How in the world is it October already? While I am ready for cooler weather (a tiny classroom with no outside windows and 20+ kids in it – well you can see why!) I am not quite ready for it to get too cold yet. With October now, it is time for conferences. If you desire a conference with me, please just zip me an email. I am happy to try and join your conference with homeroom teachers if the timing works or set up one of our own. Email me at [email protected] if you would like to plan a fall conference. Now here is a quick update on the happenings in Knowledge Peak this last week of September/beginning of October… All three math classes have recently completed their first math test on Unit 1 in my class. All of the students got their tests back early this week. And with the return of those tests comes time to own their learning. I give students two options: I am happy with my learning and my grade OR I want to fix my thinking and in turn fix my grade. If students are willing to take the time to fix ALL the problems they missed and analyze their mistakes, I give them back half the points they missed. In my class and in elementary school, I think it is important that the focus be on learning concepts to mastery as much as possible and yet also learning about yourself and learning how to reflect on how you learn. I applaud mistakes when students take the time to fix their mistakes. I like to reward students for the effort and energy that comes with that work. With that in mind, you may have seen your child with a yellow (3rd grade,) green (4th grade,) or blue (5th grade) copy of the “fix-it” sheet (also see copy below and click on the image for a larger version.) They have a week to re-solve the problems they missed, tell me why they think they missed it, and turn in their test again with this sheet in order to be graded again. Watch Friday Folders this week and next to see how your child did on their test. Third and fourth grade language arts are on a four-week rotation so this was my first week to work with the students in GT 3rd grade language arts. We are going to be looking at how the theme of change plays into literature. Our study will especially focus on reading a book called The Green Book, a story where a group of people has to leave Earth to inhabit a new planet (so you can imagine how change is important in that story!) One of our activities was to think about how our lives include constant change. The kids took some time to brainstorm things that change and then categorize those changes. Below are some pictures of the work they did trying to determine how to group different types of change. After our vocab work this week too, we are ready to start reading the book next week. (See more pictures on the photo page of the website.) All of my math classes are looking ahead to units on basic algorithms necessary to master at each grade level. Third grade and fourth grade are reviewing addition and subtraction concepts. Fifth grade is reviewing multiplication and division. I know sometimes parents are driven crazy with the “strange” algorithms we allow kids to use in elementary school (lattice, partial sums, partial products, column subtraction to name a few.) Many times these alternative algorithms are explored because they lead students to a conceptual understanding of why the math works instead of just memorizing steps for an algorithm. Most of these non-standard ways of teaching involve students using their knowledge of place value and composing/decomposing numbers to solve. Those are skills we want them to have in math. However, ultimately the standard algorithm does win when it comes to being efficient for most students so kids do have to learn those too. In last week's blog, I shared a video link that explains some of this through showing the different multiplication methods. This week I just want to make sure parents know when they should expect students to be able to use the traditional/standard algorithm for each operation. Please keep in mind that because my 5th graders are completing 5th and 6th grade math standards, they need to master both multiplication and division this year. For many of the 5th graders this week, they have been struggling with mastering both of these before we move on to completing these operations with decimals too. Nonetheless, here is what our expectations are for mastery of traditional math operations: 4th grade – Standard algorithm for addition and subtraction (using regrouping) 5th grade – Standard algorithm for multiplication 6th grade – Standard algorithm for division
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May 2018
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