First graders at Trevvett have been learning about equality (SOL1.18), so today students in Ms. Lang’s class created equality animations using Sketchtoy. Sketchtoy is a cool web tool that replays whatever you draw, letting you watch the whole process in fast speed. It’s great for showing the steps in solving a problem or illustrating a scientific cycle (like the water cycle or a life cycle). First I showed them how to select a large size pen and a color of their choice. They drew a row of dots, making as many as they wanted, as long as the total number of dots was under 18. Next we selected a smaller pen size and and wrote “=” and the total number of dots. Then the students chose a new color and circled a portion of the dots, writing the number of dots they circled underneath. Finally, they chose one more color, circled the remaining dots, and wrote that number beneath. They also wrote “=” and the total of the two groups. They added some animation (probably their favorite part), and we saved it by clicking the save button. When you save in Sketchtoy, it gives you a link to share. We copied the students’ links and pasted them into a Padlet so they could watch each others’ animations. You can see them all here.
