Florida Standards Assessment: Math--It's Almost Time!

Tomorrow and Wednesday, fourth graders will take the new FSA Math tests.  Our students have worked hard, and I am excited for them to show what they know!

Our classroom is ready:

 We are ready:

Thank you for writing cards and notes of encouragement.  We know our students cherish these and many students wanted to share theirs with their peers!

First Formulas!

Last week, students learned their first mathematical formula!

Though adding all the sides is still an effective strategy ("gets the job done") for finding a figure's perimeter, when finding the perimeter of a rectangle, it's much more efficient (faster, involves fewer steps) to use a formula, which we learned is an equation that can always be used to find the answer efficiently in a certain situation.

When finding the perimeter of a rectangle, most students prefer using the formula P = 2l + 2w, but we discovered that P = 2 x (l+w) also works and discussed why it does.

Today students learned another formula that can be used to find a rectangle's area.  Most students made a connection to working with arrays when learning multiplication last year in third grade.  The rectangle's length and width are the factors; the area (how many squares cover the inside) is the product (total) of the array.  We can efficiently use the formula Area = length x width, or A = l x w,  to find the area of rectangles!