While every child is exceptional in their own way, when it comes to Math, there is such a thing as an “average” student. In this case, the Seniors (5th- and 6th-graders) used many math skills to create Erlsha Rohean, this year’s Average Senior. The students measured each other – head, neck, and torso circumferences, arm length, leg length – then averaged their findings to get Erlsha’s dimensions. They figured out hair color, eye color, gender, clothing preferences, and determined her name by finding out which letters in the first and last names of the class were used most often.
After getting the needed figures, the group set about creating the model to represent the Average Senior. Erlsha fits right in. At first glance, anyone walking by Erlsha is sure they are seeing a person! The students even polled each other to find out many other interesting tidbits about the Average Senior, then created graphs to represent her choices. Here are a few choice facts about Erlsha, that the class shared during a Friday assembly:
- She’d rather wear shorts than pants.
- Swimming is her favorite thing to do in the summer.
- Her favorite dessert is ice cream.
- She loves thunderstorms and snow.
- Her favorite color is blue and favorite animal is a dog.
- Her biggest hope for the world is no more fighting, followed closely by a wish for flying cars.
