Where to Look for Math Help

We've begun working with fractions.  And I mean really working with fractions.  We've learned how to add and subtract like and unlike fractions as well as mixed numbers.  Now we are moving on to multiplying and dividing fractions.  We, of course, are working with these functions in lots of word problems so that students can show that they understand how to apply the algorithms.  Check out the recent addition to our Challenges page!


The concept of cross-simplifying can sometimes be daunting, although I've noticed that once students grasp the concept, they work comfortably with it.  If you are finding that your student is not quite understanding how to use cross-simplifying, I would recommend some of the online tutorials that are available.  Math in Focus offers a 5-minute tutorial on this topic.  Students can access this by logging into their Math in Focus account and going to the Library to look for the Interactivities.  (If you need reminder instructions on how to do this, please let me know in a separate email.)  I also found that Kahn Academy has some good tutorials that pretty much match Math in Focus methodology for multiplying fractions.


In real life, especially with Thanksgiving and all of its food, share with your students how you use multiplying all the time in cooking as you double and halve recipes.

Answers to Workbook Pages

I hope that this finds you preparing for our math test next Thursday.  Doing these workbook pages is not required, but working through these kinds of problems is really helpful practice for the test.  So that you will know if you are on the right track, here are the answers:


Workbook pages 119-120
6)  5/36 pounds of turkey left
7)  The snail is 43 5/12 inches from the bottom of the well after 20 minutes
8)  Johnny has 1 7/12 miles left to jog.


Workbook pages 121-127 (two step problems)
1)  Susanne and Barry have 8 bagels altogether.  Each person gets 1 3/5 bagels.
2)  Maya cuts the 5 sheets into 15 rectangles.  Each student gets 2 1/2 rectangles.
3)  Michael and Joel drink 13/21 quart of milk.  There is 8/21 quart of milk left.
4)  She plants tomatoes and beans on 23/36 of the land.  She plants potatoes on 13/26 of the land.
5)  The total weight of the plain and wheat bagels is 4 1/2 pounds.  The weight of the sesame bagels is 1/2 pound.
6)  Jay walks 7/8 miles every morning.  They walk 3 1/8 miles every morning.
7)  Becca uses 1 11/20 gallons of paint.  The use 2 3/10 gallons of paint altogether.
8)  The monkey climbs 8 4/15 feet up the tree.  The monkey must climb 1 11/15 feet more to reach the top.

Week 1 DASH

On Friday morning, our class began our DASH (Disability Awareness Starts Here) sessions with many parent volunteers.  The students participated in activities which simulated various fine motor disabilities.  The purpose of these activities is to have students understand that, despite a disability, there are many things that a person with disabilities can do if they have the right adaptations.  Students experienced what it might be like to have a fine motor disability, then tried using the various tools that might provide assistance.  Ask your student what they thought of our Friday morning DASH session.



Working without entire use of the hand.



Dressing station without the use of fingers




Communication board



More attempts at dressing, now with use of a special tool to help with buttons



Aids and appliances

 

Cardboard Challenge

What an amazing afternoon!  Today was the culmination of over two weeks of intensive work by the 5th grade students to create with cardboard.  Our inspiration was Caine's Arcade, an arcade built entirely from cardboard boxes by a young boy in East Los Angeles.  His creativity was captured on a YouTube video and broadcast around the world.  Today, students all over the world are inspired by Caine to create whatever they can imagine using cardboard. 

In the CLIC lab, Jen Larussa coached the students in design and engineering.  Students learned first-hand about the engineering process, including the fact that sometimes setbacks lead to alternate designs.  There was certainly more than one team that had to revamp their original concept.  It was also affirming to see how the teams truly worked together to bring their ideas to reality.  There were games ("ski" ball, ping pong), household objects (a refrigerator, a bookshelf), and other creations (cars, boats, a particularly adorable giraffe), too many to list here, all from the heads of your 5th graders. 

Today, the students were able to showcase their work.  Despite the fact that the recent humidity made some of the cardboard wilt a bit, the students ably made 15 minute fix-ups, then let the crowds descend.  The 5th grade enjoyed their arcade first, then the 4th and 6th graders were invited to come in, play games, and check things out.  And all from a pile of "junk".

Ping pong, anyone?

 Anchors away, with games to go inside!

Some new bookshelves for our classroom.

Double decker pinball with scoring on the bottom

The ultimate "hidey-hole"

Olweus Anti-Bullying Kick-Off Assembly...With a Whole Lot of Teamwork

I could not have been prouder of our class this past Thursday!  We had our annual Olweus kick-off at school.  Each class was asked to create a presentation about anti-bullying.  I thought that I would leave it completely up to the students to decide what they wanted to do.  And they did so with aplomb. 


The teamwork began in earnest.  We brainstormed, and they decided that a skit would be fun.  One student suggested that the skit have something to do with aliens.  I admit, I steered them a bit from that point as they all became enthusiastic about an alien spaceship story.  But the direction was definitely subtle.  Another student took on the task of writing the script, making sure that there were enough parts for everyone in the class.  The next day, we all worked on revising the script, making it a true collaboration.  Then it was time to make costumes and props.  Building on our teamwork, a third student brought in a gigantic piece of cardboard to use to make a flying saucer.  Some paint, glitter, and brushes later, we had our craft.  Other students took on the task of creating the alien masks that transformed from plain white to dynamic and unique.



When it came time for us to present, the students knew their parts and delivered them perfectly.  (I think we may have a thespian or two in the ranks.)  The audience even gave a chuckle when they saw the aliens come out front.



Our message?  Simple; we're all unique, with different talents and interests, but our world is a more colorful and wonderful place because of it.  Thank goodness.

Almost Back to School

Summer isn't over yet; we still have until the autumnal equinox, a few more weeks, for summer to be truly complete.  Despite that, we start back to school in only a few short days.  I hope that everyone takes advantage of that time to enjoy carefree days and sunshine.  I, myself, couldn't stay away from the beach yesterday and relished the feel of the cold water (but not impossibly cold) of the north Atlantic Ocean.

I have been working in our classroom to get things ready for everyone.  There are still a few finishing touches that need to be done, but for the most part, I think that things are coming together nicely.  I am excited to start off another new year and am looking forward to the many ideas we'll discover and explore together. 

The Tri-Town Council sends me an "Asset Tip of the Week" which I just finished watching.  "Kid President" makes motivating and smile-worthy short videos to get everyone excited about teaching and learning.  Try this one found on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwlhUcSGqgs

Have a happy and healthy Labor Day weekend.
Mrs. Ellis
 

Arts in Our Schools

     Last week our class was invited to view two arts events at school.  The first was the student production of the musical "Honk, Jr.".  Later in the week, we watched 4th graders present "Sadako", a combination of dance and story-telling.  I was struck by how both of these arts opportunities gave the students insight into working hard, working as a group, and reaping the rewards, not unlike any other team.

     At the end of "Sadako", the facilitator of the program asked the students what they had learned throughout the day working on the presentation.  The answers were illuminating; students learned that through practice they could improve on something that they thought was difficult; they commented that they were happy at how they had all worked together to make the dance and story graceful; they were surprised at how much they enjoyed it.  It was also amazing for me to watch our current 5th graders, who had worked on the same program last year as 4th graders, mirror their presenters.  Their steps were just as graceful and showed their recall of this moving meditation.  And there were no complaints about having to stand up and perform the dance.  There seemed to be an understanding that they were just part of the greater team.

     I thought about how the students who brought together "Honk, Jr." participated in some of these same life-lessons.  It takes practice (over many afternoons and evenings) to make something that is difficult look easy.  It needs the participation of an entire crew, working together, seen and unseen, to coordinate a group effort with so many individuals.  There is joy in accomplishing such a production.  They are all to be commended for their stamina and talent.

     Sometimes we think of teams only on fields, lugging sports equipment.  These students showed that teams happen everywhere, fostering the same kinds of values that we want to instill in our children.  We are fortunate that our children have these opportunities to try out different teams and to grow from the experiences.

Learn to Type

Last week our class explored the various sub-genres of traditional literature, reading fairy tales, myths, fables, legends, and tall tales.  We discussed the elements that each of these types of story had in common, things like magic, moral lessons, or larger than life characters.  Now, we are using that knowledge to write our own tall tales in class.  Students are asking themselves, "How will this trait help my tall tale character to solve the problem?  How can I use exaggeration to make my story humorous?" 

After we have revised and edited our stories, we will go to the computer lab to publish them.  Some students commented that they were slow at typing.  If this is the case with your student, I would encourage them to use the Dance Mat Typing website to practice their touch typing skills.  The site address is www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ or google "Dance Mat Typing".  It mixes fun with real learning.  Knowing how to type efficiently is a life-long skill.  This website can help in achieving it.

Inspiring Learning Always

I was just going through my email, and I came across one from Scholastic.  Opening it and clicking my way through links, I eventually found myself reading this article about motivating learners.  I recommend taking a quick look at it.  ( http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/motivate-school-success/10-ways-to-motivate-your-child-to-learn)  I especially liked #5 and #10 on the list.  It reminded me that learning should be a continual process, happening in every place and with all people in our lives. 

To show the class that I am learning too, every day, I recently shared with them a short article from Smithsonian magazine about a company in Japan that is planning to build a solar panel ring around the moon in order to produce enough clean energy to power the world (google Shimizu Corporation or Shimizu Dreams to find more).  Pretty amazing stuff; and we will likely see it in our lifetime!  This was not something that was in the curriculum (although it does tie in very nicely with our current unit on the moon and astronomy) or that I had built into my lesson plans, but it was too good not to share.  This kind of "learning" stuff is around all of us, every day.  Make sure to share some of it with your student.

It occurred to me again when I was grocery shopping.  Are the "real life" problems that students have to tackle in math really "real life"?  In a word, yes.  I discovered two of them while I was grocery shopping yesterday where I really did have to be able to divide and multiply decimals by a whole number to determine the better deal.  I'll be sharing these really real life problems with students on Monday.  The next time you have to calculate a problem or draft a business letter or email, let your students see that, yes, there are real applications to what they are learning in the classroom.

A few things to check out online

Today we did some work in the computer lab learning about compare/contrast essays.  When students finished their review of the website, they continued on to practice on an interactive Venn diagram.  Some students asked for the link to that website, so I thought I would put it here for your use.  The site is www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/venn_diagrams . This website (www.readwritethink.org) also has many resources for extending student learning outside of the classroom.  Check out the parents link.

I also shared an animation of the moon phases in class today.  This is a terrific website for exploring all things astronomy.  Some of the pages on the site are very detailed, but this animation of how the moon phases change should help in understanding the revolution of the moon around Earth and how we see it.  That website can be found at http://astro.unl.edu/naap/lps/animations/lps.html . I was unable to run the simulation on my iPad, but it works well on a laptop.  Ask your student to explain what is happening in the animation.  And check out the Kidblog link to see the work of some students who chose to make "edible moon phases" over the break.  Yummy!

Jeff Kinney & Dav Pilkey Webcast

Today after lunch we watched a brief webcast by Jeff Kinney and Dav Pilkey, authors of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants book series.  Using suggestions from an auditorium of elementary school kids in New York, they began a graphic story.  Students watching the podcast were then challenged to finish the story.

I thought that this would be a great jumping-off point for any reluctant writer to finish the story, along with its animations.  A package and information went home with students this afternoon.  Paula Klipfel has also posted more information and the webcast on her web page(http://mrsklipfelstopteachingtips.blogspot.com).  There is a contest for writing the end of the story with prizes!  This is not a required activity, but I am hoping that there may be some aspiring graphic novelists among us.

Happy Writing!

Welcome to the New Year

It's hard to believe that we have already completed 76 days of school.  We still have much to accomplish before the end of the year.

This week, we worked with Patsy Eldridge to begin to understand astronomy.  She brings valuable hands-on learning to our classrooms so that students can literally "see" how things work.  Students learned how the tilt of the earth impacts the seasons and the phases of the moon.  We will be working more with astronomy in our next science unit.

In math, we are completing our unit on fractions.  Students have been persevering through word problems and working to become flexible in their thinking when approaching problems.  We've learned that there are often multiple ways to attack a problem--therein lies the beauty of math.  I cannot emphasize enough the value of tenacity and perseverance as we solve these problems together.

Reading and writing are bringing an emphasis on expository forms over the next two months.  I was tickled by how the students became so engaged in the non-fiction magazines and books that I distributed.  While sharing what we had found in these, I learned today that the highest mountain in the solar system is in fact Olympus Mons on the planet Mars at 69,649 feet, more than twice the height of Mt. Everest!  I encourage you to share any non-fiction reading that you do with your child.  Small articles in the newspaper or in a magazine are a great place to start.

Stay warm during these cold weeks of winter.