Gotta 'go' try this math lesson
So, how much toilet paper do you really need during the quarantine?
Battle Ground EA’s Heather VanValkenburg is challenging her students to do the math behind toilet paper panic buying.
“I was feeling a little bit saucy and created the video for my fourth-graders for math” but it could work for any grade level, VanValkenburg says. She came up with her video when she saw a Facebook post of a dad doing a similar version of the idea. He was upset with people hoarding cases of toilet paper and did a video, which has now gone viral, to show much toilet paper each person needs when self-isolating for 14 days.
The answer? It takes a lot less squares than expected.
VanValkenburg decided to have some fun.
She uploaded the video to her teacher account on YouTube and shared the link with her students as a challenge for her students to try at home. Like many districts, Battle Ground uses Google Apps for Education, so she has a YouTube channel, and she shared the link on her website, which is done on Google Sites.
“If I taught science, I would make this a more structured investigation with controlled variables and all that,” she says.
VanValkenburg, who has taught in Battle Ground for 20-plus years, used to be a computer technology teacher at Daybreak Middle School (she also taught ELA, Science and History) so she did screencasts often, especially for her fifth- and sixth-graders. This is her first year at River Homelink and River Online Learning in Battle Ground, an alternative learning environment with students from all over southwest Washington. She teaches a variety of subjects grades 4-8. Some are onsite and some online.
“I make videos usually when explaining something to students that is just easier to do through video, than in writing,” she says. “It’s often when explaining how to do something on the computer or how to navigate something online.”
While she doesn’t have specific plans to create more videos right now, she is sure inspiration will strike.
“I really like doing videos when I have the chance,” she says.
Check out Heather VanValkenburg’s TP Curiosity lesson on YouTube.
