In fourth grade, students are expected to master the basic multiplication facts 0 - 10 by the end of the year. As many of you know, this can be extremely difficult for a lot of children (and adults).
One of the things I learned at my math conference is how important it is that students have a basic understanding of grouping. Believe it or not, many students have just grasped the idea that the number 3 represents three items such as three McDonald cheese burgers or 3 toys. Now we expect them to put the three hamburgers together and call it 1 "group" of 3 hamburgers, but they still see it as three hamburgers-"where does the one come from?" Then, we want them to know that 3 groups of 3 hamburgers is 9 hamburgers altogether. I can see how it could be very complicated to a young mind.
To do well in mathematics, students have to understand what is behind the numbers, what numbers represent and how they are related to each other. This week we are "assessing" the students' understanding of groups and how groups and numbers are related to each other (it's also in their homework).
It would be great if you could help your child see how things come in different groups. A carton of eggs can be seen as 2 groups of 6 or 6 groups of 2, saying 1 group of 12 may not help them see the groups since they can count the eggs one-by-one to find 12. Once they seem to have the hang of grouping, then you can move them on and ask them questions such as, we have 2 groups or 6 which is the same as 6 + 6 which is the same as 2 x 6 or we have 6 groups of 2 which is the same as 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 which is the same as 6 x 2, which would be the easiest -quickest- and most efficient way to find the total number of eggs.
We will be working on this in class, but if you see that your child is struggle with groups (how many groups there are and how many in each group) then the activities above could give them some extra support.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Similes
How I love the sound of similes in books, student writing, and the hallways at school. That's right...similes are all over the place at Lewis and Clark.
Our students have been learning about similes and now they are writing their own. There are several great ones and I love them all, but I have to tell you about the one Cass wrote. He wrote, "Mrs. Alto, Mrs. Jagla, ^Mrs. Osborn, and Mrs. Woodly are like (three) four queens." The ^ is a symbol we use in editing to insert something new. Cass edited his simile to include Mrs. Osborn. Of course, this was after Mrs. Osborn brought it back to class to telling Cass it need revising. =) Many of you may not know that she was crown Miss Ballard (Seattle) a few years ago and has the tiara to prove it.
I have to say though, I have never seen a student write the next one. Luz wrote, "Mrs. Jagla rocks like Elves Presley." Nope, I've never seen that one before and I laughed a lot when I read it. My students definitely keep me happy.
Aren't our students great!
Our students have been learning about similes and now they are writing their own. There are several great ones and I love them all, but I have to tell you about the one Cass wrote. He wrote, "Mrs. Alto, Mrs. Jagla, ^Mrs. Osborn, and Mrs. Woodly are like (three) four queens." The ^ is a symbol we use in editing to insert something new. Cass edited his simile to include Mrs. Osborn. Of course, this was after Mrs. Osborn brought it back to class to telling Cass it need revising. =) Many of you may not know that she was crown Miss Ballard (Seattle) a few years ago and has the tiara to prove it.
I have to say though, I have never seen a student write the next one. Luz wrote, "Mrs. Jagla rocks like Elves Presley." Nope, I've never seen that one before and I laughed a lot when I read it. My students definitely keep me happy.
Aren't our students great!
Nonfiction (Informational) Text Features
Nonfiction reading is something we do a lot of in the fourth grade. Students are working on skills they will need for the rest of their education. One of the first things we work on is looking for the text features of any nonfiction (true and informational) article in a magazine, selection in a book, text book, newspaper...
Nonfiction text features include: titles, subtitles, headings and subheadings, bold words, key vocabulary, insets with new information or information related to the selection, graphs, maps, diagrams. photos, captions and illustrations.
Students work on looking at the text features before they begin reading. It's like a marathon runner getting ready for a race. "She" will warm up her muscles before walking up to the starting line. When we look over the text features we warm up our brain getting it ready for whatever we read in the selection. We have an idea about what we will be reading, and can make connections to things we already know, before we even start.
Nonfiction text features include: titles, subtitles, headings and subheadings, bold words, key vocabulary, insets with new information or information related to the selection, graphs, maps, diagrams. photos, captions and illustrations.
Students work on looking at the text features before they begin reading. It's like a marathon runner getting ready for a race. "She" will warm up her muscles before walking up to the starting line. When we look over the text features we warm up our brain getting it ready for whatever we read in the selection. We have an idea about what we will be reading, and can make connections to things we already know, before we even start.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Math Homework 10/26-11/1
The math homework may seem a little confusing this week, but with a little explanation every one can do it.
One of the things I learned at my math conference is the developmental stages of multiplication. It's easy for adults to understand that multiplication is groups with an equal amounts of items in each group. However, this is a very abstract concept for students to understand. A lot of children have just managed to understand that the number 4 represents an amount of items: 4 roses, 4 gym bags, or 4 soccer ball. But, it's not an easy transition to go from number of items to 4 groups with 7 items in each group: 4 gym bags with 7 balls in each bag means there are 28 balls altogether.
Understanding multiplication as groups of items is the step to mastering the basic multiplication facts.
For this reason, all fourth graders are looking around their environments trying to find things that come in groups. a six pack of pop is '1 group of 6,' if you have 4 six packs of pop then you have '4 groups of 6' which is 24 cans of pop altogether.
After school, Luke was able to find several examples of groups in the library. There were 5 groups of tables with 6 chairs around each table. Altogether there are 30 chairs in the library. He found posters in 2 groups of 6 or you could look at the posters as 6 groups of 2. His sister, Elizabeth, even saw 4 groups of 3 and 3 groups of 4 [Ellen was too busy doing her homework =)].
Students can draw a picture of the groups they find, take a picture and print it off to go with their math, or they can take a picture with a cell phone (if they have access to one) and send me a picture text.
To the right are a couple of pictures of groups sent to me by students. Britni say 1 group of 3 lip glosses (at list that's what I think they are) and I can't wait to see what groups Sophie sees with the blue bottles (and she has a flower of vases not included on the blog).
Help you child notice equal groups of objects and discuss how many equal groups there are and how many items are in each group.
One of the things I learned at my math conference is the developmental stages of multiplication. It's easy for adults to understand that multiplication is groups with an equal amounts of items in each group. However, this is a very abstract concept for students to understand. A lot of children have just managed to understand that the number 4 represents an amount of items: 4 roses, 4 gym bags, or 4 soccer ball. But, it's not an easy transition to go from number of items to 4 groups with 7 items in each group: 4 gym bags with 7 balls in each bag means there are 28 balls altogether.
Understanding multiplication as groups of items is the step to mastering the basic multiplication facts.
For this reason, all fourth graders are looking around their environments trying to find things that come in groups. a six pack of pop is '1 group of 6,' if you have 4 six packs of pop then you have '4 groups of 6' which is 24 cans of pop altogether.
After school, Luke was able to find several examples of groups in the library. There were 5 groups of tables with 6 chairs around each table. Altogether there are 30 chairs in the library. He found posters in 2 groups of 6 or you could look at the posters as 6 groups of 2. His sister, Elizabeth, even saw 4 groups of 3 and 3 groups of 4 [Ellen was too busy doing her homework =)].
Students can draw a picture of the groups they find, take a picture and print it off to go with their math, or they can take a picture with a cell phone (if they have access to one) and send me a picture text.
To the right are a couple of pictures of groups sent to me by students. Britni say 1 group of 3 lip glosses (at list that's what I think they are) and I can't wait to see what groups Sophie sees with the blue bottles (and she has a flower of vases not included on the blog).
Help you child notice equal groups of objects and discuss how many equal groups there are and how many items are in each group.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
L & C raise money for UNICEF with help from WHS students
As soon as my beautiful daughter, Lexi, found out I Lewis and Clark was "Trick or Treating" for UNICEF again she asked for informational flyers and UNICEF trick or treat boxes. The next day she went to school early and started asking all her teachers, and some that weren't hers, if they would keep a box, or two, in their classroom so WHS students could add their donations to our efforts.
She was really excited that her teachers either knew about "Trick or Treat" for UNICEF or were interested in learning more and all accepted a box and flyer for their rooms.
My favorite story is the one she told of going to Coach Jagla's social studies class (yes, there is a relation-he's my husband's cousin). When he explained to Coach Jagla what she was doing he took the box, put money in it, pointed to it and told his students to, "Put some money in it now!" One of Lexi's friends, who was in the class, told Lexi that after she left the class donated at least $50.00.
Ms. Kuntz, the WHS Athletic Director and mom of a Lewis and Clark student who was in my class last year, has also agreed to put "Trick or Treat" for UNICEF boxes in her office. I really appreciate her efforts to help those less fortunate, I've seen her get involved before and was not surprised that she immediately answered my email for help with a resounding "YES."
I hope you will help support our efforts as well by helping your child "Trick or Treat" for UNICEF on Halloween night.
She was really excited that her teachers either knew about "Trick or Treat" for UNICEF or were interested in learning more and all accepted a box and flyer for their rooms.
My favorite story is the one she told of going to Coach Jagla's social studies class (yes, there is a relation-he's my husband's cousin). When he explained to Coach Jagla what she was doing he took the box, put money in it, pointed to it and told his students to, "Put some money in it now!" One of Lexi's friends, who was in the class, told Lexi that after she left the class donated at least $50.00.
Ms. Kuntz, the WHS Athletic Director and mom of a Lewis and Clark student who was in my class last year, has also agreed to put "Trick or Treat" for UNICEF boxes in her office. I really appreciate her efforts to help those less fortunate, I've seen her get involved before and was not surprised that she immediately answered my email for help with a resounding "YES."
I hope you will help support our efforts as well by helping your child "Trick or Treat" for UNICEF on Halloween night.
Math
Numbers...addition-subtraction, multiplication-division,place value, base 10 units, area models...ooh the list could go on. I have only been at the Northwest Mathematics Conference for one day and my head is already swimming, but what great ideas I have for Monday.
Be expecting lots of wonderful tips on how to help your child with math concepts at home to be coming soon.
Thinking of math all day reminded me of something I wanted to discuss after a parent asked me about "extended notation" during our conference.
The students and I have talked about the fact that math has 3 languages-words, symbols, and models. For example- numbers and mathematical operation signs [+, -, x, division(my computer won't let me do the division sign)] are all symbols. Have you ever thought of numbers that way? Think about it what does a 3 really represent. It represents a number of items. You can't really "touch" 3 (abstract), but you could touch the items (concrete). There are a lot more ma thematic symbols, but these will do for now.
We can write numbers as words, twenty-nine, and we can also write mathematics word problems. If Megan had 5 books and her friend Veronica had 5 books, how many books would they have altogether.
We can draw models of our mathematical thinking, which really helps us find answers to math problems. If my computer would let me, I would draw a group of 5 books and then a second group of five books to show 2 x 5=10. I could also draw an area model with 2 x 5 dimensions (I can't draw it on the computer, but your child should be able to draw it for you because we have been working on area models a lot lately).
The students have played a game called Circle and Stars that helps them to make the connection between math languages.
Here are some other ways numbers can be represented and you may have seen homework that asks for one of the following math language for numbers:
Numbers in word form: three thousand four hundred ninety-two
Numbers in standard form: 3,492
Numbers in expanded form: 3,000+400+90+2
Hopefully this information will help you and your child on future math homework.
Be expecting lots of wonderful tips on how to help your child with math concepts at home to be coming soon.
Thinking of math all day reminded me of something I wanted to discuss after a parent asked me about "extended notation" during our conference.
The students and I have talked about the fact that math has 3 languages-words, symbols, and models. For example- numbers and mathematical operation signs [+, -, x, division(my computer won't let me do the division sign)] are all symbols. Have you ever thought of numbers that way? Think about it what does a 3 really represent. It represents a number of items. You can't really "touch" 3 (abstract), but you could touch the items (concrete). There are a lot more ma thematic symbols, but these will do for now.
We can write numbers as words, twenty-nine, and we can also write mathematics word problems. If Megan had 5 books and her friend Veronica had 5 books, how many books would they have altogether.
We can draw models of our mathematical thinking, which really helps us find answers to math problems. If my computer would let me, I would draw a group of 5 books and then a second group of five books to show 2 x 5=10. I could also draw an area model with 2 x 5 dimensions (I can't draw it on the computer, but your child should be able to draw it for you because we have been working on area models a lot lately).
The students have played a game called Circle and Stars that helps them to make the connection between math languages.
Here are some other ways numbers can be represented and you may have seen homework that asks for one of the following math language for numbers:
Numbers in word form: three thousand four hundred ninety-two
Numbers in standard form: 3,492
Numbers in expanded form: 3,000+400+90+2
Hopefully this information will help you and your child on future math homework.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Parent-Teacher Conference
Right now I am sitting in my car on my to Canada for a math conference. No, I am not the one driving. =) Hopefully I will learn a lot of strategies and information I can bring back to the classroom.
While I have a moment, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate "my parents." I told my students, this morning, how lucky I feel to have such a wonderful class and how great all my parent-teacher conferences went. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and talking to you about your child. I learned several new things about many of my students and I was able to share how well they are doing.
If you ever have any questions about homework, school work, or you are just wondering how your child is doing please email or call me at school. I am there to work with you and your child so they can learn and grow as much as possible.
Thank you for such a great turn out.
While I have a moment, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate "my parents." I told my students, this morning, how lucky I feel to have such a wonderful class and how great all my parent-teacher conferences went. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and talking to you about your child. I learned several new things about many of my students and I was able to share how well they are doing.
If you ever have any questions about homework, school work, or you are just wondering how your child is doing please email or call me at school. I am there to work with you and your child so they can learn and grow as much as possible.
Thank you for such a great turn out.
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