Our World, Our Numbers - the finale!

This is a cross-post from Our World, Our Numbers

(Thanks to Kathleen Morris of 4KM and 4KJ)

Since 25th February, the seven classes participating in Our World, Our Numbers have enjoyed:

• learning about different areas of mathematics from their friends in other countries
• making comparisons and contrasts between their lives and the lives of their blogging buddies
• sharing mathematical knowledge and skills
• using a range of tools to create posts
• engaging in rich conversations through commenting

It is now time to finish up the Our World, Our Numbers project. To conclude this wonderful learning experience, all of the classes have been working collaboratively on a collection of mathematical poems.

Watch the Sliderocket below to see the classes perform:

• The Skip Counting Song (B4, New Zealand)
• Aussie Doubling Ditty (4KM and 4KJ, Australia)
• What is a Million? (Room with a View, England)
• Triangle Trouble (Mr Avery's Class, Massachusetts, USA)
• Smart (Mrs Yollis' Class, California, USA)
• Shapes, Shapes, Shapes (Mrs Watson's Class, Canada)

Why don't you head over to the 

Our World, Our Numbers blog 

and leave a final comment?

Our World, Our Numbers: Topic 7 Seasons and Temperature

We've reached the seventh and final topic 

on Our World, Our Numbers. 

It's been a lot of fun sharing our mathematical lives with the other classes.

This week we’re talking seasons and temperatures.

In our inland town on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand we get quite distinctive seasonal changes.

 Summers are usually hot and dry; spring is often wet; and winter brings frost, fog and sometimes (if the children are really lucky) some snow.

Right now in the southern hemisphere it is autumn. 

The weather is getting cooler and the colours of the trees are changing.

One of the oak trees at our school.

This year many areas of New Zealand suffered drought over the summer and for the first time ever drought was declared on the South Island’s west coast!

Here is some temperature and rainfall information for our town over the past few months:

Can you see which months we were in drought?

We searched out some information about 

weather extremes for our town.

Can you share some weather data about the place where you live?

All of the classes are keeping track of this week’s midday temperatures on this   Voicethread.

Are there seasonal changes where you live? 

Which season is your favourite? Why?

Why don't you head on over to Our World, Our Numbers to check out the other posts and the comments.

Our World, Our Numbers: Topic 5 - Animals

The 5th topic on the Our World, Our Numbers project 

is all about animals.

We enjoyed learning about Canadian animals from 

Mrs Watson's K/1/2/3 class 

and about kelp forests from Mrs Yollis' class.

We've put up a post about two of our iconic 

New Zealand animals.

The kiwi is a bird native to New Zealand. It is a flightless, nocturnal bird.

What does nocturnal mean?

Attribution: dancedancewerefallingapart

One of the nicknames for people from New Zealand is ‘kiwi’!

Five species of kiwi are found in New Zealand, but all are endangered due to predators such as ferrets, rats and cats and dogs.This is because kiwis live on the forest floor.

Did you know that kiwis can not fly?

You might like to read this legend 

– ‘How the Kiwi Lost its Wings.”

We have some number facts about the kiwi:

In the wild kiwis can live for up to 20 years.

The kiwi egg is the biggest of any bird in proportion to the female’s body.

The average weight of an ostrich egg is 2% of the female’s body weight whereas the average weight of a kiwi egg is 20% of the female’s body weight. 

The kiwi has a long beak and amazingly the nostrils are at the very tip! That’s a very useful adaptation as the kiwi probes in the forest floor for grubs, insects, earthworms and other food.

The kiwi’s beak is about 1/3 the length of its body.

If the bird’s body was 36 cm long how long would the beak be?

The kiwi weighs about 3kg.

How many pounds would that be?

The kiwi is about 45cm tall.

How many inches would that be?

The average body temperature of a kiwi bird is 38˚C.

What is the body temperature of a human?

Another special animal native to New Zealand is the tuatara.

The tuatara is an ancient type of reptile.

Photo credit: ajft / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Read the links about tuatuaras here and here then head over to Our World, Our Numbers and leave us a comment with a number fact that you found out about tuataras! 

Measuring Ingredients and Baking Biscuits

The topic for Our World, Our Numbers this week 
is recipes and measurement.

We used our measuring skills in B4 to make Anzac biscuits using the recipe from the Edmonds Cookbook - many homes in New Zealand would have a copy of this cookbook!

We noticed that Anzac biscuits also featured in 4KM and 4KJ's  post this week!

Anzac biscuits:

125 g (4ozs.) flour                                    100g (3 1/2 ozs.) butter

150 g (6ozs.) sugar                                  1 tablespoon golden syrup

1 cup coconut                                           1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

1 cup rolled oats                                       2 tablespoons boiling water

Mix together flour, sugar, coconut and rolled oats.

Melt butter and golden syrup.

Dissolve Bicarb. Soda in the boiling water and add to butter and golden syrup.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and stir in the liquid.

Place in spoonfuls on the trays.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes at 180˚C. (350˚F)

We measured the flour and sugar with these scales.

They have both metric and imperial units on them.
We used the metric units.

We needed a cup each of coconut and rolled oats, so we used our measuring cup.

We needed 100g of butter. 

How many lots of 100g are in our block of butter?

The biscuits were laid out in an array on the baking tray.

How many biscuits on our tray?

We made 3 trays of biscuits, so how many biscuits did we make?

Finally it was time to enjoy the biscuits!

Do you do baking at home?
What do you like to make?

Our World, Our Numbers: Topic 3 Measurement and Recipes

On Our World, Our Numbers this week, our buddies 'Room With a View' from England put up a post with a

delicious recipe for 20 gingerbread cookies.

In B4, Jia Xuan and Tarris used the place value equipment while working out how to double the recipe 
to make 40 cookies.

In New Zealand we measure using metric units, such as kilograms, grams, metres, kilometres, litres and millilitres.

Some of our buddies measure using imperial units, such as pounds, ounces, miles, yards, pints and gallons.

Why don't you head over to Our World, Our  Numbers 

and take our quiz about measurement units!

Our World, Our Numbers -Topic 2: Landmarks

Our global project 'Our World, Our Numbers' got off to a great start last week with lots of conversations about currency.

The latest topic is landmarks and monuments,

 along with their statistics.

In B4 we made a list of New Zealand landmarks 
that we knew of. 

Jordan suggested the Sky Tower in Auckland (our tallest tower at 328 metres / 1,076 feet).

Jia Xuan suggested Mt Cook (our tallest mountain at 3,754 metres / 12,316 feet).

In our region we have the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki.

By Christian Michel [CC-BY-2.0], By Christian Michel [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

These rocks began forming 30,000,000 years ago!

Can you see how the Pancake Rocks got their name?
Have you ever visited the Pancake Rocks?
What other New Zealand landmarks would you add 
to the list?

Money, Money, Money!

This week in the Our World, Our Numbers project the classes are talking about currencies, led by 4KM&4KJ. 

Here are the notes and coins we have in New Zealand:

The $100 note features New Zealander Sir Ernest Rutherford who first split the atom; and the mohua bird.

The $50 features a famous Maori leader Sir Apirana Ngata; and the kokako bird.

On the $20 is Queen Elizabeth II; and the karearea bird.

The $10 has a well-known New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield; and the   whio bird.

Our last note is the $5 which features Sir Edmund Hillary who was first to reach the summit of Mount Everest; and the hoiho (little blue penguin).

Our coins all feature Queen Elizabeth II plus:

$2 has a kotuku (white heron)

$1 has a kiwi bird

50c has ‘The Endeavour’ -the ship sailed by Captain James Cook

20c has a carving of a Maori chief  -Pukaki

10c has a Maori koruru (carved head).

Play some games to learn about New Zealand money.

Do you collect currency from other countries?

What countries do you have currency from?

Our World, Our Numbers: A new Global Project

In B4, we love to connect and learn with our friends around the world.

Today we are launching a new global project 

called Our World, Our Numbers.

We have a blog http://ourworldournumbers.edublogs.org where we'll meet up with our blogging buddies to learn together for the next five weeks.

In late 2011, many of us worked on an award winning global project called Our World, Our Stories. 
This latest project is based on a similar format with a mathematical focus.

Classes involved

The students are all from primary (elementary) classes and are from three different continents and five countries.

Mr Avery's sixth grade class from Massachusetts, USA

Mrs Monaghan's 3/4 class, Room with a View, from England

Mrs Morris and Miss Jordan's grade four class, 4KM and 4KJ, from Victoria, Australia

Mrs McKenzie's 2/3 class, B4, from New Zealand

Mrs Yollis' 2/3 class from California, USA

Mr Salsich's third grade class from Connecticut, USA

Mrs Watson's K/1/2/3 class from Canada

View Our World, Our Numbers in a larger map

How will it work?

Students from all classes will connect and collaborate by sharing their mathematical lives. 
This will happen through the blog and involve a variety of media.

A different class will lead a mathematical topic every four days or so, publishing posts and replying to comments. The other classes will read the posts, possibly publish their own posts, and leave blog comments.

We will share topics such as currency, seasons, time zones, population data etc.

The learning

Through blog posts, the students will teach each other about different aspects of mathematics based on aspects of their own culture.

The learning will continue in the commenting section where students, teachers and parents will engage in conversations to explore mathematical and cultural topics further.

Students will gain an understanding of mathematics through the eyes of children in different countries and cultures. They will make comparisons and contrasts between their lives and other students' lives.

If you want to keep up to date with how the fun and learning unfolds, there is a "subscribe via email" box on the right hand side of the Our World, Our Numbers blog.

Get Involved

We encourage all members of the B4 community to get involved!

B4 will lead the 6th post about seasons and temperatures.

Head over to the Our World, Our Numbers blog now to check out the first post by 4KM and 4KJ about currency, and leave a comment.

What do you think about our new global project?