Week of October 27-31

Since some of our 5th graders were at Camp Bernie this week, we took at break from our "What Are Your Chances" book and did a Cheerios Investigation related to probability.  You can click on the link below to get more information about the activity.

http://mathwire.com/data/cheerios.pdf

HW: For those of you who were in class, finish the letter and share it.  For those of you who were at Camp Bernie, just make sure you have p. 43 completed by Monday.

In 4th grade, we learned how to use the substitution method to solve equations that go together.  Although we were tempted to use guess and check for some of the more difficult problems, by the end of class, we realized that we never had to guess when using the substitution method.  Here is a link to some practice problems using substitution:

http://flexmath.ck12.org/lesson/algebra/substitute-to-solve-a-system-of-equations/presentation

HW: p. 49 and 51

Classes 3a and 3b learned about the volume of rectangular solids this week.  The volume is the amount of space occupied by a three-dimensional object often measured in cubic units.  We learned that, in addition to the dimensions of length and width, we also need to consider a 3rd dimension of height when figuring out volume.  We used connecting cubes to make pieces of cake and figured out how many pieces would fit into cake pans of varying sizes.  The video below gives a clear explanation of what we learned:

HW: p. 67

Class 3c learned about liquid measurement and volume today.  We figured out how much lemonade we would need for a class party by converting from one unit to another.  The following picture helped us with our conversions: 

HW: p. 59 and 61

Week of October 20-23

This week, the 5th graders learned about what it means for a game to be fair vs unfair.  We played a spinner game where you had to add the numbers on each spinner.  Player O got a point if the sum was odd, and player E got a point if the sum was even.  At first, many of us thought that the game was unfair, but after calculating the theoretical probability of each player winning by creating a table or diagram, we realized it actually was a fair game.

HW: Complete Think Deeply #2 for "Odd or Even"

In 4th grade, we learned about how to use guess and test with an organized list to solve two equations that go together.  We discussed ways we can eliminate items from the list (when an item costs nothing, when the difference would give us a negative number, number pairs that are far apart when you have a small difference, etc.).  We did some more practice at the following site:
http://flexmath.ck12.org/lesson/algebra/guess-and-check-to-solve-a-system-of-equations/presentation

HW: Think Deeply #1 and #2 for "A Penny for Your Thoughts"

Groups 3a and 3b learned about liquid measurement today.  We used tubs of water and containers of varying sizes to explore English units of capacity (cups, pints, quarts, half gallons or pottles, and gallons). We then figured out how much lemonade we would need for a class party by converting from one unit to another.  The following picture helped us with our conversions:

HW: p. 59 and 61

Week of October 13-17

This week, the 5th graders learned about the probability of compound events by answering this question: When you roll two dice and find the sum of the two numbers, are any sums more likely than others.  We learned how to make a table to help us find the probability of compound events.  This video explains it in more detail:

HW: p. 35 and 37


The fourth graders learned how to solve problems with two unknowns by using guess and test with an organized list and by drawing a diagram or picture.  Check out these sites for some other strategies and some extra practice.

http://mathcountsnotes.blogspot.com/2012/05/algebra-questions-without-using.html
http://www.algebra.com/algebra/homework/word/Linear_Equations_And_Systems_Word_Problems.faq.question.3172.html

HW: p. 33 and 35


In third grade, we talked about how to find the area of irregular shapes by breaking them apart into rectangles.  See this video for an example:
Click here to view video.

HW: p. 45 and 47

Week of October 6-10

This week, the 5th graders learned three strategies to finding all possible outcomes of a given situation: creating an organized/systematic list, making a tree diagram, or using multiplication.  What seemed like a simple lesson became difficult when this question was posed:
What is the probability that if you guess on three true/false questions, you will get them all right?
Students were encouraged to use a tree diagram to solve this problem.  Next week, we will discuss our solutions.

HW: p. 27 and 29


In 4th grade, we learned how us use the cover-up method to solve equations.

Step 1: Cover up the variable expression (2N) and replace it with the word "what."  Ask, "What plus 7 equals 15?"  The answer is 8, so draw an arrow and write 8 underneath the variable expression.

Step 2: Write a new equation to show the value of the variable expression: 2N = 8

Step 3: Cover up the N and ask, "Two times what equals 8?"  The answer is 4, so draw an arrow and write 4 under the variable.

Step 4: Write a new equation to show that N = 4.

Step 5: Check your answer by plugging it back into the original equation.

HW: p. 23 and 25


Our 3rd graders learned the importance of standardizing units of measure this week.  Julia's uncle bought her a dog and asked her to make a pen that was 20 of his footsteps by 8 footsteps.  She did what he asked using her footsteps, and when the dog arrived, she found that the pen was too small.  We realized that her feet were much smaller than her uncle's feet, so her pen was too small.  The students had some wonderful ideas about how to solve the problem: have her uncle come over and use his feet, have another adult male use his footsteps, or use a ruler to measure the uncle's foot and use those measurements to create the pen.  This led us to the realization that in order to be accurate, we need standard units of measure.  We also learned what perimeter is and how to calculate it.


HW: p. 25 and 29 (and p. 27 if you didn't complete it in class)