Guest Bloggers Talk About Fractions!

A fraction is sharing something. I've learned that the more people sharing, the less you will get.
-Brooke G.

A fraction is splitting into equal groups. Something I've learned about fractions is you have to split it up in equal groups.
-Evans

A fraction is equal parts. Something I've learned about fractions is that the bigger the number the smaller the piece is and the smaller the number is the bigger the piece.
-Conlon

One strategy I can use to compare fractions is put the pieces on top of the whole and see if they match.
-Taylor B

One strategy to combine fractions is to draw a picture.
-Fletcher

You combine fractions by using like 1/2 + 1/2 = 1 whole like that or 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6 = 1 whole. That's how you combine fractions!
-Mikayla

One strategy I can use to combine fractions is 4/4. You do not need to do 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4. Just do 4/4.
-Jake C

One strategy I can use to combine fractions is if they are different you can add them separate.
-Jakhya

One strategy I could use to combine fractions is 8/8 to solve a whole fraction or 3/3 to solve another whole problem.
-Ajani

One thing I learned about fractions is that they are fun.
-Wyatt

The Death Crawl

This weekend, I watched one of my favorite movies, Facing the Giants. I get goosebumps every time I watch the death crawl scene because I find it so inspiring. As we enter a challenging season in the classroom of reviewing past skills and learning new material to prepare for the FCAT, it can feel VERY overwhelming for everyone--the students as they press on to master difficult standards, me as I try to fit as much as I can into each day, and you as you support your student in completing review and new skill homework. A positive attitude ("This is tough, but we can do this."), being willing to work though difficulties, and giving our best effort each day are our strategy for success!

Happy Valentine's Day!

For today's celebration, we tied in as much FUN math as we could! In small groups, we made line plots of the candy colors in a box of conversation hearts. We will combine our small group data tomorrow and analyze the class' data during our focus lesson.

We reviewed lines of symmetry by folding a piece of construction paper in half, then drawing half of a heart and cutting it out.

We used this heart learn about congruent shapes by tracing the heart to make two more congruent hearts (same size and shape). We decorated our Valentine bags with our congruent hearts on one side and some shapes that are not congruent on the other side.

We even had some "real life" division situations. "If our table has 24 candy hearts and there are 4 of us, how many should each of us get?" Some tables even helped us learn about dividing with remainders!

And finally, a card exchange and treats. :-)

Guest Bloggers!

One of my goals each year is to help the students become more independent and take ownership of their learning. I have decided to allow the students to respond to the day's essential question if they finish work early and update you about math workshop via their responses! (Spelling and grammar have not been changed. :-))

This week's essential question: How are multiplication and division related?

Jake M.: "They are related the both skip counte."

Conlon: "Division is multiplication backwards and multiplication is division backwards."

Wyatt: "Multiplication and division are related by they are both used as grouping and in groups."

Angelina: "Multiplication and division are related because when you do multiplication when you find the total to it you use it for division. Let's say Angie has 5 packs of yogurt 3 cups go in each. How many is altogether? 5X3=15 so it was division you would take the total 15*/*5=3. So you are just saying it backwards so thats how multiplication and division are related."

Happy 100th Day!

We had fun today celebrating the 100th day of school! We made a special treat using 10 pieces each of 10 different kinds of cereal, read One Hundred Hungry Ants, and used the cereal to practice finding arrays/factors of 100. We also participated in several "100 Second Challenges" in which we collected data about how many bubble gum bubbles we could blow and times we could bounce a balloon in 100 seconds. We will use this data during our focus lessons this month to practice making line plots. Some students even learned how to blow a bubble for the first time. :-)

One of our "bubble coaches". :-)

Keeping score.