Be-Leaf Me! Fall is Great! Using Leaves in Primary Science Investigations

When my husband's Aunt Sue moved to Florida, she would send home some strange requests.  One year, she wanted us to send her a box of fall leaves.  Since Florida lacks deciduous trees, her students were unaware of the gorgeous colors produced by the trees up north.  The only problem with her request was that the leaves we sent would be dry and crumbling by the time she received them. What to do?

I solved the problem by ironing the leaves between two sheets of wax paper.  It was something I had learned in elementary school many, many years ago (back when the earth was cooling).  My granddaughters still collect leaves so we can do the activity together.  Here is how you do it.

1. Find different sizes and colors of leaves.
2. Tear off two sheets of waxed paper - about the same size.
3. Set the iron on "dry".  No water or steam here!
4. The heat level of the iron should be medium.
5. Place leaves on one piece of the waxed paper.
6. Lay the other piece on top.
7. Iron away!

Above, on the right, you will see what ours looked like when we were finished.

You can also use this activity to identify leaves.  According to my husband who knows trees, leaves and birds from his college studies, we "waxed" a maple leaf, sweet gum leaf, elm leaf, cottonwood leaf (the state tree of Kansas), and two he doesn't recognize because they are some kind of ornamentals. So my suggestion is to get out there and start gathering leaves because your students, children and grandchildren will love it....be-leaf me!

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Do you want your students to have fun with leaves? Check out  a six lesson science performance demonstration for the primary grades which utilizes leaves. This inquiry guides the primary student through the scientific method of 1) exploration time, 2) writing a good investigative question, 3) making a prediction, 4) designing a plan, 5) gathering the data, and 6) writing a conclusion based on the data. A preview of the investigation is available. Just click on the title. After all you might have an unbe-leaf-able time!

The ROOT of the Problem - Finding Digital Root to Reduce Fractions

When students skip count, they can easily say the 2's, 5's, and 10's which translates into easy memorization of those particular multiplication facts.  Think what would happen if every primary teacher had their students practice skip counting by 3's, 4's, 6's, 7's, 8's and 9's!  We would eradicate the drill and kill of memorizing multiplication and division facts.

Since many of my college students do not know their facts, I gravitate to the Divisibility Rules.  Sadly, most have never seen or heard of them.  I always begin with dividing by 2 since even numbers are understood by almost everyone.  (Never assume a student knows what an even number is as I once had a college student who thought that every digit of a number must be even for the entire number to be even.) We then proceed to the rules for 5 and 10 as most students can skip count by those two numbers.

Finally, we learn about the digital root for 3, 6, and 9. This is a new concept but quickly learned and understood by the majority of my students. (See the definition below which is from A Simple Math Dictionary available on TPT).

Here are several examples of finding Digital Root:

a) 123 = 1 + 2 + 3 = 6. Six is the digital root for the number 123. Since 123 is an odd number, it is not divisible by 6. However, it is still divisible by 3.

b) 132 = 1 + 3 + 2 = 6. Six is the digital root for the number 132. Since 132 is an even number, it is divisible by 6 and by 3.

c) 198 = 1+ 9 + 8 = 18 = 1 + 8 = 9. Nine is the digital root for the number 198; so, 198 is divisible by 9 as well as by 3.

4d201 = 2 + 0 + 1 = 3. Three is the digital root for the number 201; so, 201 is divisible by 3.

The first time I learned about Digital Root was about eight years ago at a workshop. I was beside myself to think I had never learned Digital Root. Oh, the math classes I sat through, and the numbers I tried to divide by are too numerous to mention! It actually gives me a mathematical headache. And to think, not knowing Digital Root was the ROOT of my problem!

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A teacher resource on Using the Divisibility Rules and Digital Root is available at Teachers Pay Teachers. If you are interested, just click under the resource cover on your right.

Different Ideas on How to Teach Long Division

As presented in an earlier posting, there is another way to approach long division.  However, since many of you are required to present it the long way, here are a couple of ideas to make it easier for your students.

First of all, have the students use graph paper.  The squares help to keep the numbers aligned which seems to be a problem for many students.  If you don't have graph paper, you can download free templates at Donna Young's Free Graph Paper and make your own.  I like the idea of separating the problems with lines to ensure there is no cross over from one problem to another.

Secondly, try using the acronym (a mnemonic device) of Does McDonald's Sell Cheese Burgers.  I have see this acronym many times on Pinterest, but usually the C is omitted.

Check means that after the student has subtracted, they should check to see if the remainder is smaller than the divisor.  If it is equal to or larger than the divisor, then enough was not taken out of the dividend.  This is a step often skipped when long division is taught; yet, if the student doesn't check and make the needed correction, the answer (quotient) will be wrong.

In order to learn division, the student must first have a good understanding of multiplication. Students don’t need to perfectly know all of the times tables, but a majority of the facts or having a reasonably quick strategy to figure out the answer is necessary.

Start by practicing division using the number series the students can easily skip count such as 2 and 5. Then gradually move up to nine. After that, move to division by double digit numbers using 10 since most students know how to skip count by 10. Once the concept is understood, teaching division will become more about guided practice to help your child to become comfortable with the division operation which, in reality, is a different kind of multiplication practice.

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The Long and Short of It - Two different ways to do long Division

My remedial college math class is currently working on fractions. (Yes, even many college students don't understand them!) When we discussed how to change an improper fraction to a mixed numeral, long division came up. I showed the class a shortcut I was taught many years ago (approximately when the earth was cooling) and none, no not even one student, had seen it before. I wonder how many of you are unfamiliar with it as well? First let's look at long division and how most students are taught today. We will use 534 divided by 3.

Now if that doesn't make your head swim, I don't know what will. Everything written in the third column is what the student must mentally do to solve this problem. Then we wonder why students have trouble with this process. There is another way, and it is called short division for a reason. This is the way I learned it.......

I don't know about you, but I would rather have my students doing mental math to solve division problems than writing everything out in the long form. And the paper and frustration you will save will be astounding! So what will it be.....long division or short division?

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As a Side Note: Since many students do not know their multiplication tables, reducing fractions is almost an impossible task. The divisibility rules, if learned and understood, can be an excellent math tool. This resource contains four easy to understand divisibility rules and includes the rules for 1, 5, and 10 as well as the digital root rules for 3, 6, and 9. A clarification of what digital root is and how to find it is explained. Also contained in the resource is a dividing check off list for use by the student. If you are interested, just click under the resource title page.