I have taught the Theodorus Wheel Project for three years now, and I have never seen the quality of work that I saw this year! The work of these children was so outstanding, I just had to share it! For those who don't know, the Wheel is another way of teaching the concept that irrational numbers can be found on a number line. What we did was start by making an equilateral right triangle (both legs were an inch long). We then found the length of the hyponenuse of this triangle using the Pythagorean Theorem. then we made another right triangle using the hypotenuse from the first right triangle and another 1-inch leg. We found the next hypotenuse and repeated the procedure. After every triangle we drew, we used a compass to draw an arc back to our initial number line. Where the arc touched the number line showed where that irrational number falls on a number line. The interesting thing is that as we continued this procedure, a visual and numerical pattern emerged, like a spiral staircase. The task I gave the students was to keep drawing triangles until they got all the way back around to the number line, and then to create a new picture from the design they saw. Like I said, they did a fantastic job applying this concept. But, the pictures are above. You can see it for yourself!
This week, we will start working on the first of our algebra concepts, solving equations in one variable. We are getting closer and closer to the CRCT with each passing day. You should know that ALGEBRA makes up about 50% of the items covered on the test, so let's work hard going forward, guys! See ya in the Red Hallway, Knights! 801, SECOND TO NONE!!!
