With Thanksgiving tomorrow, I wanted to say thanks to the parents of my students. Thanks for your support in what we learn in our classroom by helping out with homework at home, sending snacks for the entire class, going on field trips and caring for your child. Thank you for all that you do!
The students just finished their Thanksgiving Essays and we shared them aloud with the class. They were so wonderful! Students were told to take home a copy to share with their family on Thanksgiving, so ask your child about their Thanksgiving Essay. It's also on their Google Drive in case they "can't find" their essay. : )
In math, we are working on decimals and will soon find ourselves working with the decimal counterpart--FRACTIONS!
Word study is still a work in progress and students will have only 10 words for the next cycle.
The state project guidelines will be coming home in January. Students are free to read about their state now, request literature from their state's tourism bureau, or conduct other research. I'm not collecting or requiring anything at this time.
The Holiday Mug Exchange slips have gone home this week. Please read and sign the slip regarding our classroom gift exchange.
Over our Thanksgiving Break, we are having a Thanksgiving Reading Challenge. Students are being asked to read as much as they can over break. We are truly hoping for 100% participation. Look for your child's gold slip.
I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving and remember all that you are thankful for. I feel very blessed.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Iowa Assessments
Formerly known as Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Iowa Assessments have begun once again. This test assesses items based off the Common Core. Students began taking Iowa Assessments on Friday and will continue through this week. Since we have a field trip on Wednesday and no school on Friday, we will have 3 testing days this week and finish up the week of the 18th.
While these tests aren't exactly the most fun, they allow students to show what they have learned. Students have been encouraged to bring water bottles for keeping hydrated and are being provided healthy snacks, donated by classroom parents, to have mid-testing each day. Making sure students are well rested and positively encouraged are ways that parents can help at home. At school, we have made a list of encouraging statements that the students can refer to if they feel stuck or need a boost while testing. Please contact me if you have any concerns regarding your child's testing.
While these tests aren't exactly the most fun, they allow students to show what they have learned. Students have been encouraged to bring water bottles for keeping hydrated and are being provided healthy snacks, donated by classroom parents, to have mid-testing each day. Making sure students are well rested and positively encouraged are ways that parents can help at home. At school, we have made a list of encouraging statements that the students can refer to if they feel stuck or need a boost while testing. Please contact me if you have any concerns regarding your child's testing.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Reading Strategy Groups
You may have noticed your child bringing home an orange bookmark in their Read to Self book. All students are in a strategy group for reading during our Daily 5. We discuss how we use our strategy in our book or in our whole class read aloud. Often times, students are asked to use sticky notes to record their thinking, but also it keeps them accountable to practice their specific strategy. Please check out their bookmark and ask them how they've used their strategy at home for their homework. Between parents signing the bookmark and meeting in their strategy group at school, we are keeping them accountable at home and school and working together to develop their reading skills. I appreciate your partnership in their learning!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Multiplication Strategies
This year in math, we've been looking at solving problems differently. We've really opened up dialogue with students about ways to look at numbers.
For example: 73
Recently, we have been studying multiplication. I know many parents out there are just like me: we all learned the algorithm. That's the fancy way of saying we learned multiplication like this:
34
x 72
---------
68
+ 238
---------
2,448
Now, I didn't put the little 2 above the 3 when I was multiplying 4 and 7, but if I was doing it on paper, I would have. We learned multiplication this way. We learned how to multiply digits upon digits. What we failed to learn, was "what is really happening in this math equation?" or "Why?"
Maybe I shouldn't assume that we all didn't learn the reasoning behind it, but I know I did not and I'm not alone. Using the algorithm alone and just going through the motions is just that--going through the motions. I know that we, as parents, can find ourselves saying--"If it was good enough for me, then it's good enough for them (my children)." Whichever way you look at it, our children aren't being raised in the same world that we were brought up in. They are competing in a world economy, where the person competing for your job isn't your neighbor, it could be someone in another country. By developing the "why" and giving a greater meaning to something is much more meaningful than just going through the motions.
How does this apply to math? Students are using methods in which they decompose the factors of a multiplication problem and then using basic facts to solve.
Let's use the same problem shown above.
34 x 72
Let's decompose the 72. It's 70 and a 2.
Now, let's use the distributive property and distribute the 34 to both of those numbers.
We have 34 x 70 and 34 x 2.
An easy strategy to solve 34 x 70, is to break it down to 30 x 70 and 4 x 70.
2100 280
What do we have left to multiply? The 34 x 2. I may already know from our mental math Number Talks that 35 x 2 = 70, so I'm going to do that and then subtract 2 from 70 because I added 2 ones on. 70-2= 68
Now let's add up all of our products: 2100 + 280 + 68 = 2,448
(this is just one method we've learning)
I won't pretend that methods like this aren't longer, because they are much longer. But the comprehension of the numbers and how to manipulate them is so crucial and astounding to witness.
We've been working at developing these strategies in our classroom and the processing that you see happening is a little slow, but good thinking. This is what I must emphasize: These strategies provide good thinking.
Teaching like this is necessary for the Common Core curriculum, which Iowa has adopted. I appreciate your questions and I need your willingness to be open to your child learning new strategies, which may seem foreign to you. :o)
For example: 73
- 7 tens and 3 ones
- Round it up to 75 to make it a friendly number
- Round it down to 70 to make it a ten
Recently, we have been studying multiplication. I know many parents out there are just like me: we all learned the algorithm. That's the fancy way of saying we learned multiplication like this:
34
x 72
---------
68
+ 238
---------
2,448
Now, I didn't put the little 2 above the 3 when I was multiplying 4 and 7, but if I was doing it on paper, I would have. We learned multiplication this way. We learned how to multiply digits upon digits. What we failed to learn, was "what is really happening in this math equation?" or "Why?"
Maybe I shouldn't assume that we all didn't learn the reasoning behind it, but I know I did not and I'm not alone. Using the algorithm alone and just going through the motions is just that--going through the motions. I know that we, as parents, can find ourselves saying--"If it was good enough for me, then it's good enough for them (my children)." Whichever way you look at it, our children aren't being raised in the same world that we were brought up in. They are competing in a world economy, where the person competing for your job isn't your neighbor, it could be someone in another country. By developing the "why" and giving a greater meaning to something is much more meaningful than just going through the motions.
How does this apply to math? Students are using methods in which they decompose the factors of a multiplication problem and then using basic facts to solve.
Let's use the same problem shown above.
34 x 72
Let's decompose the 72. It's 70 and a 2.
Now, let's use the distributive property and distribute the 34 to both of those numbers.
We have 34 x 70 and 34 x 2.
An easy strategy to solve 34 x 70, is to break it down to 30 x 70 and 4 x 70.
2100 280
What do we have left to multiply? The 34 x 2. I may already know from our mental math Number Talks that 35 x 2 = 70, so I'm going to do that and then subtract 2 from 70 because I added 2 ones on. 70-2= 68
Now let's add up all of our products: 2100 + 280 + 68 = 2,448
(this is just one method we've learning)
I won't pretend that methods like this aren't longer, because they are much longer. But the comprehension of the numbers and how to manipulate them is so crucial and astounding to witness.
We've been working at developing these strategies in our classroom and the processing that you see happening is a little slow, but good thinking. This is what I must emphasize: These strategies provide good thinking.
Teaching like this is necessary for the Common Core curriculum, which Iowa has adopted. I appreciate your questions and I need your willingness to be open to your child learning new strategies, which may seem foreign to you. :o)
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Here we go!
Happy Fall everyone! I've created this new blog with the hope that I can keep parents better informed as to what is happening in our classroom, but also to use to answer questions between home and school.
Here is a word about word study:
This year, instead of having a spelling list that has little, to no connections to the curriculum, our 4th grade team has decided to implement a word study program based off of content vocabulary. You will notice that the words in your child's planner have connections to math, science, reading, social studies and our Warrior Way program. Word studying at school occurs during our Daily 5 literacy block. Students are working on various activities to build their knowledge of the word. Students must learn the correct spelling and the definition of the word. The word study activities during Daily 5 are focused more around the meaning of the words, therefore, it's important that students are spending time at home on learning the spelling of their words.
Math facts:
We've been busy math bees, buzzing around numbers this year. One thing that is holding us back? Our math facts!! We've been working on them at school through quick flashcard review, but we do not have instructional time to donate to the learning of math facts. This is a skill that students need to have mastered by 3rd grade. Students need to be automatic with their fact recall. We've been learning multiple digit multiplication thus far and when students are looking for their base fact, they need to know all of their facts. Please help your child by quickly reviewing math facts at home or in the car. Every little bit helps!
Here is a word about word study:
This year, instead of having a spelling list that has little, to no connections to the curriculum, our 4th grade team has decided to implement a word study program based off of content vocabulary. You will notice that the words in your child's planner have connections to math, science, reading, social studies and our Warrior Way program. Word studying at school occurs during our Daily 5 literacy block. Students are working on various activities to build their knowledge of the word. Students must learn the correct spelling and the definition of the word. The word study activities during Daily 5 are focused more around the meaning of the words, therefore, it's important that students are spending time at home on learning the spelling of their words.
Math facts:
We've been busy math bees, buzzing around numbers this year. One thing that is holding us back? Our math facts!! We've been working on them at school through quick flashcard review, but we do not have instructional time to donate to the learning of math facts. This is a skill that students need to have mastered by 3rd grade. Students need to be automatic with their fact recall. We've been learning multiple digit multiplication thus far and when students are looking for their base fact, they need to know all of their facts. Please help your child by quickly reviewing math facts at home or in the car. Every little bit helps!
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