The weather has been sunny and rainy, the snow is gone and, this week, we had our most challenging task so far. We had to build a pathway to specific measurements, but only one person could read the instructions for the whole group.
Top teamwork and listening skills were going to be needed in order to complete the challenge safely.
“Why don’t we have a rule, that only one person can talk at a time” – Daniel, P6
The first step was easy: “Start at the chalk X”
The next step proved to be tricky though…
“Travel 238cm forward”
There were lots of planks of wood that had measurements written on them in chalk.
“We should lay them all out so we can see them” – Lochlan, P6
None of the planks of wood were in cms and none of them were as long as 2 metres. It was going to take some serious strategic thinking and some quick mental maths to solve this problem.
“”How about we put all the one-one-nines in a row and then all the ones that aren’t one-one-nine” Molly, P6
Because there were so many planks that were 1.19m, lots of groups started by adding them together. People used lots of different mental strategies for their addition.
“Well, ten and ten is twenty, add ten is thirty, take away one is twenty nine, add ten is thirty nine, take away one is thirty eight… It is! It is two metres thirty eight!” – Louise, P6
“Nine add nine is eighteen, ten and ten is twenty so it’s thirty eight” – Jamie, P6
“Turn 90 degrees right and travel 0.83m”
This bit was easier. There was a plank that said 0.83m so we only had to work out the direction.
“90 degrees is a right angle” – Louise, P6
Done.
“Do a right angle turn anti-clockwise and travel 1m and 33cm”
We could all convert 1m 33cm into metres. 1.33m. There was a heavy beam of wood that was that length, so we could maneuver it into position. But what direction?
“Now we’re facing this way” -Tyeghyen, P6
“What’s the next instruction Sarah?” – Erin, P6
“Travel 35cm in any direction. Build a bridge that has a 62cm slope up, a 62cm crossing and a 62cm slope down”
Ok. 35cm in any direction. Done.
Hmmm. There is only one plank that says 0.62m on it. What can we do to build our bridge?
“I’m testing the unlabelled planks to see if they are the same length as the 62cm one” – Hayley, P6
Every group used a matching strategy to find which planks were also 62cm and then used them to build there bridge. At this point, some of the groups ran out of time!
“We could have worked better as a team I think” – Jamie, P6
“Next time, we should think about the adding questions rather than moving things about” – Erin, P6
We still tried out the path we had built to as far as we got!
“After the bridge, turn 90 degrees to the left and travel 117cm”
There are so many planks that are 119cm but none that are 117cm! Miss Crook is going to make us add things up in our heads again.
“Thirty and seventy is a metre. Then…what’s eight add nine?…No! It is! It’s 117!” – Charlotte, P6
“Finally, continue to travel in the direction of the safe bank”
At last! No more mental addition. There was an extra tyre if teams wanted to add in a second bridge, but none of them did. We all just wanted to finish and test our pathways!
Miss Crook didn’t need to help us this week as our pathways were quite low to the ground and there was no ice. We helped each other over the bridge.
We learned:
To convert between metres and centimetres using decimal notation
To mentally add numbers to two decimal places together
To round numbers to estimate an appropriate solution
To communicate clearly and/or;
To ask questions to clarify meaning
To assess risks and keep ourselves and others safe
To use equipment in order to carry out a task safely
To work as part of a team
