Fun with tessellations

http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/tessellation-artist.html

Dear children,

Try to create your own tessellation with this! =)
Have fun!

  This is a tricky Maths question that Karishma shared:
     There are 7 girls in a bus with no driver.
      Each girl has 7 backpacks.
     In each backpack, there are 7 big cats.
     For every big cat, there are 7 little cats.
     How many legs are there in the bus? (Not the wheels)
        Can you answer it?

How old is Mrs March

                                       
       Hello everyone! On Tuesday, we tried a question on "How old is Mrs March?".
Question:4 years ago Mrs March's age was seven times her                               daughter's age.She is now four times as old as her                               daughter. How old will Mrs March be in 4 years' time?
         Many of you may know the answer already. You may want to share your answers and the steps of your working in the comments column below.

                  

Squares are rectangles?

Johnny said, “A square has all properties of a rectangle. Therefore, squares are rectangles.” Do you agree with Johnny?

Perpendicular Lines, Parallel Lines and The Egyptians' Mystery

Good evening pupils!

Today we embarked on a new journey to Egypt where we explore how the pyramids were built in Egypt. Who built the pyramids? How is it possible that the shapes and lines of the building were perfectly straight even without the use of the ruler or protractor? Could it be the aliens who built it?




Let's take some time to reflect what you've learned today.

1) What are perpendicular lines? 

The word , Perpendicular, means "at right angle". So perpendicular lines simply mean two lines coming together to form a right angle.

Perpendicular lines are drawn using a ruler and a set square.

Step 1: Use a ruler to draw the first straight line.
Step 2: Place one edge of a set-square containing the right angle against the line.Then, using your pencil, draw a vertical straight line downwards to form the second line which meets the first straight line.
Step 3: Mark out the right angle and label the angle as 90 degrees.

2) What are parallel lines?

Parallel lines are two lines which are placed same distance apart. These two lines will never meet. The word parallel means "side by side and having the same distance continuously between them".

Parallel lines are drawn using a ruler and a set square.

Step 1: Place one edge of a set-square containing the right angle along the given line. Then, place a ruler against the other edge of the set-square containing the right angle.

Step 2: Slide the edge of the set-square along the ruler until the other edge passes through the given point. Then, use this edge to draw the line parallel to the given line through the given point.

Step 3: Mark both parallel lines with an arrowhead to indicate both lines are parallel.

Interesting questions for you to ponder

1) Who invented the set square?

2) Why is it called a set square and not a triangle? ( Amaarul's question)

3) Why are parallel lines called parallel ? Can we call them copy lines? ( Amaarul's question)

4) Why are we learning about perpendicular lines and parallel lines? What are they used for? ( Hint: Related to the construction of pyramids)

5) Who came up with the idea of maths? ( Zi Xing's question)

That's all folks. Happy weekend!

Miss Dee

Don't they look 'parallel'?

 Being 'parallel' 

                                        If you aren't 'parallel, then you must be 'perpendicular', right?

Get it? 

Measuring Angles : The Rule of 3 - 4 - 5

Hello Little Mathematicians!

It's April Fool's Day! I'm just glad that none of you played a prank on the teachers.

Did you know that in countries like  Italy, France and Belgium, people tack paper fishes on each others' back as a trick and shout "April fish!" in their local languages?

______________________

As for maths lesson today, we covered the topic on measuring angles where Miss Dee taught you how to use a protractor to measure angles accurately. But the learning doesn't just stop there! Miss Dee would like to take you on a journey to explore the history behind angles. Did you know that the protractor has been invented 4,000 years ago? I wonder who invented it ...

Learning Points 

1) Protractor originates from the word "protract" which means to draw to scale.
2) There are four parts to the protractor : OBOI ( Origin, Base line, Outer scale, Inner scale)
3) How to use a protractor?
     Step 1 : Align the base line of the protractor with line 1.
     Step 2 : Slide the protractor along the base line til the vertex of the angle reaches the centre of the      baseline .
     Step 3 : Locate the origin ( where point zero is). From there, decide which scale to look at.
     Step 4:  Locate where line 2 is. Read the measurement off the scale.

Fun Online Games on Measuring Angles
( Click on the links below)

Measure the Angles by Mathsplayground

Kungfu Angles by BBC
This game requires you to estimate the angles in order for you to attack your opponent!


 Below are some questions for you to ponder.

1) Besides the protractor and the full protractor, could you name me other instruments or ways to measure angles?

E.g The Full protractor (which I've shown it to you today)

2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the protractor?

( As what Anan has shared during class, the protractor can't measure angles up to 360 degrees. Could you think of more advantages or disadvantages?)


3) Remember I mention about the rule of 3-4-5 ? It's a rule which people follow to measure out right angles accurately. But, how does it works?

Answer:

A triangle with a right angle is formed when the slanted line of the triangle measures 5 units, horizontal line measures (4 units) or vertical line ( 3 units).

Regards,
Miss Dee

Online Maths Games/Quizzes on Fractions

Happy Good Friday!

I hope all of you had a great long weekend so far doing meaningful things like spending time with your family as well as completing important tasks such as your school assignments.

While looking through your maths assignments on Fractions, Miss Dee noticed that some of you did not simply the fractions to its simplest form or lowest terms. In maths, fractions are simplified so that the numbers would be smaller and it is easier for us to do further calculations with the fractions. Do you prefer to work with small simple numbers or large numbers? Can you think of other reasons as to why we need to simplify fractions?

Remember, it is necessary to simplify fractions!

The following are the links to two online games for you to practise simplifying fractions.

Soccer Math Game by math-play.com

Reducing Fraction Quizz by MathsPlayGround



Have fun!

Leave a comment below to let me know how you find these games or quizzes.


- Miss Dee - 

_______________________________

Your working is much more important than your answer!

Teachers love to read your maths workings because we are always curious to find out how you get the answer.

_________________________________________________

Visual Multiplication with Lines

Today, we learnt an interesting way to multiply a 2-digit number by a 2-digit number. It works! What is the math logic behind this method?

Adapted from: http://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/ffiles/10006.1.shtml#