Time to Take an Official "First Bite!"

I'm SUPER excited to share this mouth watering, makes-your-tummy-rumble, lip smacking-ly good digital story!  Just a forewarning: the dessert I concocted might just land you in a baking frenzy!  Nope, I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, especially considering that this is the first video I've ever made.  To say I was slightly intimidated at the thought of creating one of these digital stories is the understatement of the century ;)

And, then there came Photo Story 3.  I rejoiced.  This platform may lack some of the bells and whistles that Windows Movie Maker or iMovie has to offer (namely, video!), but it was just fine for this video-making novice.  I appreciate it's user-friendly, step-by-step design that took all of the guesswork out of editing.  I'm a practical kind of gal with a limited amount of time, so I am absolutely thrilled with how the final product turned out.  Thank you for all of the helpful feedback -- I did add written words to accompany the audio!

I plan on using this with my littles as we tackle the next Common Core math unit.  You guessed it, fractions!  As I'm sure many of you can attest, CCSS are all about applying, analyzing, and reasoning with mathematics.  Memorizing and regurgitating computations is no longer sufficient, so I have to ensure that my kiddos develop a strong conceptual understanding of fractions.  One of our upcoming in-class projects will challenge students to compare the size of two fractions with different denominators.

It almost seems intuitive that the larger the denominator, the greater the fractional piece....right?  It certainly makes sense with what they've learned thus far.  To help students understand that the the larger the denominator, the smaller each piece is (When comparing "wholes" of the same size, that is!) I whipped up this digital story.

First, I described my culinary techniques.  Next, I introduced a problem courtesy of Buddy -- the owner of Carlos' Bakery and the host of the Next Great Baker!  Lucky for us, Buddy serves his treats in fractions, so my kiddos will have to decide which fraction is larger: 2/4 or 2/8.  For the sake of this activity, we'll have to assume that the baking dish, or the whole, is the same size for each.  Afterwards, my kiddos will be invited to use a variety of baking tools, such as measuring cups, butter, or muffins,  OR our collection of hands-on fraction manipulatives, to visually justify their selection.  West Hartford curriculum specialists recommended that we try out this type of exercise to provide our students with a tangible representation of fraction.  I absolutely love inquiry learning, so I'm hopeful that this digital story will be the perfect way to set the scene!