It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

Both classes joined together for our Holiday Party on Tuesday.  We started the morning making a healthy holiday snack and decorating (brown paper grocery bag/yarn) stockings while watching The Polar Express.

Snowmen on a (Skewer) Stick

Then we spent some time working on loom knitting projects.

After that, Ms. Kirkham read aloud The Night Before Christmas Left Right Passing Game for our $1 gift exchange.

 

While this took place, our wonderful volunteers set up for lunch in the classroom.  We had clementines, cheese sticks, crock pot hotdogs, baby carrots, chips, Capri Suns, and a treat.

Several older siblings,

parents,

and grandparents

were able to join us for lunch!

After lunch, we split into two teams.  Everyone crumbled up six pieces of paper from the recycle bin, 

and we went over the rules for our Florida Snowball Fight on the tennis courts:

• Stay in the boundaries (outer white line) of your team's side of the court at all times.
• If snowballs go out of boundaries and you can reach them without stepping over the line, you may get them.  Otherwise, your teachers will throw them back in.  If you step out of boundaries, you sit out a round.
• Keep your hands off the net.  If you touch the net, you sit out a round.
• Your goal is to keep as many snowballs as possible off your team's side, so don't waste time trying to aim at specific people.
• There are three rounds, five minutes each round.  When the whistle blows, freeze.  Your teachers will make an official count of how many snowballs are on each side and declare a winner for the round.
• At the end, there will be a bonus (clean up) round to see which team can pile up the most snowballs on their side.

We wrapped up a fun day with a cute snowman craft (using Mentos gum containers and colorful socks) similar to these

discovered our stockings had been stuffed with goodies, participated in Minute to Win It mini marshmallow challenges,

and learned to play the card game Spoons.

Yesterday, in Math Workshop, we did several activities to help us develop logic, which helps us to be better mathematicians/problem solvers:

• Brain Teasers/Logic Problems
• Sudoku Puzzles
• 12 Days of Christmas Tangram Puzzles

Happy Holidays from Team Kirkham-Remley!

We hope our students enjoyed the s'mores trail mix we made yesterday and look forward to spending s'more time with everyone in 2014!

Celebrating (Winter in) Florida

Anyone else feel like songs about snow are out of place here on a day that was nearly 80 degrees?  Today Ms. Kirkham read

to introduce our Florida Christmas Tree holiday project.  Your student is bringing home a letter with more details today, so make sure you see it.

Ornaments are due Tuesday, December 10.  We can't wait to see our students' creations!

Fractions: Area Models

Over the past two weeks, we've been reviewing how fractions can represent part of a whole.

We've been representing unit fractions (fractions with a numerator of 1) and benchmark fractions (commonly used/familiar fractions such as 1/2, 1/4, 3/4) using 4x6 arrays as an area model.

In class, we've been looking at these models and having discussions to prove whether or not they are the fraction we're looking for (ex: 1/3 or NOT 1/3?).  Often, students think fractions have to "look" a certain way, but we've seen that fractions can be the same size (area), but different shapes.  Some students are even starting to make connections to division/multiplication as inverse to help them decide a fraction's area.  We'll continue to build on this strategy after Thanksgiving Break as we investigate fractions of sets and whether or not a fraction of one whole (or set) is always the same size as the fraction of another whole (or set).

If you've ever been asked to share something with a sibling (or friend), then you know how important it is to be able to compare fractions!

This year, I've shared a few stories about my brother, Andrew, and myself when we were kids.  Like most siblings, we argued, occasionally got in trouble together, and tried to trick each other.

(Coincidentally, my brother picture-mailed me this recently.  Notice how he chose to send a cute picture of himself and his big brown eyes that always make our mom, who also has brown eyes and is the youngest child like he is,  forget all about whatever he did and a picture of me on the verge of a tattle!)

Keeping peace in families and friendships...just one reason why being able to compare fractions is important in real life outside of school!

Multi-Digit Multiplication Strategy: Expanded Form Algorithm

Today I introduced our first multiplication algorithm.  Using an algorithm to perform a math operation simply means that so long as you follow certain steps correctly, the right answer will always result.  When using algorithms for some operations (subtraction, division), the order of the steps that are followed matters.  However, when adding and multiplying, the order of combining numbers does not affect the final answer (Commutative Property).  One of our students, Nick, proved this today when he "accidentally" found the the partial products in a different order than I modeled, but still came up with the same final product.  I chose to model the same order as the traditional multiplication algorithm, for the sake of easing the transition into using it.  That's one great thing about how different math instruction is these days--students going beyond a "one size fits all" strategy and truly understanding what they're doing and why it works.

The expanded form algorithm is closely related to last week's strategy, Partial Products.  Since our students were very successful last week with breaking apart both factors by place value and finding partial products, this week I've given our students the choice to use (or choose not to use) an array to model what's happening.

This week, we started writing problems vertically to prepare for using the traditional multiplication algorithm.  It's VERY IMPORTANT to make sure the digits are neatly-written, straight above each other (just like when adding and subtracting vertically, you might get the wrong answer if your digits aren't properly lined up, starting with the ones place).

I used color-coding to familiarize students with the order of the traditional multiplication algorithm:

First, find the ones place of the second factor (1).
Find the ones place of the first factor (4).
Find the partial product (1 x 4 = 4); record under problem.

Second, look back at the ones place of the second factor (1).
Find the tens place of the first factor (3). (It's very important for your student recognize and verbalize that this is not just 3, but 3 tens, or 30!)
Find the partial product (1 x 30 = 30); record under problem.

Third, find the tens place of the second factor (5, remember this is 5 tens, or 50!).
Look back at the ones place of the first factor (4).
Find the partial product (50 x 4 = 200); record under problem.

Last, find the tens place of the second factor (5, remember this is 5 tens, or 50!).
Look back at the tens place of the first factor (3, remember this is 3 tens, or 30!).
Find the partial product (50 x 30 = 1500); record under problem.

Are your partial products neatly lined up by place value?  Now combine the partial products by adding!  Draw a box around your final product.  Students may also use a calculator to check their final products.  In class, we indicate this by putting a check mark next to the final product after confirming this is the correct answer using a calculator.

I'm also making color-coding optional on Home Learning.  For many visual learners, this will help them see and remember the steps.  I also used to color to help students understand what they're doing (combining the red parts of a factor with the yellow parts of another factor to make the orange parts, the partial products.  I did the same having students combine the red parts of a factor and blue parts of another factor to make the purple parts, partial products). 

Verbalizing the steps using expanded form (telling the value of each digit) and using color as a visual will help the students develop greater number sense, which is the foundation for all math!

This will also lead to a much deeper understanding of the traditional multiplication algorithm.

Thank You, Soldiers!

Thank You, Soldiers


This poem will be added to our POETRY folders and discussed. Students will view this video and reading and discussing the poem. Students will also be writing about the emotions that they, as readers, feel when reading this poem -- this is call the MOOD.

Multi-Digit Multiplication Strategy: Partial Products

This week, students will be taking a familiar strategy, Break Apart Factor(s) by Place Value, and applying it to two-digit by two-digit multiplication problems.  Though the order of finding and combining partial products will not change the final answer (Commutative Property), I used the first four colors of the rainbow to help students figure out the partial products in the same order as the standard multiplication algorithm (the way most of us learned to multiply multi-digit numbers...red is the first partial product, orange is the second, etc).  I'm hoping this will make the transition easier when we get there.  :-)  I'm also encouraging the students to use a calculator to check their final answer after they've worked out the problem using this strategy.

Red Ribbon Week: Wacky Wednesday

What are you wearing?!  Did you get dressed in the dark this morning??? 

Our outfit choices this week allow us to express (and others to see) decisions we've made on the inside about being drug and bully-free!

Like Dr. Seuss' crazy words and characters, students (and some teachers!) wore crazy, mismatched outfits today.

Dressing crazy today was a good reminder about how sometimes it takes courage to be different, like when your peers are doing something you know is wrong, to speak up about it, resist their pressure, or even choose new friends.  Students were not alone in dressing crazy today, which helps us understand how good, true friends can help us feel more comfortable about doing the right thing, even when it isn't "cool" or "popular".

Some of us even got a head-start on tomorrow's dress day, crazy socks and shoes, in honor of Dr. Seuss' The Foot Book.

St. Augustine Field Trip

Today was an exciting day for our classes!  This week is Red Ribbon Week, and we're expressing our choices to be drug and bully-free by participating in special dress days.  Most of the days are Dr. Seuss-themed to match our Oh the Places You'll Go school theme for 2013-2014.   Today was Twin Day (dress like a friend) in honor of Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take many pictures of friends dressed as twins because we went on a field trip to St. Augustine to kick off our study of Florida history in social studies.

Our first stop was a Timucua Native American village, where a holata (sp? chief) was immediately chosen, tattooed, painted with war paint, and decked out in deer skin:

We learned about some Timucua weapons and tools made from natural resources and how this people group traveled by canoe to trade with other Native American tribes around Florida.  We made necklaces from abalone shells, which are native to California, to teach us that Native Americans across the U.S. traded natural resources from coast to coast.

Then we had a chance to try out some Timucua work such as scraping out a canoe,

tending a garden,

drilling holes,

and grinding corn.

              We even had some time to relax and play Timucua games similar to some we still play today.

Before we traveled in time hundreds of years, everyone applied war paint and tattoos.

Our next stop was Fort Menendez, a Spanish settlement.

Our guide introduced us to the Spanish

and the French

who both occupied Northeast Florida.

We learned some Spanish construction skills

and crafts such as weaving

 and candle-making.

Many students purchased fun souvenirs from the gift shop during lunch.

We enjoyed a peaceful bus ride back to school, thanks to our favorite game.  ;-)

Red Ribbon Week Kickoff

Today our classes kicked off Red Ribbon Week early with a health lesson and a special guest.

Textbooks can teach us what legal and illegal drugs are and how they can be harmful, but Officer Rose helped us understand why people try/use drugs and how this choice can affect us in many ways.  Some drugs harm our bodies and can cause a lot of damage in our lives like unhealthy relationships with friends and family.  Using drugs can interfere with our ability to learn, work, and do things we enjoy.  Drug use can also lead to other undesirable behavior like lying, stealing, and violence, which can result in being arrested and spending time in jail. 

Next week, we'll continue to look at the cause and effect relationship of choosing (and being) good friends in addition to choosing to be drug-free.

Multi-Digit Multiplication Strategy: Doubling/Halving Factor(s)

Two things...

First:
Take a deep breath.

Second:
Keep this in mind:  
This strategy should be used on a "case-by-case" basis, depending on the factors.  
It should be used to make an easier, simpler problem when possible.

Here we go...

 This strategy is only useful when both factors are even or if one factor is odd and the other is even since you can't halve an odd number without using fractions.

Since both odd an even numbers can always be doubled, this strategy is useful in more contexts.  It's especially useful in this context, when multiplying by 5.  Some students struggle more with halving numbers, so this strategy may be more challenging for those students.

Bottom Line: Yes, this strategy will get you the correct answer.  Yes, it is neat to see that doubling one factor and halving the other will result in an equivalent problem.  No, it is not efficient, which will lead us into using a traditional algorithm next week.  :-)