Unit 2 Notes and More

I know it has been a while since I've updated our class blog, but I wanted to make sure to keep you all updated on the things we are learning in class.  Our main focus during Unit 2 is multiplication and division.  Now, I want to warn you now that you won't be seeing the standard algorithm coming home.  We use a variety of strategies most including place value.

Early in the week, we reviewed factors and how to find all of the factors for a given number.  We discussed two different methods for finding factors: 1 Squeeze Method, 2. T-chart Method.

I think that this review was very helpful to students and forced them to really think about factors, rather than just listing what they thought were easy answers.

We have been doing lots of work with multiplying larger numbers as well. Now, I want to warn you now that you won't be seeing the standard algorithm coming home.  We use a variety of strategies most including place value.  These are the strategies we have discussed in class and shared many examples of that the students have in their math journal.  We completed this foldable in class (yesterday for Snodgrass, today for Webber.

Now these aren't the only strategies student can/do use, but are the most common ones that we have talked about and here are examples of how each strategy is used.

This week, we have also been discussing remainders in division problems a great deal.  Students now know that a remainder is the left over that can't be distributed evenly.  In word problems, we have to know what to do with the remainder.  The fourth grade standard says that students have to be able to "interpret remainders".  In our problem of the day this week, each day we discussed four different ways to interpret the remainder:
1. Ignore It.
2. Increase the whole number by 1
3. Make the remainder a fraction
4. The remainder is the answer.

Today we completed another foldable page where students were given four word problems where the equation was the same (9 divided b 4), but the answer for each one was different.  The students had to sort the problems based on how to interpret the remainder.

We will continue to practice this skill over the next week.

Metric Length Notes

This is the last full week of Unit 1 in math.  We are wrapping up our unit by exploring and using the metric measurement system.  Because the metric system is a base 10 system unlike our standard measurement system, this goes perfectly along with our understanding of 10 times as many.  Today we started with length.  We discussed the tools used to measure length - a ruler and measuring tape.  We discussed the comparisons between standard and metric measurement so that students could connect what they already know to their new knowledge.

We took notes on metric length in our math journals today. We discussed how to convert measurements between units  and in the notes are the conversions. Tomorrow we will practice converting between units.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions!

One more reminder, the Ireland Presentations are due tomorrow!!!!  I gave both classes time in class today to continue working. We will will present in class tomorrow.  I am hoping to get them all finished!

Ireland: The Emerald Isle

Wow!  It sure has been a busy couple of weeks!  Students finished their place value detectives projects and did a great job with them!  They loved being able to apply their learning of place value, rounding, and comparing numbers in a meaningful way.

Last Wednesday, we started our next project, the Ireland Project.  Students were given a budget of $3,500 to spend on a 5 day vacation to Ireland.  There were some requirements for how they must spend their money including buying a plane ticket and passport, going to at least one attraction each day, and spending as much of there $3,500 as possible. The students have loved this project!  They are so engaged in using real world math and that makes this math teacher's heart happy!

Today we began the next step of the project a research presentation.  Students have to choose one of the attractions that they visited on their trip to research.  They have to find a map that shows where the attraction is located, pictures of the attraction and five interesting facts about the attraction.  Today we worked on just this part of the presentation.  Then students have to create a presentation, using the media of their choice to share what they have learned about their attraction.  Then at the end of the week, they will present to the class about their presentation.  This is the rubric that I will be using to evaluate their work.

Place Value Detectives

We started our first math project of the year today.  After covering several concepts in place value over the past month, it was time for the students to put their knowledge to the test and apply what they have learned.

The project is called Place Value Detectives.  Students become "detectives" and have to use their knowledge of place value to solve "crimes". Because of copyright I can't post the project on the blog, but your child should have their project in their binder if you would like to review it with them.

We will do several of these types of projects over the course of the school year. While there is a lot of math being done in these projects, there is also a lot of reading. Students are required to read all directions and follow them explicitly to be able to complete the work.  Students are able to use each other and myself if they get stuck at any given time.  Any time we are working on these types of projects, most of the work will be done in class, with the understanding that if the students still has work to complete before the due date, then it will need to be completed at home.

After working on this project today, I can tell you that the students were so excited!  They told how much fun they were having doing math and how much better it was than doing practice problems!  Always a win in my book!

Rounding around the room

Today we finished an activity that we started last week, called Rounding Around the Room.  There were total of 28 different rounding questions that students had to answer.  Some were multiple choice,

 while others just gave a number to be rounded to a certain place.

The questions were "around the room" and students were up and moving while they were answering questions.  (I and they love to get to move while doing math!)
This activity was one way for me to see what students know and still need help with when it comes to rounding.

When students finished they completed an extension activity that involved estimating and adding.  We are continuing to hone those estimating skills!  One way you can help your child at home, is by having them estimate in real life.  About how long did it take to get to school? About how much money did you spend at Wal-Mart? About how many noodles are the box? Etc.

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!