Between the Thanksgiving break and the Christmas break, the 7th graders of San Saba Middle School were at it again!
In their second “Making Math Matter” project of the school year, students in Mrs. Owen’s seventh grade math classes were assigned a 3rd grade partner from San Saba Elementary School. They created questions to learn more about their buddies, interviewed them on December 5, and then spent the next eight school days creating application-based (STAAR Test-like) math word problems with their “buddy” as the main character.
On Monday, December 18, the students printed and binded their problems into customized practice booklets (complete with pictures, graphs and charts). The special gifts were wrapped and presented back to their assigned buddies later that afternoon in a special meeting between the third and seventh graders.
Here’s what some of the 7th graders had to say about the project:
“The best part of the project was meeting my partner and learning about him; he was very interesting.” Elik Gomez “The best part of the ‘Making Math Matter’ project was when we got to meet our third graders and have a conversation with them.” Vanessa Limones “My favorite part of the ‘Making Math Matter’ project was getting to help children that look up to you.” Brendon Prew “The best part of the math project we did was when we saw our third grade buddy open their present.” Denise Vasquez-Martinez “A good thing about the ‘Making Math Matter’ project was creating the problems about our buddies and adding pictures to them.” Ximena Hernandez “The best part of the ‘Making Math Matter’ project was that we got to work with younger kids, and I got to give my buddy a hug!” Yarely Gonzalez “A best part of the project we did was that it can help the third graders for their STAAR test later on.” Nathalia Villanueva
And now to hear from some of the 3rd graders:
“My favorite part was all of the questions that had my name in it.” Mauro Jiminez “I liked having a seventh grader to talk to and answering her questions.” Rossana Mendoza “I like how my partner put a question about my dog in my booklet.” Emarie Gomez “I loved being able to solve
all of the problems; they made it fun.” Corbin Ward “My seventh-grade buddy was nice and asked me a lot of questions.” Ryder Ringo “It was cool to be able to answer multiplication problems with my name in it.” Allison Rivera Third grade teacher, Mrs. Sarah Mann said, “This was a great project and I am so glad Mrs. Owen included us! Seeing the joy in my students’ eyes when they saw their booklet was amazing. They couldn’t wait to return to the classroom and start working on their math problems!”
Mrs. Owen says that the project went wonderfully. “It was so special to see the 7th graders so focused and committed to making unique problems for their buddies; I believe that the project made math truly matter more to some of the students than it would have otherwise. We just hope that the booklets our 7th graders created make math matter more to some of the 3rd graders also!”
If you know or run across a 3rd grade OR 7th grade math student from San Saba, ask them about this project. That will reinforce its value and really help them see that MATH MATTERS more than just for an assignment or a grade!