candies

Welcome back! Today we are going to play with M&Ms! First, get any pack of M&Ms. Open it up, without eating ANY of them, and organize them into different colors. In my package, I have 4 red M&Ms, 5 blue M&Ms, 4 brown M&Ms, 3 green M&Ms, and 2 yellow M&Ms.

Now put the M&Ms in order of number (from lowest to highest). For example, my line would look like this:
2 YELLOWS 3 GREENS 4 REDS 4 BROWNS 5 BLUES

To find the average (or mean) number of M&Ms in each color category, you add up all of the M&Ms and divide by the number of categories! Here is what that will look like for my package of M&Ms.

2 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 =18 total M&Ms
________________________ = an average of 3.6 M&MS

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 =5 total categories

Using your same order of lowest to highest, we will find the median, or middle of the M&Ms. In my case, 4 REDS would be the middle of my line. How did I figure that out? I started from the outsides of blue and yellow and took the groups that were farthest away from the middle out of the line. After I took the blue and yellow away, it looked like this:

3 GREENS 4 REDS 4 BROWNS

I took away the two groups that were farthest from the middle away again. After I took the green and brown away, it looked like this:

4 REDS

Because I can't take away in more groups away from the middle, I am left with my reds. This means that the number of reds is my median, or my middle group.

Now arrange your M&Ms back how they were, in order from lowest to highest. We are now going to find the mode, which is the number that appears most in all of the groups. In my package of M&Ms, the numbers of each color are 2, 3, 4, 4, and 5. Which number appears the most amount of times? 4! The number 4 appears twice and all of the other numbers only appear once. This means that my package's mode is 4! What is the mode in your package?

Great work! Now you get to eat all of your M&Ms! Try to look for things around the house where you can find the mean, median, and mode!

winter time

What is the reason for a coat?
It keeps you warm in the winter!


Why do rabbits grow more fur in the winter?
It keeps them warm in the winter!

Why do we not wear coats in the summer? Why do rabbits lose some of their hair in the summer? So it isn't too hot!

When creatures and people adjust to their environments, it is called adaptation. We all adapt to our environments. If it is hot, we wear warmer clothes. If we live in a place that doesn't eat meat, our bodies adjust and don't need to eat as much meat. This is necessary for our survival. Adaptation has been happening since the world was created!

what do you know?

What do you think about these sentences?

Giraffes are short.

The sky is purple.

Bears have stripes.

Stars are in the ocean.

Fish are in the desert.

Did these sentences make much sense? I bet most of you are thinking, "What? That isn't right!" Maybe you have been to a zoo and seen that giraffes are tall and bears are usually brown, back, or white. You have seen the sky and know that it is usually blue. You have seen stars in the sky, and fish in the ocean!

There seems to be some difference in what your prior knowledge (what you knew before reading this) and this experience is making you think! This difference is called disequilibrium. Now you probably want to find out which is true! You were right. All of your prior knowledge was correct!

If You Give A Moose A Muffin

Have you ever read the book, If You Give a Moose a Muffin? It is a great book! Don't worry if you haven't read it yet because I have it right here for you! If you have the book, be sure to follow along!




Did you like the book? It's pretty funny! What did you notice about the moose? You might have noticed that the moose always wanted things without thinking about what the boy wanted. This is called being egocentric. That means that you think about the world mostly from your viewpoint. Try and think of any other books where the main character is egocentric.

counting

Let's try a counting activity! For this activity, you need to get 14 pennies. First, line 7 pennies up so they are touching. Now take the left-over 7 pennies and space them out in a line. (The second line should look bigger) Find a younger friend or sibling that you can quiz.

Ask them which line has more pennies.

If they are older, they will probably count both lines and see that they are equal. If they are younger, they will probably say that the spaced-out line has more pennies.

Why? Younger children do not fully understand conservation. This means that the amount stays the same, no matter what it looks like. As you get older, you understand that it doesn't matter if your objects are spaced out or pushed together, the amount stays the same.



(image courtesy of: http://www.alliancemartialarts.com/PENNIES2.JPG)

forgetting

Have you ever wondered why we forget things? I am sure have studied hard for a test, and just could not remember the next day. Where did the information go? Let's find out!

One problem might be an encoding failure. What does this mean? It means that maybe the information never actually reached your long-term memory. Your long-term memory lets you keep a lot of information in your brain for days, weeks, and even years!

Another possibility is decay. Have you heard of tooth decay? Let's think of your brain like a tooth. Over time, your teeth break down. This happens with your memory, too. Over time, your memory decays and you forget information that you used to know.

Another possibility of why you might forget things is called retrieval failure. This means that you learned something, but you cannot pull up any record of it. This can happen because of interference. This happens when you learn something that gets in the way of trying to remember another thing.

picture game

There are a lot of organizational strategies that help people to hold information in their brains.

First of all, let's play a picture game. Watch this video clip and without writing down anything, try to remember as many pictures as you can.



Now that you have seen all of the pictures, write down the list of the pictures that you remember. Now look at your list. Do you notice anything about the pictures you remembered?

Let's take a look at your list.

Did you use chunking? This means that you would group the pictures in a meaningful way. This means that you might have put the pictures into the categories of animals, sports, animals, and movies.

Did you use visual imagery? This means that you made pictures in your mind to help you remember all of the pictures.

Maybe you remembered the pictures that needed your full attention because of the bright colors, large shapes, or emotions.

Notice how you remember things. Recognizing how you memorize lists will help you in school, too!