RPRY Students Use Candy to Visualize Division in Third Grade

Third graders at RPRY recently used Mike and Ike candies to explore the mechanics of division, a move the school described as adding sweetness to their daily lessons.

The activity required students to create equal groups with the candy to understand the practical meaning of dividing numbers. The lesson also focused on identifying when fractional parts are logical and when they are not, allowing students to see the concept in a physical form.

This specific lesson fits into a wider instructional framework that has been in place since the Early Childhood program. The curriculum emphasizes cognitive and metacognitive skills, requiring students to engage in hands-on activities and real-world experiences.

Throughout the elementary grades, the school utilizes a rotating center model. Students alternate between teacher-led groups and independent work sessions. This structure is designed to allow learners to operate at their own pace while receiving individualized attention from instructors.

Teachers employ various tools during these rotations, including manipulatives, ten-frames, math journals, and open number lines. The goal is to shift student focus from merely finding a precise answer to analyzing the strategy used to solve the problem.

The school reports that this approach is intended to build student confidence and foster a stronger engagement with mathematics. The current unit for third graders serves as a recent example of the hands-on methods applied across the grade levels.