Estimation and Rounding

In unit one of 4th grade math one thing we focus on is reasonableness in problem solving.  This week, to help students understand how to judge the reasonableness of an answer we are working on estimation and rounding.
Yesterday we created this anchor chart in class

Then students worked in groups to create posters of examples of using estimation in the real world.  One of my goals for this year is that students see math in the world around them and understand its usefulness.

Here are the posters some of the groups created.  (IRL = in real life)

Then we took a gallery walk around the room to see what the other groups wrote about.  Each group rotated together and discussed each poster when they arrived there.  After all of the groups had a chance to look at each poster, we had an intelligent conversation (no raising hands) about what we saw, we discussed similarities and differences in their ideas.

Today,we reviewed our work from yesterday by completing our first Frayer Card in our math glossary.

Then we built on our learning from yesterday and took some rounding notes and did a few rounding problems after we took notes. We discussed two ways to round.  1: Thinking about a number line and which number is the number in question closest to. 2: A rounding chant with the "rules" of rounding. Here are the notes for today.

Finally we wrote our first blog post today in Kidblog.  It was a simple four sentence post, but the kids were so excited to be on the laptops!

Candy Rush

On Wednesday we stared a new project  called "Candy Rush".  Students were given a "bag" of candy that looked like this.

Then using this sheet,

they had to find the total value of their bag of candy.  This activity is continuing to work their knowledge of place value and the value of a digit in a given place value.  Then they were given three slips of paper to write their name, the value of their candy, and the number of pieces of candy in their bag.  As a group the students had to then decide a way to display the data on a sheet of paper.
Here are some of tables.

Today (Friday) and on Monday, students used their their data to answer some analyzing questions about the numbers and data their team displayed on their table. We will be displaying our tables in the hallway next week, so make sure you stop by and check out our work!

Comparing and ordering numbers

Today, we started with reviewing number forms from yesterday.  We completed a foldable that I will use as an assessment to determine what students need more help with number forms.

We then moved on to comparing and ordering numbers.  We completed an activity in class where students ordered numbers in various ways.
Each student wrote a number on an index card based on the following criteria. (Each student has an owl sticker on their desk).  Writing the numbers was a quick way for me to see if anyone needed help with place value.

After they wrote their numbers, we did a few different line up activities.  First they sorted themselves at their table from greatest to least.

Then they got together with their color group and ordered themselves from greatest to least.

Lastly, they ordered themselves from least to greatest as a class.  This one they had to do without talking!

Number Forms Notes

Today we created a foldable for our math journal that includes the 4 forms a number may take.  Students in 4th grade are required to be able to write numbers in various forms and transfer them back and forth between forms.
The Common Core State Standard that we are focusing on for this week is is 4.NBT.2 which states

Read and write multi-digit whole numbers using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form. Compare two multi-digit numbers based on meanings of the digits in each place, using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.

We will break this standard down into it's pieces and focus on a different part for the first few days of the week.

These are the notes from class today.

We also discussed the patterns we found from completing the How Many Ways activity that students completed over the weekend.  I was very impressed with level of academic conversation we were able to have about to have about this activity.

In social studies, we are learning about the 4 hemispheres of the world. We are identifying the continents and oceans on each hemisphere.

How Many Ways

Wednesday and Thursday we worked on building numbers in different ways using place value blocks.
Wednesday, we built the number 52 as a class with base 10 blocks.  First we built the number with the least amount of blocks as possible - 5 tens and 2 ones.
Then we discussed other ways to build the number by trading in tens for ones.  We ultimately came up with 6 ways to build 52.

 Here is our chart where we kept track of our different ways.

Then we discussed any patterns we saw with the chart. We discussed how the the number of tens decreased by one and as the ones increased by 10.  We also discussed counting by 10 when not starting at zero as we did for this problem.

Thursday, students worked in their table groups to build the number 123 in as many ways as they could using base 10 blocks. They kept track of their work in their math journal on page 9.  They had 7 minutes to come up with as many ways as possible to build 123.  Most students only came up with a handful of ways by the time the timer went off.  I then told them, there were 16 ways (insert shock and awe!).  Their homework for the weekend was to find the rest of the 16 ways.

Here are all 16 ways to build 123.

This activity really focuses on place value as well as number patters using addition which are two of the standards we cover in this first unit.

Place Value Notes

Today we worked looking at a number in a place value chart to identify the name of each place and value of a digit within that place.

We have started taking notes in our math journals in the format we will use throughout the year. We do not use our math text books, so these math journals will contain all of the learning we do in class.  Students will use them to refer back to them and we will also have notebook quizzes. We completed these notes in our math journal today.

We have also been working to complete our math glossary in our math journals.  Students are organizing frayer cards with vocabulary words on the outside color coded by unit. We will fill these out as we get to the words in each unit.  

In social studies we are learning about the globe and its parts. We watched a short video on how globes are made. 

Welcome!!!

Hello Parents!

I am so excited to be your child's 4th grade teacher!

One of my goals for this school year is provide constant communication about what is going on in our classroom.  I have set up this blog as a way to tell you what is going on in our class, connect links to the websites and apps we are using in class, and provide a way for your child to catch up if they are absent.
I would highly suggest signing up for email updates, so you never miss any important information.

I can't wait to get to know your child and see them excel in all they do this year!