Course Description

"Main Street Math with Minecraft!” will teach students mathematics while they build and create in Minecraft! Mathematics topics addressed include geometry, measurement, data, operations, time, and money (all money problems with use dollars and cents).

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Students are provided weekly assignments. They may choose which grade level (2-3 or 4-5) of work to complete. Advanced students can choose to work on upper-level content, or students needing more practice can work on lower level content. Or better yet, students can choose to do both grade levels! Math practice will have a strong focus on real-world, word problem application. Why? Because the world presents math as real life not just as algorithms! These word problems are, dare I say, FUN! Most problems have a Minecraft theme.

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Prerequisite math skills: (anchor charts/supportive materials will be provided for mathematical problems) At a minimum, with or without support, students should be able to: - solve one- and two-step word problems by adding or subtracting three-digit numbers which do not require regrouping or borrowing across zero (ex: 604 – 501 or 507 + 471). - use multiplication and division within 100 to solve one- and two-step word problems (ex: Nina can practice a song 5 times in an hour. If she wants to practice the song 75 times before the recital, how many hours does she need to practice? 75÷5=? Or ? X 5=75 ) - solve one- and two-step word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies (use addition and subtraction with decimals to the hundredths place) - identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes. - find areas of rectangles (length x width) - find perimeter of polygons (at least three straight sides) - understand units of time (60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day)

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On average, students will complete 2-3 hours of math lessons, practice, and 2-3 hours of creating their “Main Street” with Minecraft each week. This equates to 4-6 hours of work per week in total.

 

What will students be creating in Minecraft each week?

Week 1: MainStreet and City Hall

Week 2: Fire and Police Stations

Week 3: Restaurant and General Store

Week 4: Bakery and Pet Shop

Week 5: Bank and Library

Week 6: Streetlights, cars and other decorations

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This course will follow a “flexible schedule” and does not have scheduled online meetings. This flexible schedule allows students to work at any time, 24/7 for the duration of the 6-week course. Thus, keeping all students working at a similar pace but not requiring them to attend a set online class meeting time.

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Each Monday morning (12:00 AM Pacific) the tasks for the week will be unlocked and available to enrolled students via the free online Canvas portal (https://canvas.instructure.com/).

 

Instructions on how to access the Canvas online classroom will be emailed prior to the start date of the course. The weekly checklists include reading notes, watching video lessons, completing math practice problems, watching video lessons, creating Minecraft builds, and posting to the online classroom discussion forums. The teacher will participate in the online discussion forums to provide feedback and can always be reached via email and through Canvas. To stay on track, students should follow the provided pacing guide each week of which tasks should be completed each day (Mon-Fri). There is generally about 1 hour of work per day. Students should be sure to complete the weekly tasks before the next week of tasks are unlocked to stay on track.

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Each student will need a Minecraft account. Any version of Minecraft (PC/Mac computer, Minecraft for Windows10, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, or other gaming consoles, Minecraft PE for iPad, Android tablets, etc.) will work for this course. Purchase of a Minecraft account must be made separately and prior to the start of class. Instructions on how to build with Minecraft are not part of this course. Students with a few weeks of Minecraft experience through play or otherwise will have the skills needed to complete the builds in Minecraft.