Taking over Elk Stadium

Today, our learners were challenged by Coach McElroy, head football coach at BHS, with determining how much it would cost to have a pizza party, if BHS makes it to the state championship.  

                          

As a group, we talked about what questions they had, which included how many pieces of pizza does each person get?  What toppings should we get on our pizza?  How many people can Elk Stadium hold?  Are there any coupons or discounts if we buy a large amount of pizza? 

Now that each group was thinking, early on a Saturday morning, we gave them a list of pizza prices from Papa John's.  As luck would have it, some groups chose to compare the prices of various pizza places to ensure we had the best deal!  Learners were researching the amount of seats in Elk Stadium as well as the top 3 favorite pizza toppings.  

Talk about engaged learners!  Our two hours together flew by as we determined that each person would get 2 pieces of pizza.  Based on their research we decided it would be best to buy a combination of cheese, pepperoni and sausage.  As we did the calculations, the cost of feeding 7,500 people was almost $20,000 which shocked our 7th graders.  When they determined they would need to tip their drive almost $3,000, they couldn't believe it!  

Student-Led Discussions

                                     

One of our goals, as a 7th grade math team, was to work on meaningful student-led discussions.  Our district coordinator, who meets with us weekly, set up the ipad on a swivel and away we went with recording the learning in our classrooms.  At first, our learners were camera shy, which we were shocked by!  After all, these are the kids who love Facetiming, making their own Tick Tock videos and Snapchat filters. 

After some modeling by the teachers, learners were given practice problems and bounce cards to practice in class.  You may ask what a bounce card is.  It's basically a list of question stems that guide the learner's thinking.  I loved walking around our room, listening to their mathematical reasoning and justification.  Their confidence was definitely increasing the more we practiced. 

   

Once learners became comfortable in our classroom, they were given 5 3D figures and asked to describe if a prism or pyramid was drawn.  As a class, we created a thinking map of all the academic vocabulary we use to describe both a pyramid and prism, as well as reviewing good questioning techniques. 


Learners eagerly accepted the challenge of describing what 3D figure their group was given!  We had groups working in the breakout rooms, as well as the learning commons.  I think what I loved most about this learning experience is how excited 7th graders were about geometry.  I heard one young man say, "I feel like I'm in college!"  Who knew an activity that seems so simple, could create such a meaningful experience for our learners.