Applying Powers of 10

Our district has a new superintendent this year.  In recognition of his 100th day since joining the district on July 1, 2013, our 5th grade students created a sign that read "The Power of 10".  We took a photo as students stood in front of the sign holding white boards with various representations of 10 x 10, including 10^2 and 100.  We then did a second photo with students standing in front of a sign that read, "We can't wait to see what happens by the next power of 10" with students again holding white boards with representations of 10 x 10 x 10, including 10^3 and 1,000.  We e-mailed these pictures to the new superintendent and he was appreciative of the message.

This was a great activity that allowed students to apply their understanding of powers of 10.  They were finishing a unit about powers of 10 and were preparing to take their unit test.  I challenged the students to figure out on what date that 1000th day would fall.  The classroom teacher said the students were engaged and talked about the problem for at least two days.

One student had an elegant solution.  He started with October 8, 2013 being the 100th day.  The student added 365 days to find October 8, 2014 and then an additional 365 days to find October 8, 2015.  From this date, he added by months until he reached 1,000 days on March 26, 2016.

When the superintendent next visited our building, he stopped in the classroom of this student and asked where the student would be on March 26, 2016.  Our superintendent then put a reminder on his phone to take this student out to lunch on March 26, 2016 to celebrate his 1,000th day.  What a great way to acknowledge the great mathematical thinking that occurred in this classroom!  Thank you to our new superintendent for encouraging such excitement about mathematics!