Tuesday All day O&A to OMSI bring a lunch and water bottle | Wednesday ART | Thursday ELC | Friday ART |
January 16 (MLK Jr.) NO School
January 17 OMSI trip (I've got enough volunteers, thanks!)
January 26-27 (end of semester work days) NO School
Because of the previous, snow-filled week, I am not including much in this newsletter. It's unfortunate we weren't able to prepare in class for Tuesday's O&A, but I know the Merlins will shine. Please make sure students either have a school lunch (it will be a sack lunch) or bring their own lunch and water bottle. It will be a long day without some food. We are going to experience a planetarium show (for an upcoming unit) and have some exploration around the museum in small groups. We will have 1 academic block back at school before the end of the day on Tuesday.
6th Grade Math
The only thing 6th graders had time to do last week was see the rationale behind why multiplying across, for multiplying fractions works. I also showed students ways to simplify the multiplication problem before any multiplication takes place. We'll continue working on fraction multiplication and introduce and practice fraction division too.
Ask, what is 7/8 x 4/5?
Listen to your child describe how the area model of multiplying fractions works.
Extend the learning by showing examples of multiplying and dividing fractions in your daily life.
5th Grade Math
This past week (Tuesday) , the 5th Grade mathematicians worked more on rounding decimal numbers to the hundredths, thousandths, and tenths. Early this week, 5th grade mathematicians will spend time reviewing and practicing the decimal concepts of this unit (reading and writing decimal numbers, comparing decimals, adding and subtracting decimal numbers, expanded form of decimal numbers, rounding decimal numbers) in preparation for a unit test on decimal unit so far.
ASK your mathematician to explain the reasoning (using a number line) and the algorithm ( the steps) to round decimal numbers to the nearest hundredth using 56.999
LISTEN to your mathematician tell you the algorithm steps to add or subtract decimals numbers and show with this equation 5.2 - 1.7945
EXTEND the learning by looking for decimals used in everyday life.