Math Updates
2/20/2020 Update. . . . .
Unit 4 wrapped up wonderfully and Unit 5 has been going well. This unit has the students working with multiplying and dividing fractions. A lot of multiplying by fractions is shown through creating arrays (see the photo to the left for an example of what I am referring to). Since learning about multiplying fractions by arrays, the students have been working with solving story problems more. They will continue to work on story problems on tomorrow and the students will work on dividing fractions next week. There will also be a quiz next week and the unit 5 post-assessment will be in two weeks. -Miss Ziesemer
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1/30/2020 Update . . . . .
I apologize as time got away from me this month. I am happy to let you know that Unit 4 in math is going to wrap up this next week and the students will be taking their unit 4 post-assessment next Wednesday. I have been so happy to see the growth and learning going on in this unit. Understanding the standard multiplication algorithm can be difficult, but the students have been excelling! Understanding the standard multiplication algorithm is also a standard that the students need to have to mastery in fifth grade, so I am glad to see so many students fully understanding why it works. The students were given two sheets today in class to help them remember the steps of the standard mulitiplication algorithm and why it works. If your child is struggling to still understand it, ask them to bring the note sheet home and look over it again. The students have been working on estimating multiplication and division problems, as well as solving for the actual answer. Unit 5 will bring on the topic of multiplying & dividing fractions. -Miss Ziesemer
1/3/2020 Update. . . . .
Happy New Year!! The year started off with the students taking their unit 4 math pre-assessment. Unit 4 involves multiplication and division of whole numbers and decimals. One of the strategies that the students have been using to help with multiplication is ratio tables. I have included an example of one of the ratio tables the students made in class. The students will take a quiz this coming week that goes over multiplication. -Miss Ziesemer
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12/15/19 Update. . . . .
Wowza this month has flown by!! The students have been working on the place value of numbers in decimals, comparing decimals, creating division story problems, solving division story problems, rounding decimal numbers, adding and subtracting decimals, and putting numbers on a number line. The students will have a review day on Wednesday to prepare for the Unit 3 post-assessment on Thursday. During the review day the students will be "red-penning" their post-assessment as well as learning more about rounding with Mr. P. Red-penning means the students will be marking on their post-assessment with a red pen the important things that are being asked in the questions on the assessment. This helps them to remember what exactly they need to be doing for the question. I will be handing out Unit 4 daily practice/home connections sheets when we come back from break as well as the Unit 4 preview sheet for families. Please reach out if you have any questions! -Miss Ziesemer
12/2/19 Update. . . . .
We are currently half way through unit 3. Last Monday and today the students took quizzes dealing with place value as well as decimals. It has been great to see all the hard work the students have put into the quizzes. This week the students will be working on writing numbers as fractions and decimals. The week will conclude with their last quiz for unit 3 on Friday.
Mr. P and I are extremely happy to see the joy the students have when they come to class and see either the Math Pirates or the elves share what they will be learning about in class. Ask your child what the elves said today as to what they would be learning about. -Miss Ziesemer
Mr. P and I are extremely happy to see the joy the students have when they come to class and see either the Math Pirates or the elves share what they will be learning about in class. Ask your child what the elves said today as to what they would be learning about. -Miss Ziesemer
11/14/19
This week brought on the end of unit 2 and the start of unit 3. I look forward to seeing all the growth the students have made during unit 2. Unit 3 focuses on place value and decimals. A sheet was sent home Thursday with the Home Connections & Daily Practice pages, as well as an overview of the unit sheet. The students are continuing to work in a small group for math. They have created their own team name and they are earning points. Ask your child how many points their team has and if they have reached 100 yet. -Miss Ziesemer
11/5/19 Update. . . . .
Whoa! Time has really flown by since the last time I updated Math, my apologizes. We wrapped up our Unit 1 at the first of October and we began our Unit 2 which involves fractions! Fractions are always a hard concept to go over, however the students have really enjoyed thinking of fractions in regards to money as well as clocks.
The students have been working really hard at adding fractions with clocks, money, common denominators, and through story problems. The unit will wrap up next week with our post-assessment on Wednesday. We will have a review day on Tuesday to go over the unit and prepare for the assessment. -Miss Ziesemer
The students have been working really hard at adding fractions with clocks, money, common denominators, and through story problems. The unit will wrap up next week with our post-assessment on Wednesday. We will have a review day on Tuesday to go over the unit and prepare for the assessment. -Miss Ziesemer
10/4/19 Update. . . . .
9/13/19 Update....
This week we had the opportunity to kick off our first unit for math. We began the week by going over expectations when it comes to math as well as organizing our math materials for the year. Tuesday was filled with going over what we want our classroom to look like and sound like when it comes to us being mathematicians.
The first unit of the year deals with expressions, equations, and volume. A sheet was sent home this week going over what specific strategies we will use in unit 1. Thursday was our first pre-assessment of the year. Mr. Poliak and I view pre-assessments as a form of getting to see what students know before learning about a unit. Having that information at the beginning of the unit helps us to see what students know already as well as what we really need to focus more on. Friday brought on learning about volume of different rectangular prisms. The students had a chunk of the class period on Friday to work with their math partner in creating various rectangular prisms with the volume of 24 cubic units. They will continue to work on creating the rectangular prisms on Monday as well as discussing how they created them throughout the week.
One area that Mr. Poliak and I want to clarify is "Daily Practice" pages as well as "Home Connections" pages. This last week we sent home a sheet that indicated when the students would have either daily practice and home connections pages to work on. As you all might have noticed, there are daily practice pages assigned each day. We encourage your child to work on those daily practice pages, however they are not required. The daily practice pages are located in their big student book and deal with the lessons that we are teaching each day. We would like the daily practice pages kept in the student book and not ripped out. However we would like the Home Connections pages ripped out to be handed in. The Home Connections pages (which are typically assigned every other day) deal with overall topics and are usually 2 pages long. Home Connection pages are what we want to have worked on and turned in each time they are assigned.
Home Connections/Daily Practice pages: When working on these two areas, Mr. Poliak and I want to emphasize the fact that we want your child to try as much of it as they can. The maximum time we want students to spend on it for the night is around a half-hour. We don't want the Home Connections or Daily Practice to cause frustration or to bring stud to tears in not understanding. If your child becomes frustrated or they don't understand it, please write a note on the paper and let us know that. That way, Mr. Poliak or I (Miss Ziesemer) can help go over it the next school day.
-Miss Ziesemer
This week we had the opportunity to kick off our first unit for math. We began the week by going over expectations when it comes to math as well as organizing our math materials for the year. Tuesday was filled with going over what we want our classroom to look like and sound like when it comes to us being mathematicians.
The first unit of the year deals with expressions, equations, and volume. A sheet was sent home this week going over what specific strategies we will use in unit 1. Thursday was our first pre-assessment of the year. Mr. Poliak and I view pre-assessments as a form of getting to see what students know before learning about a unit. Having that information at the beginning of the unit helps us to see what students know already as well as what we really need to focus more on. Friday brought on learning about volume of different rectangular prisms. The students had a chunk of the class period on Friday to work with their math partner in creating various rectangular prisms with the volume of 24 cubic units. They will continue to work on creating the rectangular prisms on Monday as well as discussing how they created them throughout the week.
One area that Mr. Poliak and I want to clarify is "Daily Practice" pages as well as "Home Connections" pages. This last week we sent home a sheet that indicated when the students would have either daily practice and home connections pages to work on. As you all might have noticed, there are daily practice pages assigned each day. We encourage your child to work on those daily practice pages, however they are not required. The daily practice pages are located in their big student book and deal with the lessons that we are teaching each day. We would like the daily practice pages kept in the student book and not ripped out. However we would like the Home Connections pages ripped out to be handed in. The Home Connections pages (which are typically assigned every other day) deal with overall topics and are usually 2 pages long. Home Connection pages are what we want to have worked on and turned in each time they are assigned.
Home Connections/Daily Practice pages: When working on these two areas, Mr. Poliak and I want to emphasize the fact that we want your child to try as much of it as they can. The maximum time we want students to spend on it for the night is around a half-hour. We don't want the Home Connections or Daily Practice to cause frustration or to bring stud to tears in not understanding. If your child becomes frustrated or they don't understand it, please write a note on the paper and let us know that. That way, Mr. Poliak or I (Miss Ziesemer) can help go over it the next school day.
-Miss Ziesemer