Thank you so much to those of you who were able to attend GT Back-to-School night this last Tuesday. I love having the chance to try and convey my passion for working with your children. Anyone who was not able to make it, please email me and let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Below is the Power Point presentation and links to the couple of handouts that I provided. One handout shares with you what makes gifted students different from high achievers and also what makes both of those groups different from creative students. Sometimes this helps parents understand why their child qualified for my class. The other handout is a website permission form. (If you did not attend, there should have been a copy of this in your child's Friday Folder on lime green paper.) Third grade math has officially begun as of this week. Third grade language arts will begin next week. To kick off my time with third grade math students we spent some time going over expectations in Mrs. Bean's room, taking a test and pretest, creating our first entry in our math notebooks, and having some problem solving fun. That problem solving came in the form of "Saving Fred." It has become an annual event in my class for third graders to begin their time with me learning how to work cooperatively with a partner to save Fred, the gummy worm, who had a "terribly boating accident" where he lost his life preserver. Students must help Fred get his life preserver (gummy life saver!) around his little body - without touching it directly with their fingers. Here are a few shots of the fun (more pictures on the photos page): Lastly, when I find articles or videos that I feel could be helpful for families and are relevant to what goes on in my classroom, I like to share resources with parents. The first link is both an article and a video explaining why our methods of teaching standard algorithms (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) have changed since you and I were in school. Don't get me wrong - by the time students leave my 5th grade class, they need to know how to perform the standard/traditional algorithm. But many times we start with a different method that allows students to see the "why" behind the math. This link explains the different ways you may see your third or fourth grader performing multiplication before we focus on the "normal" way in 5th grade. Take a minute to watch this gentleman's explanation: http://www.mathplusacademy.com/heres-why-math-is-taught-differently-now/ And one last article from Dr. Jo Boaler from Stanford (you may remember me mentioning that we used her "Week of Inspiration" math in my 4th and 5th grade math classes at the beginning of the year.) Dr. Boaler discusses the important role that parents' attitudes about math have on their children's success (or lack of success) in math class. There is valuable information for all parents in this short article: https://www.youcubed.org/think-it-up/parents-beliefs-math-change-childrens-achievement/ That is plenty of information for parents this week. I leave you with the finished product of our "I AM" window now that we have 3rd grade's ideas. I love all that we are!!
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Tracey BeanWerner Elementary Archives
May 2018
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