Coleman's Camp - Weekly Journal Entry: 2/25/2013

Week of 2-25: My Thursday group returned this week after the snow cancellation last week to work on their tessellations.  In finishing the projects the kids are able to see the effect of a repeating, interlocking pattern.  The colors are designs used by the kids are vivid and eye-catching.  The Thursday and Saturday groups both used the recent heavy snows to explore three-dimensional cubes.  My wife had seen a news report explaining that the recent snow fall was particularly heavy, with a cubic foot of the snow weighing approximately 20 pounds!  Both the Thursday and Saturday kids were challenged to build an actual cubic foot using rulers and scotch tape.  They formed groups, had to select their supplies, and then work as a team to build the cubes.  Different strategies were used, with some groups all working on one section at a time while others divided the work of making squares and then joining them later.  The placement of the tape at the vertices (or corners) was crucial.  After kids finished their cubic feet we reviewed the difference between the metric system and the US (standard system) or measurement.  Kids were then challenged to compete against another team to use their newly acquired learning to build a cubic meter.  Finally, kids looked at approximately how many cubic feet would fit into the cubic meter, noting that since we were dealing with two measurement systems there would be "extra space."  The kids loved the activities and the hands-on project!