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.