So yes, we've been working on multiplying bigger numbers in some "new" kinds of ways. Students have learned the box method, the lattice method, the partial products method and the standard algorithm (ie, the 'good old way'). Why would we do this? Learning different methods can help us perform mental math with larger numbers, help us judge the reasonableness of an answer and help us understand what we're actually doing when we multiply. Once students try them all, they can choose to continue with whatever method they are most comfortable with. Ask your child which one they like the best! We've also done some 'Bansho' questions, a highly successful Japanese teaching technique where you ask an open-ended question and students explore how many correct answers they can get. Then, as experts, they present their thinking to the class. This helps develop communication skills for math and lets the class learn lots of strategies for problem solving. OUR POWERS OF TEN INQUIRYGrade 5s explored how whole number powers of ten affect the decimal, while Grade 6s reviewed this and learned how decimal powers of ten affect the decimal. Here are some photos of them discovering some generalized rules:
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We've been hard at work learning a lot about decimals! Place value, adding/subtracting, comparing, ordering and rounding. The class is filled with decimal experts now! We've also done some math centers this week, which lets me pull smaller groups of students for Guided Math. I can't tell you how much this helps me guide students in their learning! Take a look at the photos below for some insight into what your child has been doing in math lately. Feel free to ask your child about the photos - they can do the explaining! The 'concept' behind regrouping and borrowing explained using money manipulatives... we've also done this with base ten blocks. And guess what? Growth mindset is WORKING! Look at the message a student wrote with blocks after completing a math center... YOU CAN DO IT!!! #LoveThis #MyHeartIsFull
Often we do "Daily Math" in class, where I put a problem solving question up on the board and students get 5-10 minutes to work through it in their Daily Math Books. Students know that I do NOT look at these books, and that it doesn't "count for marks" - so it's risk free. Students are free to tackle the problem any way they choose, and they understand that the goal is to gain new math strategies, learn from their peers (when we take it up and model our answers) and most of all... to struggle. One of our goals as educators is to develop resilience in our students... which is tough! None of us want to struggle with something difficult. It just doesn't feel good. That being said, the reality is that our students WILL encounter math problems that are hard, and that they don't immediately know how to solve. If they are more used to struggling through something, they might just change their mentality from "I can't" to "I can do this with more time and effort." We are continuing to learn about whole and decimal numbers (place value, comparing and ordering, rounding decimals). Students are doing well and practising their new skills in many different contexts. If you are interesting in a good rounding trick, watch this video.
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Mrs JorgensenI'm a math nerd and think math jokes are funny. Not all of them though - just sum. Archives
March 2020
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