Download Dinosaur Discoveries Resources: Interlocking cubes of different

Dinosaur Discoveries
Resources:
Interlocking cubes of different colours, such as multilink.
Possible Approach:
This activity works well as a collaborative task, with children working in pairs or
small groups. Listening to the peer talk will provide useful information on what
children are thinking. Watching what children do, what they use to support their
learning and the methods they use for calculating are important assessment
indicators .
It is very easily adapted to assess all children in your class by varying the approach,
the colour values etc.
You could scaffold the challenge or you could present the challenge without any lead
in, depending on the children. For assessment purposes it will be important to note
which approach you used, any support provided etc.
Scaffolding:
• A good starting point is to ask the children to make a small model using a handful
of cubes of different colours. (Slide 2) When they have done this they can
discuss their models: how many legs, does it have a tail, size in relation to their
partner’s model etc
• Then tell the children that you have a secret code for the values of the cubes and
at this point display the code. You will need to decide on the appropriate values
depending on the children in the group, e.g for children at a very early stage of
mathematical development you may choose to provide only two different colours
cubes with values of 1 and 2 or for the high attaining children you may include 2
digit numbers.
• Ask the children to calculate the value of their own model. Ask them to compare
this with the value of others in their group. You could ask them to order the
values and place the dinosaurs in a line (the use of a number line on which to place
the dinosaurs on may be appropriate at this stage, for some children).
• You can then present the dinosaur ‘challenge’ (Slide 3) which asks the children to
reach a given target number. (you may not want to move on to this stage for some
children).The dinosaur challenge can be adapted by changing the colour values, the
number of different values, the target number etc. The example slide will
provide the opportunity for children working at higher levels to demonstrate
their number skills but you can easily change these for different groups.
Assessment focuses
This task provides a good opportunity for assessing Using & Applying (Ma1) and
Number (Ma2) but also provides a context for observing children’s understanding of
shape space and measure (Ma3)
The possible indicators for children working within level 3 have been provided.
Make your own Dinosaur
Build a dinosaur with the coloured cubes.
If each colour cube has a special value how
much is your dinosaur worth?
Dinosaur Challenge
CODE
Red = 15
Blue = 10
Green =20
Black = 1
Brown = 5
Using the code, your
challenge is to build a
dinosaur with the
coloured cubes.
Your dinosaur must
be worth 540.
Assessment focuses: (Possible indicators for Level 3)
Ma 1 – Using & Applying
Can the children:
Try different approaches and find ways of overcoming difficulties
e.g. decide that the cubes give a total higher/lower than target number and begin to look
for patterns in results to find other possible combinations
Begin to organise their own work and check results
e.g. showing signs of developing an organised approach such as working out the value of
legs first and then thinking about the target number for the body or grouping cubes of
the same colour to reach a particular target number .
e.g. beginning to develop a way to record their work by showing the tally of values
Discuss their mathematical work and begin to explain their thinking
e.g. use mathematical vocabulary to talk about how they calculated the target number , ‘I
knew that one leg was worth 15 so I doubled it to make 30 then doubled again and that
made 60.’
Ma 2 – number
Can the children:
Use mental recall of +/- facts to 20 in solving problems involving larger numbers.
e.g. ‘16+4 is 20 so if I have 160 I need 40 more to get to 200.’
Add and subtract 2 digit numbers mentally
e.g. mentally adds value of cubes
Multiply a 2 digit number by 2, 3, 4 or 5
e.g. know that if one leg is worth 22 then 2 legs will be worth 44 or 4 legs will be worth
88
Derive associated ÷ facts from known x facts
e.g. ‘4x25 is 100 so we need to make each leg worth 25 to get to 100.’
Solve whole-number problems involving x & ÷, including those that give rise to
remainders
e.g. ‘I’ve got 42 left so I need to use 4 blues and I’ll have two left so I need to get 2
blacks.’
Ma 3 – Understanding shape
Can the children:
Describe position and movement
e.g. use terms such as left/right, clockwise/anticlockwise, quarter turns when
discussing the construction of their model
Can the children classify 3-D and 2-D shapes in various ways using mathematical
properties
e.g. demonstrate and describe understanding of symmetry in constructing their
model or talk about the names and properties of the shapes as they work.