Fourth and fifth grade math students will have their final Math Olympiad competition at Werner on Thursday, March 5. Remember that if students are absent, they are not allowed to make up the contest. However, it does not count as a grade so it just a missed opportunity for challenge and problem solving work. We will have a trophy at the end of the year for the student who got the most correct answers out of the 25 problems we have completed this year so this is the students' last chance to gain a few more points. Hard to believe but the end of the third quarter is already only two weeks away. Fourth and fifth students' grades are up-to-date currently. There will be limited time for math in the next two weeks as we enter our first phase of PARCC testing. If students have any fix-it work, they need to make sure it is turned back in before we leave for Spring Break. Quick update on where we are at in math classes... 5th grade - We have just completed an extended geometry unit on perimeter (including Pythagorean Theorem and circumference of a circle,) area (of rectangles, triangles, and circles,) and volume. We'll finish up the week with some work on surface area of shapes and begin to learn about the Stock Market so that when we return from Spring Break, we can begin trading using the Stock Market Game. 4th grade - These students are plugging away at fractions. We have worked on multiplication of fractions and whole numbers and have ventured into addition and subtraction of fractions with unlike denominators. We'll finish up next week with probability and have a test over this unit before Spring Break. 3rd grade - We are also finishing up a unit on fractions. Exploring mixed numbers and comparing fractions have been covered. We'll look at real-life situations with fractions and also look at addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators before we also have one more unit test before break. With the end of the quarter, unfortunately, comes the end of my time working with fourth grade language arts/creativity kids. We have two more weeks together. In our last days together, they are reading a Colorado biography. They have a two-fold project: 1. They must write the ABC's of facts from their person's life 2. Complete a project of their choice (either diary entries, cartoon, or 5 objects to represent their historical figure.) Fifth grade language arts students are jumping into nonfiction reading and research. Each student has chosen a topic and begun doing both online and book research. We are discussing finding relevant and credible sources on a web and also learning how to document sources. Students will be creating a project to showcase their learning. Check in with your child and see what their topic is and what they are thinking about for their presentation of learning. Projects will not be due until the end of March after we return from Spring Break.
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Fourth grade language arts/creativity students had a chance to show off their hard work this week. After finishing their novels about courage (Bud, Not Buddy or Hatchet,) they had a chance to synthesize their learning in book projects. Students created fictitious newspaper articles, character interviews, event timelines, compare/contrast Venn diagrams, new book covers, animal animations, and more. I took a minute to choose some of their work samples to share here. Our next project will be related to Colorado history biographies. Students just picked their books today. Interview your child about whom they chose and what we'll be doing in our last few weeks together before Spring Break. CMAS (also known as PARCC) testing will begin the first week of March here at Werner. Dates and times are being finalized now. I have mentioned before about the availability of the practice tests. I would like to strongly encourage you to follow the link here to check out the types of questions your child will be asked to answer for the math portion of the tests. PARCC has two separate testing cycles: Performance Based Assessment (PBA) and End-of-Year (EOY.) In March we will take the PBA tests. These are more explanation and problem-solving type questions. Ask your child about the practice tests we have all been taking in class and see how they are feeling about the test right now. They are challenging! Reassure your child that if they do their best and take their time, they'll be in good shape. To access the practice test for your child's grade level: http://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/math/ Scroll down and click on the grade level you are looking for You will see PBA on the left with options Click on "Computer-Based Practice Test" If you want to see the answer key: http://www.parcconline.org/practice-test-answers Scroll down and click on the Online PBA grade level of your choice And in light of CMAS (PARCC) testing coming up, I was reminded this week at a math training about how important our language we use when praise students. Carol Dweck, professor at Stanford University, has done extensive research on "growth-mindset" vs. "fixed mindset." These new state-wide tests are going to be challenging for all students. Therefore, students need to understand that it is through hard work and perseverance that they will be successful. And that applies not only to these tests but daily life in and out of school. This is especially relevant to gifted kids who have probably been told many times through their educational careers so far that they are very smart. They already feel the pressure to be perfect so that they continue to "look smart." We, as parents and educators, need to remind them that it is their work ethic and their attitude towards taking on challenge that will help them be successful. Take a moment to watch this video that shares examples from Dweck's research and reminds adults about how to praise students' effort... Fractions, fractions, fractions... that is what both third and fourth grade math students have been learning about lately in our class. While third graders are just beginning to understand equivalence with fractions, fourth grade is moving on to use equivalent fractions to create decimals and percents. Third graders master the concept representing fractions greater than one (otherwise known as mixed numbers) while fourth graders learn how to add and subtract mixed numbers (mastering those with the same denominator and beginning to understand what to do when they don't have the same denominator.) Regardless of which class you would peak in on, our focus is on truly understanding these concepts with visuals and manipulates, as well as creating number models and mathematical algorithms for our work. Fraction understanding is SOOO important in the elementary grades so both of these groups will be spending the next couple weeks making sure our learning is solid. Fifth grade is taking a test on our geometry unit on Tuesday. We have been measuring angles and looking at relationships of angles within polygons (new terms like supplementary, complementary, transversals, adjacent, and more have entered our daily conversations.) We'll continue with geometry for our next unit of study looking into concepts related to perimeter, area, and volume of different 2D and 3D shapes. I try to connect our classroom learning in math to real-world mathematics as much as possible. One of the ways that I work with fourth grade to do this is through Scholastic's DynaMath. Each month the students get a current-event magazine that has articles and math problems related to those articles. Students get their copy at the beginning of the month, and they have the whole month to complete it during class and some homework time. The last school day of each month, we take time to review the answers and discuss strategy. If you have a fourth grader, the kids get a paper copy each month. However, there is also a version online that includes videos and games. If you would like to check it out or your child would like to try some of the extra activities, you can login with the following steps: Go to http://dynamath.scholastic.com/ On the top right click on "Student Sign In" Our class password is - Werner1234 Have fun! Lastly this week, fourth and fifth grade participated in the the fourth of five Math Olympiad contest. There will be one more competition March. I had March 4th set aside for our school contest, however, because of CMAS (PARCC) scheduling and an already stressful day of testing, we'll complete our last Math Olympiad on Thursday, March 5. There will be a PSD Math Olympiad tournament Wednesday, May 6, at Bethke Elementary. Due to restrictions this year, I will only be able to take 10-5th graders. Please take a peak at your calendar to see if this date is available. I'll be asking for interested students to sign up after Spring Break. First for this week, a quick reminder that the 4th Math Olympiad contest in coming up on Wednesday, February 11 for all 4th and 5th grade math students. If students are absent, they will not be able to make up the contest (since this is a national contest, the rules are set by the Math Olympiad folks.) We do go over the results and answers in class so even if students are absent, they can still have an opportunity to learn through the problem solving and sharing we do. I just got the information about this year's PSD Elementary Math Olympiad tournament. Due to restrictions in number of teams allowed this year, we will only be able to take 10-5th grade students for 2 teams. The date is Wednesday, May 6. Please be looking over your spring calendar and talk to your 5th grader to decide if this is something they are interested in and have time to commit to. I'll be determining teams after Spring Break. There is one final Werner contest on March 11. On Monday, February 2, we celebrated the 100th day of school at Werner. For most of my groups it was a normal day. However, I decided this year 5th grade deserved a fun challenge. As a class, the kids worked alone and in partners to solve 100 problems. AND they completed their challenge (although we did need a little time on the 101st day to complete the last few.) I love that they were excited about math and every time they completed one problem, they promptly asked for another to help the group reach its goal. Here is a quick snapshot of the evidence of their hard work: This quarter I am working with 4th and 5th language arts/creativity groups. Both of those groups just completed literature circles and have this week enjoyed some culminating activities. 5th grade read When You Reach Me set in the 1970's. The girl in the book has a mom who earns a spot on "$20,000 Pyramid" so today the 5th graders and I used the game Outburst to create our own version of "$20,000 Pyramid." (We also found old YouTube videos of the original game with Dick Clark as the host.) We had fun with categories like popular kids Halloween costumes, things you find in a salad, words that begin with snow, and female fairy tale characters. Fourth graders have begun book projects on either Bud, Not Buddy or Hatchet. Neither book has chapter titles so for a creative project (and a chance to practice main idea) the kids had to give the chapters' titles as they read. They also have a menu to choose 2 projects to complete this week and next week. Our goal is creating quality projects based on our books with appropriate detail and visual appeal (this gets to many of the elements of creative we talk about.) Below are copies of the menus they have (click to enlarge.) Ask your child which projects they have chosen to spend their time on. We'll be sharing them in class at the end of next week. |
Tracey BeanWerner Elementary Archives
May 2018
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