February (Grades 3-5)
Ground Hog’s Day
February 2nd is Groundhog’s Day. Tradition says that if it is sunny, the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, will see his shadow and we will have 6 more weeks of winter. If it is cloudy, spring is on its way.
Ask your classmates to predict if the groundhog will see his shadow on Ground Hog’s Day. Make a tally chart to display their responses.
Valentine’s Day
There are 10 students in the class. Valentine’s cards are exchanged and each student gives a card to everyone in the class. How many cards are exchanged?
What about in a class of 20? a class of 25? Write an equation to show your thinking.
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Write a generalized rule to find the total number of cards for any number of students in a classroom.
President’s Day
George Washington served two full terms in office (or approximately 8 years) as president. But not all presidents have served a full term. William Henry Harrison was president for only 31 days. Use the information in the table below to identify which presidents have served less than one term (4 years), greater than one term, and greater than 2 terms (8 years). Write a math rule that could be applied to another president, to determine whether his term was greater than or less than two terms.
Estimation Fun
How long will it take you to count to 10? 100? 1,000? Use this information to help you estimate about how long it would take to count to 1,000,000?