Geometry Unit --- Polygons

Students learned about Polygons this week. We will expand later this week on Quadrilaterals (4 sided polygons). We even watched a cute song about Polygons.

 

 

 



Students learned that a polygon was a shape/figure that has straight sides (line segments), closed sides, 3 or more sides and is 2 dimensional (flat). Students learned about the different types of polygons:

 



Ordering Fractions

Students learned how to use same denominator and same numerator to compare and order fractions. If a fraction has the same denominators, just look at the numerator. The smaller the numerator, the smaller the fraction. If a fraction has the same numerators, just look at the denominators, the smaller the denominator the bigger the fraction. Students also learned how to find equivalent fractions with common denominators to compare and order fractions more easily. We watched the following video to help better understand how to order fractions:

Long Division - DMSCB

This week students have been learning how to do long division. We learned about the acronym DMSCB which stands for Does McDonald's Sell Cheese Burgers? Each beginning letter in that sentence stands for a step that students must take to do their long division.

Remember: The dividend (number inside our division house) is divided by the divisor (the number outside the house) and we ALWAYS put our quotient/the answer on the top of our house or on the roof.

We did 2 example problems so students could get some practice. We also did some more independent practice problems that I wrote on the board. Please review these practice problems with your child.

Here is a really good video for long division that we watched in class:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJe3564yY-g

Here is a copy of today's HW - Homework Wednesday 11/6/13 (click to download)

Reminder: Test on Friday 11/8/13 over multiplication (2x1, 3x1, 2x2 multiplication) and division (basic and long division).

Multiple Digit Multiplication

2 Digit x 1 Digit Multiplication
For the past couple of weeks we have been learning multiple digit multiplication. First, students learned about 2 digit by 1 digit multiplication.



















3 Digit x 1 Digit Multiplication
Next students learned 3 digit by1 digit multiplication. We talked about how this was just one extra step because it was just one extra place value.

 

2 Digit x 2 Digit Multiplication
Finally, students learned 2 ways to multiply 2 digit by 2 digit numbers. The first method is called the turtlehead method. Most students chose to use this method.






































Here is a video we watched in class to help us remember the turtlehead method:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hcKERTnNi0&noredirect=1

Sorry, for some reason it's not letting me embed the video to this post.

Another method students learned was the Box Method. Some students may find this way to be easier. As always I tell students to use whichever method they are most comfortable with. They always have options.

Estimating Products

Monday, October 7, 2013
Students learned how to use rounding to estimate products.
A few things students must remember:
-You must round first before you do any calculations.
-You must round the number that is not the single digit number.
-You must round to the greatest place value.

EX: 7 x 234 = ---> 234 rounded to the nearest hundred is 200 so we re-write the problem as 7 x 200 = ---> then we multiply 7 times 2 which is 14 then add 2 zeros. The estimated product is 1,400.

Here is a helpful video (full screen to make bigger):

 

 

Reminders: Tomorrow, Thursday October 10th, is Curriculum Night for K-5. There will be different sessions if you plan on attending, here is an overview and schedule of the sessions:

Room 148: Third, Fourth, Fifth Grade Mathematics Curriculum. Presented by Ms. Kominczak, Mrs. Cao, and Mrs. Gayer. Discussion of math curriculum and STAAR Math testing. View EnVision/Pearson website and receive log-in information. Discussion of ways parents can help students at home (STAAR practice, etc.).

Session Times: 5:10 pm; 5:30 pm; 5:50 pm; 6:10 pm

Week of September 30, 2013 - October 4, 2013

Monday, September 30, 2013

Students learned that there are special rules for dividing numbers by 1 and by 0. 

Rule: A number divided by 1 is that number.

Examples: 4 / 1 = 4 or 55 / 1 = 55

 

Rule: A number divided by itself (except 0) is 1.

Examples: 17 / 17 = 1 or 135 / 135 = 1

 

Rule: Zero divided by a number (except 0) is 0.

Examples: 0 / 4 = 0 or 0 / 15 = 0

Rule: You cannot divide a number by zero.
Examples: 7 / 0 cannot be done. 12 / 0 cannot be done.

 

 

 

Students didn't get to watch Division Rules video because my projector lamp went out :(

 

 

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Students learned to use patterns to multiply by multiples of 10s and hundreds.

An example we talked about in class was:

2x3=6

2x30=60

2x300=600

EX: 6x800 --- First multiply the first non zero digit, 6 times 8 which equals 48 then add 2 zeros, so your product is 4800.

   



Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Students learned CUBES for solving word problems. I sent a copy of CUBES home for students to keep and use for future assignments.

 

 

 

[Edit] Reminders:
-All grades are updated in the grade book/database; this includes test that students took on Friday 10/4/13.
-The end of the first 9 weeks is October 18, 2013. All make up or late work is due Tuesday, October 15, 2013. I will not take any missing work after Tuesday 10/15/13.
-Within the next week, week and a half, we will be taking Math Benchmark 1. I have scheduled Benchmark 1 for Wednesday 10/16/13. I will keep you all updated if there are any changes.

Subtracting Across Zeros & Adding and Subtracting Decimals

Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Students learned how to subtract in situations involving zeros. They had to go all the way to their "neighbor" that had a value to borrow. We watched the following video to help students understand subtracting across zeros:

 

Students need to be careful when borrowing (regrouping). I have noticed that sometimes students borrow from the thousands or hundreds and give it to the ones place. Students forget to go place value by place value to give and borrow.

 

 

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Students learned how to add and subtract decimals using models and by lining up the decimal points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Students also wrote addition and subtraction clue words in their math journals.

 

 

 

All grades are updated on the grade book/database. I have uploaded Friday's test scores on the grade book as well. Please have a look.

 

Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers

Monday and Tuesday, September 16 & 17, 2013
On Monday students learned how to add with regrouping (carrying). This really should have been a review of addition and subtraction because they learned these concepts last year.
Here are 2 very helpful videos for addition that we watched in class:

 

 

 

On Tuesday students learned how to subtract whole numbers including problems with regrouping (borrowing). We learned a rhyme that helps us remember when to borrow.

More on top, no need to stop.

More on the floor, go next door!

What that means is if the digit on top is bigger then subtract normally. If the digit on the bottom is bigger then go next door and borrow some more. Please practice subtraction with borrowing at home! Some students need extra help with this concept.

 

Here are 2 very helpful videos for subtraction:                                                                     



 

 

Reminders: Progress reports will be printed and sent out at the end of the week. Students your first major assessment/test will be on Friday, September 20, 2013. The test will consist of 20 to 25 questions and will include the following concepts:

• Place value
• Comparing and Ordering Numbers
• Rounding
• Decimals
• Adding
• Subtracting

 

Congratulations to my first batch of Star Students:

4A - Anna

4B - Ashley

4C - Genaro

Every 2 weeks I will pick one student from each section as Star Student. I pick students based on their performance in class and behavior. The next star student could be YOU! :)

Estimating Sums and Differences of Whole Numbers and Decimals

Thursday and Friday, September 12 & 13, 2013
Students learned how to estimate sums and differences of whole numbers and decimals. Here is a quick and helpful video that concludes what we learned in class.

Remember Monday HW is due Wednesday. Wednesday's HW is due Friday. Friday's HW is due on Monday. Here is a copy of Friday's Homework (note that HW is not posted on the database because there is an error with my webshare folder). There are 2 pages: Reteaching 2-3 and Reteaching 2-4 (click to download).

Remember to round each whole number then add or subtract. Round decimals to the nearest ones place then add or subtract. If students wish to show work on a scratch sheet of paper they may do so and attach it to the homework.

Decimals

Thursday, September 5, 2013
Yesterday, students took their beginning of the year M.A.P. tests. These tests are not taken for a grade. Students take these test for reading, science and math. Students take this test to determine students’ instructional level and to measure academic growth throughout the school year.

Today we continued talking about decimals. We learned a cute poem to remember decimal place value and how to read/say decimals.

We used base ten blocks to represent decimals. The hundreds block represents one whole, the tens rod represents one tenth, and the small ones square represents one hundredth.

We watched the following video:
Writing Tenths and Hundredths with Decimals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWcNQkmpYVk
(I will try to embed the video to my blog later... it's not letting me at the moment)

This should help with Wednesday's Homework (click to download)! Also, problems A, G, and J did not copy well so they are kind of hard to see, therefore, you may download or view it here. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Extra Practice:
If you would like to practice decimals at home, here is something we used in class:

10 x 10 Grid
Parents can shade in an amount and ask students to name that amount or write a decimal and students have to shade in the amount on the grid. Remember 1 grid equals 1 whole.

Decimal Place Value

Tuesday September 3, 2013
Today we learned about decimals and used money to help understand our decimal place values. We watched the following videos:

Decimals and Money part 1:

Decimals and Money part 2:

 

We said that the first place value after the decimal is our tenths and the second place value after the decimal is our hundredths. Tenths are like dimes which are worth 10 cents. It takes 10 dimes to make 1 whole dollar. Hundredths are like pennies which are worth 1 cent. It takes 100 pennies to make one whole dollar.

 

Here's a fun decimal song that we didn't get to watch today in class due to technical difficulties:

 

 

Remember, our Friday Homework Packet is due tomorrow since we had Monday off.