Prime and Composite Numbers

In Unit 3 of Everyday Math, we have been practicing multiplication and division.  We've used fact triangles to look at the relationship between these two operations.  Practicing division brought up many new concepts such as factors and multiples.  When finding factors, some students noticed that some numbers only have 1 and themselves as factors.  We took a detour away from our math journals and did an activity to learn more about prime and composite numbers.  


To start, the students were given a table with several numbers.  Their job was to come up with a list of factor pairs and then decide if the number was prime or composite.  After, they chose one of each type of number and drew arrays on centimeter grid paper.  Next, they cut out the arrays and glued them onto construction paper.  We used these as a display on our giant classroom bulletin board.  

Text Connections

In reading, we have been learning about how to make connections between books we're reading to other books we've read, to ourselves, and to the world around us.

Recently, we read "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss and discussed how, even though it seems like a silly story, it has connections to the real world.  Here are some of the connections the students made:

"In this text the Once-ler dumped all of his glumpy stuff in the pond.  That is like the great oil spill which affected thousands of sea animals' lives." -C.K.

"In this text the Bar-ba-loots go hungry because the Once-ler is cutting down the trees.  That is like some animals go hungry because people cut down all their food, like plants or trees." -E.W.

"In this text, the Lorax said, 'Your factories are polluting the air.'  That is like on the news I heard that a certain bird species is dying mostly because the air is being polluted by factories." -T.M.

"In this text, they were filling the sky with funk so the wunk birds could not sing.  That is like big factories, cars, and buses are polluting the sky."  -S.H.

"In this text, they cut down all the trees.  It is sad for all the animals that needed them to stay alive.  That is like how pandas eat and use the bamboo for their homes but people cut it down to use it for a fence or home."  -S.W.

"In this text they were smoking up the sky.  That is like from the news, we should be fuel efficient." -X.L.

"In this text, the Once-ler didn't think what would happen if he cut down a tree until it was too late.  This is like in our world, we have to think before we do something or we might do something we don't mean to do."  -N.S.

"In this text, they cut down so many trees the little bears could not live.  That is like if they cut down too many trees it will affect the food chain so most things will die." -L.G.

"In this text, the Once-ler didn't listen to the Lorax's warning.  That is like people sometimes don't listen to warnings and ignore them, even when something is really important."  -E.W.

We were surprised to find that a book with silly words and rhymes had such a deep meaning!