Greetings from the 4th Grade Hall,
I really hope that everyone has been able to take advantage of the beautiful weather we have been having. There are many reasons that I am thankful:
1) RECESS - This excellent weather means that the kids can get all their energy out by running and playing during our morning recess.
2) PLANT EXPERIMENTS - As I may have mentioned last week, the amount of sunlight has been a blessing for the students' plant experiments. They have been quite excited about the observations they have been able to make and the data they have been able to record.
3) HOUSE RENOVATIONS - As some of you know, my wife and I have not only decided to take on a second child, but we have decided to take on a major house renovation. The weather has been VERY helpful and I am pleased to announce that even though our freezer and fridge are in our dining room and our kitchen is out of commission for at least a month, we have a new roof and the upstairs is now framed for two bedrooms and a bath. Exciting stuff! I am telling you this bit of personal info so that if your child comes home saying, "Mr. Champion looked tired today" or "Mr. Champion seems to have a lot more gray hairs" - you will know why.
Highlights of the week:
Math
I can't say enough about how much I love doing math races with your children. I never imagined how much this simple activity would enrich your child's 4th grade year. Here are just a few of the math topics that have been introduced and reinforced during math races this year:
* Addition
* Subtraction (simple and more complex)
* Multiplication (one digit x one digit, lattice multiplication)
* Division (basic and long division with decimals instead of remainders)
* Order of Operations (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction)
* Exponents
* Equations
* Expressions/Phrases
* Factorials - That's right - Factorials - Houston did a problem that was written using 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 8 x 9 x 10 x 11 x 12 as a part of the problem. I explained that this could be written in mathematical shorthand like this - 12! I am curious to see if more of these pop up as the year continues.
In Math, we have also been revisiting phrases and expressions. This time instead of just using addition and subtraction, we have added multiplication and division to the mix.
Science
I was super pleased with how well both classes did on the Acid Rain quiz on Wednesday. I really think they are understanding the study skills necessary to be successful. Besides our discussion of acid rain, the students began to design posters to share their findings from their plant inquiry projects. These will be placed in the hallway outside of my classroom, so if you get a chance in the coming weeks, please check them out.
Have a wonderful weekend!!!!!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
STUFFED!!!
Greetings,
I believe I have chosen a particularly apt title for today's post. After the Pancake Breakfast (my daughter, Leland, ate a donut, a muffin, a pancake, fruit, bacon, and some eggs) and the sack lunch extravaganza - the students and I have definitely had sufficient. It has been a wonderful week. I wish we could have this amazing weather all the time. The amount of sunlight has really helped with our plant experiments. Here are the highlights for the week:
MATH
This week we focused on multiplication. Early in the week the students and I went through the multiplication tables and realized that at this point there were only 23 facts they really needed to learn. This number was based on the fact that the 0's, 1's, 2's, 3's, 5's, 10's, and 11's have already been mastered or have a quick pattern that make immediate recall easy. The students' challenge this week was to practice these facts until they were able to state the equation and product as quickly as possible. At this point I need to discuss something I shared with many of you at our recent conferences. It has to do with the best way to study basic facts. I have read some recent research that suggests a more effective way to practice basic facts. Here are the steps:
1) Give the student a basic fact (i.e. 6 x 8)
2) The student should respond by saying the factors and the product (i.e. "6 x 8 equals 48)
3) If the student gives an incorrect response, they should be given the correct answer and then they should repeat the factors and product 3 times.
Studies have shown that by having the student say the entire fact ("6 x 8 equals 48") they are better able to retain the information. We have been doing this in class and I highly recommend that this practice be adopted in your home as well.
SCIENCE
The students continue to observe and record data associated with the various plant experiments we have going on in our classroom. The amount of sunlight this week has been a blessing and has provided a large amount of growth amongst the plants. Every other day, the students gather up their plants to observe and record their data. They have been measuring (using the metric system, of course) and recording the height of their grass. In fact, many of the groups have been calculating the average height of their grass to better consolidate their data. Their have been some interesting results and I can't wait for the students to develop conclusions next week based on these results. In other science news, we have been discussing what sort of things may harm an ecosystem. This week we focused on acid rain. We have had some great discussions about this environmental issue and the kids have done a good job applying the reading for information skills we have been working on this year.
Have a wonderful weekend!!!!
I believe I have chosen a particularly apt title for today's post. After the Pancake Breakfast (my daughter, Leland, ate a donut, a muffin, a pancake, fruit, bacon, and some eggs) and the sack lunch extravaganza - the students and I have definitely had sufficient. It has been a wonderful week. I wish we could have this amazing weather all the time. The amount of sunlight has really helped with our plant experiments. Here are the highlights for the week:
MATH
This week we focused on multiplication. Early in the week the students and I went through the multiplication tables and realized that at this point there were only 23 facts they really needed to learn. This number was based on the fact that the 0's, 1's, 2's, 3's, 5's, 10's, and 11's have already been mastered or have a quick pattern that make immediate recall easy. The students' challenge this week was to practice these facts until they were able to state the equation and product as quickly as possible. At this point I need to discuss something I shared with many of you at our recent conferences. It has to do with the best way to study basic facts. I have read some recent research that suggests a more effective way to practice basic facts. Here are the steps:
1) Give the student a basic fact (i.e. 6 x 8)
2) The student should respond by saying the factors and the product (i.e. "6 x 8 equals 48)
3) If the student gives an incorrect response, they should be given the correct answer and then they should repeat the factors and product 3 times.
Studies have shown that by having the student say the entire fact ("6 x 8 equals 48") they are better able to retain the information. We have been doing this in class and I highly recommend that this practice be adopted in your home as well.
SCIENCE
The students continue to observe and record data associated with the various plant experiments we have going on in our classroom. The amount of sunlight this week has been a blessing and has provided a large amount of growth amongst the plants. Every other day, the students gather up their plants to observe and record their data. They have been measuring (using the metric system, of course) and recording the height of their grass. In fact, many of the groups have been calculating the average height of their grass to better consolidate their data. Their have been some interesting results and I can't wait for the students to develop conclusions next week based on these results. In other science news, we have been discussing what sort of things may harm an ecosystem. This week we focused on acid rain. We have had some great discussions about this environmental issue and the kids have done a good job applying the reading for information skills we have been working on this year.
Have a wonderful weekend!!!!
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