Finding Math Around Us: Elapsed Time in Brainpop

Today's magical teaching story is that my fourth graders came up with a mathematical problem without me even prompting them.  We were watching a Brainpop video on goals for the New Year, since we all do goal setting this time of year, and we had to pause it as the kids ran out to recess.  I told them we would finish the video and the goals afterward.

I was letting the kids in from recess, and holding the door open in the hall when a math debate started!  It was my data dream come true!   My little Anna (name changed) pointed to the screen and said, "We have 4 minutes left!"  

Then another student retorted, "No, we have 3 minutes left in our video!"  

I looked at the screen and noticed that this was a perfect time to do some math.  We paused.  I threw pens to the kids, divided them up on whiteboards, and I asked them to figure out how much time was left on the video.  

I saw one group convert everything to seconds since it would be easier to subtract.  Another group used the arrow methods and counted how many seconds until two minutes, how many minutes until five and then added the final 8 seconds.   We talked about how the strategies were similar and different.  

It went so well, that I did the same problem with my third graders! (I did have to remind them that there were 60 seconds in a minute.)  Our math talk was fun and about goals!  

That was my nerdy teacher win for the day. Carpe Diem.