab

This week we transformed our classroom into a forensics lab to test some evidence fresh in from the crime scene.  Our analysts learned about chromatography and matched ink band samples from different pens to find the culprit who wrote the ransom note in The Case of the Dognapping.  They also compared physical properties of three different mystery powders confiscated from suspects in The Case of the Crummy Cake. Students then looked at the chemical properties of the substances as they tested their reactions to water and vinegar to identify each and catch the culprit.

We also did a quick review of Median, Mode, and Range and watched the video Mean, Median, and Mode Toads to refresh our memory after break.