Third Grade Bracketologists

Today we became bracketologists! Because the first (play-in), second, and third rounds of the NCAA tournament were over our Spring Break, we created our brackets today. Not sure any of them would have picked the upsets that occurred, but hopefully those are over (at least for this Jayhawk fan!).

The students filled out their brackets and I posted them in the classroom. During the afternoon, many of the students walked over when they had time and check out what teams their classmates had chosen. Later this week, we will add some geography to the mix and find the cities where the universities are as well as the cities where the games are held.

Dice Probability

We have been studying probability in math. After looking at many different spinners, we have moved onto looking at the probability of dice. Students worked in pairs and were each given a different kind of dice. The students recorded their roll 20 times on the sheet below.

After recording all the 20 rolls, pairs graphed only rolls of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 on the sheet below. As you can guess, not all dice produced many rolls of 1-6, while others rolled only 1-6.

Then, students had to guess which graphs matched with which dice. It was an enjoyable probability lesson as the students got to practice it hands-on!

Taking Probability Into Our Own Hands

After studying probability and figuring out the mystery spinners, we were ready to make our own spinners and test them out! Students were given a blank spinner and were able to use any colors they wanted to make it their own.

Student then traded their spinners with a classmate and answered the following questions:
1. What are the possible outcomes of the spinner? _________________
2. What outcomes are most likely? ________________________
3. What outcomes are least likely? ________________________
4. Make a table & test the spinner with 20 spins. Record the outcomes

Mystery Spinners

Today we got a little mysterious with our spinners!

The students broke into small groups and were given a spinner. Each group had a different spinner and had to keep it a secret from the other groups. The students predicted the outcomes of their spinners before they were given the fancy spinner tool (i.e., paperclips).

After recording 30 spins, the students created a graph of their spins:

The graphs were posted on our whiteboard for the students to study. As a class, we discussed which spinners belonged to which graphs. The students made great connections and explained how they knew which outcomes were possible, most likely, least likely, and impossible.

Possible, Impossible, Certain, Never, Least Likely, & Most Likely

We have started our Probability Unit in Math! The students are learning about the probability of situations and spinners. We have learned the terms Possible, Impossible, Certain, Never, Least Likely, & Most Likely and are now able to apply them to all kinds of things. Here's some Math Vocabulary for you: