6th MATH:

What’s a great way to give yourself a fresh, clean start to a new year of math? Bath bombs! Beyond the obvious fun, making bath bombs in math class involved many essential elements of math at Hyla: positivity, real-life application, and hands-on activities. With the intentional goal of making sure math is “not scary,” Cindy started the year off with a series of activities that involve math review, assessment, and student self-reflection. In their “math biographies” students were asked to take responsibility for themselves as learners and advocate for their needs as they shared what they do and don’t like about math, their goals, how they like to learn, and anything else they think their math teachers should know about them.

The bath bomb project gave teachers a chance to assess student knowledge of adding and subtracting fractions while giving students a hands-on way to practice those skills through cooking. The bath bomb assignment came in the form of a letter from a fictional grandma who shared her recipe as a series of fraction problems that students had to solve before cooking. Working from a set of measuring tools that didn’t match up to the recipe, students had to further convert to manage proportions, an essential skill in any kitchen. Bath bombs proved to be a great reminder that mistakes – inevitable in kitchens and math alike – always teach us something, and sometimes they’re pretty funny, too – like the frothy mess Cindy created when she accidentally mixed up the recipe using cups instead of tablespoons, proving not only the volume difference but also the difference that makes! And last but not least, the bath bomb project invited students to look at math in a new way, to wash away any nerves or worries, and to embrace a positive growth mindset at the start of a new year of learning.