Note: Liz Buckley's page is now up! Take a look. It will help you keep up with your child's Literature Circle assignments.

Math

Think Math

If you have questions about this program, an excellent website to look at is the EDC's Think Math website. I will add the link below.

EDC's Think Math website  This website has useful Power Point presentations to show you what your child might be doing in class. I also hope the handbook has been a helpful resource for you as your child brings home homework. Feel free to call or email if you have any questions.

  Other Interesting Math Websites

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - This is a wonderful website where students can find many models to try out in each of five strands in math: number and operations, geometry, measurement, data analysis and probability. Some parts of this site are free and some cost money.

www.nrich.maths.org - This is an English website out of Cambridge University with lots of enrichment ideas.

Math Playground - This website is full of math games, word problems, logic puzzles and even math videos.

Numbers in the Date - This website shows interesting facts about number for each day of the month and is loaded with ideas for mathematical conversation.

    I hope you enjoy these websites and that they spur some great math conversations in your families.

Chapter 7 - Decimals

Big Idea - Use place value to develop an understanding of large and small numbers.

     "Decimals are numbers just like any others. Decimals often get treated as 'new' kinds of numbers, but in fact, it's really the notation, removed from contexts like money or judges' scores, that may be new. It is important for students to understand that the notation keeps to the same pattern they have been working with since they entered school: for each 'place' you move to the right, numbers decrease by a factor of 10 (and conversely, for each place you move to the left, numbers decrease by a factor of 10). The number 82.93 tells you that it's composed of  8 tens, 2 ones, 9 tenths, and 3 hundredths. Students can use this pattern to compare and order decimals, just as they compare and order whole numbers. Students also learn that computation with decimals, follows the same rules as computation with non-decimal numbers. "

Vocabulary for Chapter Seven

(See page 124 and 125 in Student Handbook.)

area

benchmark fractions

billions

comparing

decimals

fractions that name tenths and hundredths

hundredths

like place values

millions

ordering

place value

powers of 10

product

round

sum

tenths

thousandths

Thinkmath Multiplication and Division Skills Practice

Math Homework - Week of 3/15/10

(P=practice; E=extension) Students may choose to do both, but be sure your child isn't choosing an extra math page and forgetting about other assignments.

Monday - 3/15 - P57 or E57

Tuesday - 3/16 - P58 or E58

Wednesday - 3/17 - P59 or E59

Thursday - 3/18 - P60 or E60

Friday - 3/19 - No homework tonight.

Games

     If you have a family game night, there is one game that can help your child with the concepts in Chapter 7: It is Hit the Target on page 127 of the Student Handbook. You will need 2 number cubes from 1-6. The other game on page 126 will need materials from the classroom. If you would like a copy of these, please let me know.

Spelling (Contracts will be out on Tuesday. Three strategies due this week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday)

     There are three strategies to be done per week on consecutive nights. This week our strategies will be done on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

        I have told students that I want them to get frequent, repeated practice of their words, so they should do only one strategy per night, never three in one night. They will have three strategies per week. They may do them, depending on when they have a spelling contract, either Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday or Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I am having to make contracts for students because we don't have enough time during literacy to get them done. Thus, I am choosing strategies based on skills I think your child needs to practice. I will try to be sensitive to your child's abilities, other homework load and extracurricular activities. However, these strategies do get easier with practice.

        Some students are spelling high level words. These are usually good readers. These students should have at least one strategy which requires them to find the meaning of their words. It is important to read the words aloud with your child so they know how to pronounce them. You can also give them a general idea of the meaning for strategies like graphic clue (drawing a simple picture to represent the word's meaning) or writing sentences. Getting the gist is the important part, not spending hours writing dictionary definitions that they probably won't understand. This is a great way to generate some interesting conversation at home.

        One note: I expect spelling to be done well and with quality. Every paper should have a heading in the upper right hand corner. The heading on every homework paper, whether it is spelling, science or social studies, should look like this:

                                                                                                                                        Name

Date

  Subject

 Literacy

    During Literacy this quarter students are reading a number of historical books.

    A large number of students is reading A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla. This is the story of Amanda Freebold whose father left for Jamestown three years ago and who has just lost her mother. The only thing she has to remember him by is a little brass lion's head he gave his family to guard them while he was away. Amanda decides to take her brother and sister across to America to find their father.

    Another group is reading Will's Story1771 by Joan Lowery Nixon, about twelve year old Will Pelham whose father is the gaoler (jailer) for the city of Williamsburg, Virginia. The prisoners live in cells beneath Will's family home and Will is a bit afraid of them. When he meets a runaway slave named Emmanuel and learns that he plans to escape, Will has to decide whether to tell or not. Part of him thinks Emmanuel would be better off as a runaway, but he knows he is responsible to his father and the law. Will he tell his father?

     A third group is reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. This is the story of orphaned Kit Tyler who knows that the bleak shores of Connecticut Colony will never compare to her shimmering Carribean islands. Living with stern Puritan relatives leaves her feeling lonely, but when she meets a Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond she becomes accused of witchcraft herself!

     The final group is reading another of Clyde Robert Bulla's books, Pirate's Promise. In this story, a boy named Tom Pippin has been sold as a deckhand on a ship sailling from London to America. His ship is taken over by pirates, something these boys feared. However, the pirate captain takes a liking to Tom who learns all about the pirate's life. Will he get to the New World or not?

Writing

     As we prepare ourselves for the on demand writing prompt on narrative writing, I will be working with my class and Liz Buckley's during literature circle time to work on this writing form. They will also continue to work on it in Social Studies, but I will focus on three areas: the hook, exploding a moment and the story structure. This week I told a story from my own experience in sixth grade. I told them that we can usually write our own stories more easily than trying to make one up. We will take their raw stories and develop them by working on the hook and trying to zero in on the most important parts of the story and then create a more detailed smaller story. Students will have only an hour to write a story from beginning to end, so it is important for you to help them think about how much time that really is. Also, talking about your own stories, making sure there is a problem that was solved or something important you learned will help them develop that story sense. This is a great time to read fairy tales, Aesop's fables, folktales and myths with them which are all fairly short forms of stories.

Homework: By Wednesday, 3/17, each student will have been assigned a new story. This one should take place in colonial times and be from the point of view of a slave. Students have been watching videos that should help them visualize and think through what it might have been like. Also, the content they have been studying in Social Studies should add to their background knowledge. Don't forget your hook. Add details that show rather than tell. Create your own mind movie with words. The story should be one to two pages long.

Literature Circles:

A Lion to Guard Us- Please read chapters 3 & 4 for Tuesday, March 9th. Please have completed one literature circle job for each chapter.

You will be expected to have read chapters 5 & 6 and completed a job for each by Thursday, March 11th.

Will’s Story- You should have read chapters 1 & 2 and done literature circle job for each chapter. Please be ready to discuss the first two chapters on Wednesday, March 10th. 

For Tuesday, March 15th, please have read 3, 4 and 5 and completed one job for each chapter.

The Pirate’s Promise- Please be ready with your first two chapters and jobs for discussion on Wednesday, March 10th.

For Tuesday, March 15th, please have read the next 2 chapters and done a job for each chapter.

Witch of Blackbird Pond- Please read and complete one job each for Chapters 3 by Wednesday, March 10th.

Please read and complete jobs for chapters 4& 5 for Tuesday March 16th.

Remember that you have narrative writing assignments from Ms. May. Please see her page to check your assignment!

Reminder - Parent Teacher Conferences are Friday, March 26th. Please call the office to make an appointment!