This month, our amazing student teacher, Ms Millotte, is teaching about transformations. This includes reviewing how to plot points in the coordinate grid and learning about translations (slides), reflections (flips) and rotations (turns). Generally, we are keeping the Grade 5s in the first quadrant (positive numbers) and the Grades 6s in all four quadrants (includes negative numbers). This week, we tackled translations and reflections: Students loved a 'cut and paste' activity where they solidified a lot of math vocabulary (coordinate grid, origin, X-axis, Y-axis, prime). Fun! We also did some hands-on work with geoboards: Students also enjoyed creating their own images and then reflecting them! This was great practise to label our images with with "prime" coordinates (A, A', A''). This lets us know which image is the original and which is the first reflection (A') or the second reflection (A").
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This week, the Grade 5s and 6s have been learning slightly different math topics. Please read the appropriate section below to discover more! Grade 5s:Our main goals this week have been to: 1) review our multiplication tables 2) learn strategies to multiply two-digit by two-digit numbers 3) read problems carefully (underlining important information, reread, etc) in order to tackle harder problem solving questions (ask your child about our STAR method!) A big hit was our "Triangle Solitaire" game. Students loved this! Interested in playing at home? Sure! It's one of our practise strategies that you can find in THIS DOCUMENT (Strategy #4). Students also liked learning the area model and relating this to the standard algorithm (ie, how YOU learned multiplication at school!). I'm confident that the whole class can now multiply double digit by double digit numbers effectively. Grade 6s:As well as reviewing the above, Grade 6s have been focussing on factors and multiples this week. We have learned the difference between prime numbers and composite numbers. We have made factor rainbows (to determine the factors of a number) and factor trees (to represent a number as a product of its prime factorization). There was a lot of new vocabulary this week! An idea is to review the vocabulary bolded above with your child :-) A highlight was ACTUALLY creating "winter factor trees." This was hands-on, interactive fun, covid-style (ie, not touching anything that your partner has touched!). It took a lot of prep, and some patience, but student engagement was high so it was all worth it. Don't they look amazing?!?!
In the junior grades, we learn how to take simple and composite patterns, create a table of values, find coordinate pairs and then graph the linear equations! See below for some examples of what we have been learning about in class:
We've continued to explore patterning by creating and determining pattern rules. Pattern rules can be simple rules (what to do to get from one number to the next one) or term pattern rules (how to find ANY number in the pattern by relating it to the position it's in). See below for Gr 5 and Gr 6 examples.
We've worked through a LOT of patterns in class. See below for Gr 5 and Gr 6 examples: Students are working hard to apply their number sense knowledge to determining pattern rules. We are pattern rule detectives!
We have been exploring patterns this week in class. We are starting with simple patterns (ex. "Start at 5 and add 7 each time" or "Start at 44 and divide by 2 each time") and next week we will move on to more complicated patterns (that involve multiple operations - ex. for each term multiply by 2 and add 5). Concepts to discuss and review at home this week: -Addition and subtraction are connected ("inverse operations" - each addition pattern can also be a subtraction pattern if you reverse the direction) -Multiplication and division are connected (ex. a "Multiply by 7" pattern rule can also translate into a "Divide by 7" pattern rule in the opposite direction) -Growing patterns involve addition and multiplication -Shrinking patterns involve subtraction and division (so when finding a pattern rule for a given set of numbers, if a subtraction rule isn't working... try a division one!) -Please review multiplication tables, as this will help your child with patterning. See below! Take a look at the photos below. These are large group math talks/discussions that we had in class. Ask your child to explain them to you - this oral review will help your child solidify what we are learning in class! For the discussions above, students generally get a few minutes to "think it out" themselves on their Math Talk page, and then we begin a group discussion on the task where concepts are reinforced orally and visually. We have also been focussing on creating "T-Charts" or "Table of Values" - these will be crucial moving forward (when we begin to find ordered pairs and graph them next week).
We have jumped into "Math Talks" this week, which involve an open-ended question posed to the class, five minutes to work on the question individually, and then a group discussion where we share our thoughts. I love hearing the ideas and insights that stem from these questions - so much learning can actually occur from our peers when we share our ideas. Students really loved our "Robot Angle Activity" this week. The goal: use your creativity to design a robot that has at least two acute angles, two obtuse angles, two right angles, an angle of exactly 45 degrees and another angle of exactly 130 degrees. Students are now masters at measuring and drawing angles with their protractors! Angle Bingo was a hit - and very competitive! I loved hearing the cheers and seeing the smiles as we played this game. Best quote once we were done: "Phew! That was intense! I felt like I was in the Hunger Games!" Ha! Maybe we need to tone our competitive sides down... And finally... our Grade 6s have been working hard on their angle letters... look at all those acute, obtuse, right, opposite, supplementary and complementary angles! #BetterThanAWorksheet Take a look at our final message:
This week, we have been learning all about angles. How do we make measuring angles fun? Ha! We let them draw on their desks... #InstantEngagement The words "What do you notice?" are a very powerful tool. Without an explicit lecture from me, kids began making some interesting discoveries on their own.... The Gr 6 class is also working on a special secret message... what will it say? Can you guess? This week we tried math centers! They sure look different this year with the new covid rules, but hey - they worked and the class loved them. Read below to find out more. First, we learned how to add and subtract with decimal numbers. Key points: line up the decimals and be careful if you are subtracting across zeros - this is tricky! Below are a few examples we did each day this week as a group and as individual practise: Then we rotated through math centers to practise our new skill. Students did a different activity each day: Scoot Math Practise, Decimal More or Less Task Cards, Safari Menu Math and Place Value Yahtzee. Ask your child to explain each center to you! We've also done lots of other place value work. Click on the image to enlarge. Next week, we'll have a little math quiz.
Concepts to review: -Place value (value of a digit, place of a digit, word form, expanded form) *There are task cards in last week's blog post as optional review homework and you can also use THIS as extra review if needed. -Representing decimal place value with base ten blocks -Comparing and ordering decimal numbers (greater than, less than, equal to) -Adding and subtracting decimal numbers (Hint: review subtraction across zeros) This week we continued to learn about place value, with a focus on decimals. I feel that the more I can teach the same concept in different ways, the more I can help students solidify their mathematical understanding. So as a result we've watched videos, repeated core concepts daily, used manipulatives and applied our understanding to different concepts again... and again... and again! Concepts to review: Place value from hundred thousands to hundredths (Gr 5) and millions to thousandths (Gr 6), word form, expanded form including decimal numbers (ex. 456,061.25 = 400,000 + 50,000 + 6,000 + 60 + 1 + 0.2 + 0.05) and the value of a digit (ex. in the previous example, the 4 is worth four hundred thousand and the 2 is worth two tenths). A highlight this week was watching the Daytona 500 Nascar Race in math class. Yes, you read that correctly! We can find applicable math anywhere! Students made predictions about which car would win, and then analysed the results to determine the finish order. It's harder than you think to arrange the results in order when they convert three hours of racing into seconds, and the winner is determined by only one hundredth of a second! Can YOU determine which car won? Check your answer by asking your child :-) Want extra practise? Download these Task Cards for review. Your child can simply write the answers down on a blank sheet of paper and then check them by either using the camera on your smartphone (for the QR codes) or the answer sheet provided.
Mrs J :-) This week, we've been learning how to actually "say" very large and very small numbers, and understand their place value. Watch this quick video for an example. Students are experts now - feel free to write out a large number (and include some decimals) and get your child to 'read' it to you! Honestly, with our new covid routines, it takes quite a bit of effort now to create fun math activities while physical distancing... and not congregating in groups... and not touching anything that others have touched... but success! We did it! Students really enjoyed playing a math version of Bean Bag Toss outside in the sunshine! To do this, we divided into two groups: one working individually on a worksheet, and another playing a physically distanced bean bag place value game (where each student only touched their own bean bags/whiteboards/etc). The following day, students switched groups to complete the other activity (with new, individual materials). The goal: to actually visualize place value and recognize 'zeros' as place holders in both very large and very small numbers. Once a student tossed their bean bags into the bins, three other students represented the number on their personal white boards. If the numbers matched, the next person took a turn! Empty bins were tough! There's a BIG difference between 1,411 and 1,040,101 (or 0.2 and 0.002). This was a great visual/active way for students to learn that zeros have a very important role to play in place value. To review: Where do the commas go in very large numbers? Not sure? Watch this for review! PLEASE NOTE: If you see a photo of a child not wearing a mask, this means that they are 2m away from other children.
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Mrs JorgensenI love math and think math jokes are funny. Not all of them though - just sum. Archives
March 2021
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