What time is it?

5th grade students learned to use military time (the 24 hour clock) to calculate elapsed time.  Students practiced calculating beginning, ending and elapsed time.  In the second semester, we'll finish the Measurement chapter with the Customary system.  Having learned Dimensional Analysis the students will find it easier to navigate conversions within that system.  Then it's fun with Fractions and Geometry.  Keep your Math Facts fresh and enjoy the wonder of the Christmas season!

Meters, Liters and Grams and the Metric System

5th grade Students begin Chapter10 this week with the Metric System.  They're using their knowledge of base 10 with the Decimals chapters to learn how to change units in the Metric System.  The Teachertube video helped them get in the spirit of meters, liters and grams.  http://www.teachertube.com/video/meters-liters-and-grams-325805

Remember: King Henry Died Drinking Chocolate Milk.....so King Henry Doesn't Usually Drink Chocolate Milk.

5th grade Students Thankful for Decimal Division

5-1 Math students created a special Thanksgiving prayer card decorating the turkey using decimal division.  They reflected on what they are thankful for and are excited to present their cards on Thanksgiving.  Have a blessed and restful break.

Congratulations to the All Saints Team 1 Academic Bowl Team (Aidan R., Maddie M., Jacob S., Sabina B., Kent B., and Greg S.) for winning the District Competition on November 5, 2015 at Marquette.  Both All Saints teams will move on to Regionals in early December.

7/8 Mid-level Academic Bowl Districts

This Thursday, November 5th, the 7/8 Mid-level Academic Bowl team will travel to Marquette for the 3 round District competition.  It will begin at 3:30pm and finish around 5:30pm.  Good luck to both Mid-level teams!  Remember to wear your black team polos and khaki bottoms.

Decimals

Students in 5-1 Math are working in chapter 3 learning about decimals and operations of addition and subtraction.  They have learned the difference between value and place value, how to order and compare decimals to the thousandths place.  Now we are on to Addition and Subtraction.

Ch. 2 Dividing Whole Numbers

5th grade began Chapter 2 this week starting with a refresher over single digit divisors and moving into 2 digit divisors.  We continue to stress the application of our fundamentals through Problem Solving with word problems.  Everyone is remembering to write units!!  We are also stressing showing our work very clearly and neatly with the problem.

5th grade Chapter 1 Test - Tues., Sept. 15th

Reminder:  5th grade will have their first Chapter test next Tuesday over place value, standard, expanded, word and exponent form, powers of 10, properties, multiplying with multiple digits, numerical expressions, problem solving and evaluating expressions using order of operations.

5-1 Math Class Hard at Work

5th grade Math Groups Have Begun!

5th grade Math groups have started meeting with their teachers.  Students in the 5-1 class meet with me and have been setting up their composition notebooks and diving right into Chapter 1.  We came up with our Avatar names for the math facts leaderboard.  It's going to be a great year!

Welcome Back Families!

Exciting days are ahead as we come back together to learn.  I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow.

Get Into the Study Zone

Summer Fun...School Excitement!

I hope that every student has had a chance to catch up on their rest and relaxation and has tried something new this Summer.  School is just few weeks away, so be sure to work on your Summer Math packet to prepare your brain for learning.  I look forward to seeing everyone and meeting any new students!

Geometry Formulas...it's a snap!

'Figure'-ing out Geometry

5th grade is learning a lot of Geometry terms and creating a Geometry dictionary.  We start with points, planes, lines, angles and move into shapes, perimeter, area and volume.  Students are learning
how to measure angles with a protractor.

Math Facts, Math Facts, Math Facts....

....that's all I ever hear!    According to an article in the March 14, 2008 issue of The New York Times, a report, presented by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel (March 2008), addressed the importance of mastering the basic facts. 

The report stated that it is important for students to master their basic math facts well enough that their recall becomes automatic, stored in their long-term memory, leaving room in their working memory to take in new math processes.

"For all content areas, practice allows students to achieve automaticity of basic skills -- the fast, accurate and effortless processing of content information -- which frees up working memory for more complex aspects of problem solving," the report said.
..... "to prepare students for algebra, the curriculum must simultaneously develop conceptual understanding, computational fluency, and problem-solving skills."

By even the 5th grade, the number of steps in problems necessitates that students know those facts quickly so they don't get bogged down in recalculating the facts several times while solving the problem.   from: Mathwithouttears.blogspot.com

Let's work with our student on math facts. This is one thing students can do over school breaks. Practice, practice, practice.

Multi-step Inequalities

Applying what they've learned about solving for variables, 8th grade is graphing solution sets....and acquiring Algebra skills with lots of perseverance.  Right after Spring Break students will begin with graphing lines and slope/intercept form.

Fractions, Fractions, Fractions!

Even though our class time has been split into 'parts' with Iowa testing and Mother Nature, as a 'whole' 5th grade has been working very hard to master fractions!  They are finishing addition and subtraction with fractions of all kinds and heading into multiplying and dividing next.

Multi-step Equations in 8th grade

Combining like terms, moving variables to one side and constants to the other, 8th grade is working with algebraic equations to solve for variables.  They are systematically showing their work, keeping signs in mind, and will work with inequalities next.

5th grade Fractions

Fraction addition and subtraction with common and unlike denominators is the focus of Ch. 6 in 5th grade.  Students are working with least common multiples (LCM's) to find the least common denominators (LCD's) and calculating equivalent fractions for addition and subtraction.  They are putting fractions in simplest form using greatest common factors (GCF's).  They are finding their multiplication and division facts to be very important.

Catholic Schools Week Kicked Off

Let's celebrate Catholic Schools with all the fun Activities planned for Catholic Schools Week, which starts January 25th.

Metric Measurement in 5th grade

5th grade Math finished part 1 of Chapter 10 on Customary Measurement.  Students learned the use of conversion factors for length, capacity and weight and dimensional analysis.  They created foldables with factors and examples, but after working with them for several weeks, they have retained many of the conversions without needing their foldables!  Excellent effort 5th grade.

This week starts part 2 of Chapter 10, on to the Metric System.  Base 10 is so straightforward with conversions.  They will master this easily.

8th grade Math - Chapter 6

8th grade Math begins Chapter 6, Decimals and Percents, after finishing Ratios, Rates and Proportions.