Fractions Test Thursday

Our fraction test will be on Thursday.  There will be two standards covered: Number Systems and Expressions and Equations.  The difference is a variable is included in Expressions, but the same type of problem. 

Here's the interactive practice test:

Practice Test

Also, if you want a head start on checking out the new book we'll be using after Christmas Break, here is the link

http://www.bigideasmath.com/

We're in the Green Book and if you select Home Edition you have access to almost everything.  Enjoy!  

Dividing Fractions

Skip
Flip
Multiply
Reduce

Today we talked reciprocal and how to divide fractions.  Before starting, make sure you convert all mixed numbers into improper fractions and add any 1's under whole numbers.  Basically, you don't divide them, you skip the first fraction, flip the second one, change the division sign to multiplication, then multiply and reduce.  It's that easy. 

To wrap up the week we played a variation of count to ten, but I re-named it "Survivor Edition" so students could choose another to remove from the game.  It was fun and the students thought it was fun.  Also, we talked about the aspects of sportsmanship, game play, and not over-reacting to getting removed.  Great life skills. 

Next week, pod seating and finishing up the Chapter. The test will be on Thursday now due to the snow day. 

Hug your loved ones and cherish the time you have with them. 

Reducing Fractions

This is a review skill, but still something we struggle with at times.  Today we are multiplying fractions,  and that goes pretty well, but simplest form is where we need to reduce.

Review of today's lesson

Chapter 5A quiz

With the snow day we did a half and half day.  Half was review with a game and the other half was the eight point quiz that covered the four topics we've done so far this chapter.  This quiz was graded as follows:

80-100%         3
70-80%           2
0-69%             1

Since it's all the same content there was one grade for the quiz, but entered into both NS and EE standards. 

I've noticed a lack of effort in some and it showed in those who did the practice sheets scored 2's or 3's.  That's awesome, that's learning!  Those who did not do the practice (I sent an email on Friday to check the comments by the grade) struggled to demonstrate their knowledge of the topics. 

There are at least fifteen minutes provided for the students to work and ask questions daily, those who get to work get the assignment done in class most of the time. 

A big area I see a struggle in is lack of a pencil.  Please make sure your child has two sharpened pencils per class per day and also a small handheld sharpener to be successful.  I've personally handed out more than 100 pencils this year and it's usually the same students who need them.  Just do a quick check up on school supplies at the almost half way part of the year. 

Jumping into section 5-5 tomorrow:  Multiplying Mixed Numbers

It's that easy!  Lots of practice tomorrow in class.  

Homework Grades

I've entered homework grades for the week.  Simply put if a student doesn't practice on the assignments they may or may not be learning.  From my experience those who do the work each day are prepared and ready for the assessments. 

Next week we're doing the following:
Monday: Chapter 5 Sections 1-4 review
Tuesday: Quiz (will be entered into gradebook)
Wednesday: Section 5-5 Multiplying Mixed Numbers
Thursday: Section 5-6 Dividing Fractions and Mixed Numbers
Friday: Section 5-7 Solving Fraction Equations: Multiplication and Division

I've had a few students come in a lunch for extra help, but I'm still available on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays after school from 3:00 - 3:30 if you're interested, please let me know.  john_flaten@msd.k12.wi.us

Friday update

I'll be posting homework and effort grades this weekend.  Also, I will email or contact the parents/guardians of those who showed a lack of effort. 

Here are some practice sheets you can print out at home and work on:

Section 5-1
Section 5-2
Section 5-3
Section 5-4

Review of all sections on Monday and Quiz on Chapter Five so far on Tuesday. 

Classroom Updates

Greetings to all, if you're like me, your Christmas tree has already fallen over because the base is too small and you've been trying to mathematically figure out how big the base really should be to hold it up while one or two cats try to drink the gross tree water.  :) 


                                                                                                                                                                    

Here's an update of all things math.

Grades:  All of the second term assessments have been added to the online grade book.  Please log in to your Family Access to check them out.  You'll see the first test and the second.  The goal was to have everyone get a 2 or 3, but we still had some 1's.  Although, after the re-teaching last week we saw big percentage improvements, just not enough in some cases to get that 2.  I will continue to quiz those skills and keep working towards mastery with each student. 

Homework:  If you compare it to sports, homework (which is usually finished in class during work time) is meant to work on the skills and progress towards mastery (80% of material learned on the quiz/test) and the tests are entered into the gradebook.  At times though, students do not complete it, lose it, or forget to turn it in.  I will be entering a homework grade from this week on and if it's below a 3, it will mean that they are really struggling with the skill(s) or else they are not turing it in.  It's a huge task to come up with quality assessments and also keep track of interventions needed, but it is impossible if I have no work to guide the process. 


Chapter 4 Retest:  There are still a few students to finish, but most of the 6th graders that need to retest have done so.  For the most part, improvement has been shown!  We'll keep plugging away at these concepts until everyone gets it.

Extra Tutoring Time:  Please let me know if you would be interested in having your 6th grader stay after school to get extra help with their Math.  I am available from 3:00 - 3:30 Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Some students could benefit from more one-on-one time, or small group work, which they really don't get a lot of during regular Math class.  Think about it and let me know if you're interested.  I'm almost always am available for 5 or 10 minute mini-practice sessions after school or lunch as well.  This can help answer that one big question that makes the rest of the work make sense. 

New Unit:  Chapter 5 focuses on many review and new skills combined.  We're adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions. 

Visit my.hrw.com to see practice sheets and online practice for Chapter 4.

Also, I'm highly encouraging ALL STUDENTS to go to xtramath.org daily to re-affirm or re-learn their basic math facts.  It sends me emails when someone passes a level or even logs on to work.  Those students who are using this are more confident and I've noticed they have done better on recent assessments.  

This week's schedule is:
Monday: Pre-Test Chapter 5
Tuesday: 5-2 Adding and Subtracting Fractions with uncommon denominators. 
Wednesday and Thursday: 5-3 Regrouping to Subtract Mixed Numbers
Friday: 5-4 Solving Addition and Subtraction Fraction Equations

Quiz on 5-1 through 5-4 is on Monday or Tuesday of next week. 

Re-Take Day

Plan of attack!

First, your priority is to do well on the re-take, above all else your re-take score is what I'm looking for.

Question I'm going to ask you one question when you turn it in to me:

DID YOU DO YOUR BEST?

After that, get a computer and do the following:

1. xtramath.org

2. Make 24

3. After you complete/try these two sites, go to the top right of the blog and select a math game.

Decimals and Fractions Re-Teach

Here's what we're working on today.  It's an in-class assignment, but you can practice more if you wish.    

Also, check the next post to see Mr. Nelson's links, they are great!

Chapter 4, one more time with feeling!

Well, the rollercoaster of WKCE schedules is over and a short week for Thanksgiving.  We took the Chapter 4 test before we left.  It was mostly on factors and GCFs.  As I corrected them I noticed that some areas we did pretty well on, but not as well as I would have liked as a whole. 

Therefore, we are taking this week to review, re-teach, and re-learn the missing pieces from our educational puzzle.  Today I went back over GCF and some various math review that is due tomorrow. 

I noticed that my esteemed teaching counterpart on the blue side, Mr. Nelson, found many, many, cool links to help and I will direct you to his page as well to see them and try them out.  They can be found here:

http://mrnelsonmath624.blogspot.com/

Check out "GCF revisited" 

Sometimes we need to slow down to go faster.  I'd rather take the time to do it right this time than do it over again.  The schedule for this week is:

Tues: GCF
Wed: Fractions to Decimals and vice versa
Thurs: Reducing, Reducing, and more Reducing
Friday: Retake for those who scored a 1 or a 2. 

I will post those grades this weekend, so be sure to check them out.  Also, tests will be back to them on Monday of next week. 

There may be a few minutes of work to do at home as we have more repetition this week, but not a ton, expect 20 minutes or so a night on the top end. 

See you tomorrow!  Any questions about math, please email me. 

LCM

We start Least Common Multiple tomorrow (LCM) you may remember how to find it, if not, we're learning it tomorrow.

Here's a little snowball throwing game I found if you want to practice before tomorrow:

Snowball fight!

I hope all had a great Thanksgiving and awesome job to both Lylen and Connor who passed a level on www.xtramath.org

Two pictures we'll talk about on Monday:

Chapter 4 Test Tuesday

Here's the Interactive Practice Test

We used clickers today, a system that allows each student to use a remote control device to select an answer and then see if they are correct.  At the end we checked out how the class did and went through each example so we have a better understanding of how to do each thing. 

Factoring, Prime Factorization, Greatest Common Factors, Equivalent Fractions, Mixed Numbers, and Improper Fractions. 

Also, keep doing the xtramath.org if you finish all four levels I'll be getting you some kind of reward.  Email me if you forgot/lost your pin number. 

Wednesday is an Early Release day, so we'll be doing some kind of math game or Thanksgiving based math lesson. 

End of the Week

1. Math Test Tuesday about factors and fractions

2. All students have their log-ins for the my.hrw.com

3. All students are encouraged to go to xtramath.org daily and master their basic facts.  They also have log in and password information.

Common Denominators

One of the most frustrating things is trying to order fractions from least or greatest or vice versa.  We use common denominators to make it easier.  I tell the kids it's like comparing apples to apples (then they say "like the game?" then I say no.  :) ) or oranges to oranges.

Let's say we have 3/4 and 2/8.  We can either count (find the LCM) by each number and find out the easiest option is 8.  So, 3/4 = 6/8 and we keep 2/8 the same.

However, it's tough for them to do that sometimes, so another method is to multiply the denominators and find equivalent fractions.  So, 4 x 8 = 32, we then write 3/4 as 24/32 and 2/8 as 8/32.  Doing this we can easily see that 24/32 is greater than 2/8.

Also, one of the math students, Anthony showed me a website that is really neat and I will be turning it into a "page" on the top menu soon.

Friday is a computer day, so students will be reminded/given their log in information for both my.hrw.com and xtramath.org

Until tomorrow!

Mixed Numbers and Improper Fractions

First, TEST TUESDAY!, now that that's out of the way, today we looked at moving and transitioning from mixed numbers to improper fractions and improper fractions to mixed numbers. 

Improper Fractions have larger numerators than denominators, in plain terms, bigger number on top and smaller number on bottom. 

Mixed numbers have a whole number AND a fraction.  The process of moving from one to the other was what we practiced today.  Last day to WKCE testing is tomorrow.  Computers on Friday and I will be reminding the students about log-ins and passwords for the my.hrw.com site and also xtramath.org. 

Last thing: I thought it was cool that fractions or fracture have the origin in Latin from the word "fractus" which means broken.  Pretty cool fact. 

WKCE testing and fractions to decimals

Greetings, let me recap the past two days.  We completed a short quiz on factors, prime factorization (trees), and also GCF.  The quiz was out of nine points and is posted in the gradebook.  If your son/daughter did not master a section we are still practicing them daily and hope to master the skill by test time.  I expect the test to be next Tuesday, so we don't have to carry over through Thanksgiving break. 

With the WKCE's we will be doing reading again on Tuesday and then Math has tests on Wednesday and Thursday.  I will try to post some vocab and areas that are common struggles for students. 

Here's the plan for the week:
Tuesday: Equivalent Fractions
Wednesday: Mixed Numbers and Improper Fractions
Thursday: Comparing and Ordering Fractions
Friday: An activity to review our skills

Next week:
Monday: Review for Test
Tuesday: Fractions Test
Wednesday: Early release day, math activity or group work. 
Thursday and Friday: NO SCHOOL.

Don't forget conferences Tuesday evening if you haven't already attended.  :) 

Challenge and Conferences

Here's the answer, the winner of the contest for the closest guess is Allison H.  She guessed 425 and the answer was, well watch the video to find out.  :)

The interesting thing about the guesses is that almost no one guessed a number that didn't end in 0 or 5. I hope they just thought I was using only exact rolls and went from there.  However, I did not, I filled it up.  Many, many guesses of 400.

Awesome job, they explained to me in class today that the reason they chose 400 ranged from estimating, figuring out the ratio, measuring, and even setting up a formula where "x" was the variable for space left in the jar.

My goal was to get them to think and explain math in their own terms without a book problem, but with  a video example.  I think it worked!  :)

Conferences are tonight and also Tuesday, hope to see you there!

Math Challenge Answer

Penny Challenge Total from John Flaten on Vimeo.

Fractions are coming, the fractions are coming!

With term one in the books and forty-five days of school behind us we are turning our attention to fractions for chapter four of the Holt Mathematics curriculum.  (That's 1/4 of the school year for the people who already love fractions!) 

Today we completed a pre-test to see which parts we need to spend less time on and which areas we need to concentrate on more on the upcoming unit. 

As always, the building blocks of success are mastery of math facts.  I will be getting everyone a login and instructions for an online math facts way to master them, or refresh. 

NOTE: CONFERENCES ARE THIS THURSDAY AND NEXT TUESDAY

Also, Tuesday is the last day to turn in guesses for the "How many pennies" challenge.  The reveal will be on Wednesday in class and online. 

Experiment

From today's Love and Logic's facebook post:

Experiment:
 

Take a statement you might make to try to get a kid to think and see if you can turn it into a question.
 

Example: Instead of "That's not going to work." use "How do you think that's going to work?"
 

Questions create more thinking.

Term 1 assessment, WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?

Today we are doing a short twenty-five question assessment to see what we've learned so far this year.  On Monday we are going to look at the item analysis to see how people get the answers they do and if there are any ideas on how to improve on the frequently missed problems.

We start fractions next chapter and I am looking forward to conferences coming up on Thursday and the following Tuesday.  If you have questions for me, please email or call.

Enjoy the hour longer weekend!

Chapter 3 Test and End of Term 1

Greetings and good morning!  Today is a busy day in class.  We are doing the following:

1.  Giving back yesterday's tests on decimals.  If someone was absent or did not finish, they will finish today.  I am reteaching all sections as we go through them and I am showing the students common errors that I saw.

2.  This year in math we have a writing prompt grade and today's topic is "Explain how you solve a long division problem."  We're looking to improve their ability to clearly say what they are doing and showing evidence that they really understand not just how, but why.  This is also a skill needed on the WKCE tests that are coming up Nov. 12-15th.

I demonstrated a simple addition problem 2 + 3 = 5

"To find the answer to the addition problem I looked at the addends two and three to equal five.  If I needed to check the answer I could do the inverse operation of subtraction."

This is much better than what I normally see: "I just got the answer."

3. We are taking a short assessment of all Term 1 material on Friday.  It will be Chapters 1, 2, and 3.

4. Also, at conferences I am going to give all students their login information for xtramath.org

5. The end of the term is Monday, November 5th.

Math Challenge #2 "How many pennies?"

How many pennies? from John Flaten on Vimeo.

We will have until Wednesday, Nov. 7th, then the answer will be revealed. All guesses can come to my comments, or the inbox in my room on my desk. Again, anyone who sees this will be in the challenge and if I know you personally I'll get you a small prize. Enjoy and good luck.

Decimals Test Tomorrow and new Challenge problem

We played decimal jeopardy today, here's the exact game we played if you want to try it out:

Decimal Jeopardy

Here's a last minute review sheet if you need/want it:

Chapter 3 Review Sheet

The Chapter 3 Test is Wednesday, Oct. 31st.  

Homework, Tests, and other stuff

Homework: We are completing our work in class each day.  There are occasions, maybe once a week they will have an assignment to finish at home.  We are doing a sheet of problems a day to make sure we understand the concept(s).  The sheet has three levels for each student.  A, B, and C.  A is the easiest, B in the standard level that the textbook is at, and C is a little more challenging.  Practice B sheets for each lesson are found at my.hrw.com

I usually give one to two of each type of problem, the online practice has up to thirty problems.  

MathCounts
MathCounts is an after school club for 6th - 8th graders here at Menomonie Middle School.  It's a competitive math club, that works with complex problem solving in a competitive format.  Practices are every Thursday after school until 4:00, beginning next week on November 1st.  For more information read this:
MathCounts

Chapter 3 Math Assessment
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31ST.  Scary right?  The test is all about computing decimals.  
Chapter 4 is moving into fractions.  A great way to show your children how to do these is make some food that involves measuring.  Ask questions, like, "what if we wanted to make more than one batch?"  

INTERACTIVE PRACTICE TEST HERE:  http://my.hrw.com/math12cc/nsmedia/practice_tests/g6/msm1_pt_dec.html

WKCE
MMS will be going into a WKCE testing schedule very soon.  6th graders will be testing November 12th through the 15th.  Please try to avoid absences those days if at all possible.

Parent-Teacher Conferences
Conferences will be held at MMS on November 8th and November 13th.  Look for more information from your child's CARES teacher very soon.

More Decimals and challenge postponed

First, I will have the next challenge ready for Monday, so please check back for that.  I have to get the coins and can't make it to the bank until this weekend to get the "supplies."

Side question, what's different if you flip a penny from before 1982 and one after 1982?  Listen carefully when you flip them to get the answer.

After being in class this week we are able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals.  

More to come later, also check out the upper right to see a new link to rush hour from math fun night.  

Decimals and new Challenge Wednesday

Over the past two class periods we have been adding, subtracting, and multiplying decimals.  Here's the short version.  When you do any of these it is just the same as regular +, -, and x, but there are some basic decimal rules.

1. When adding or subtracting you always, ALWAYS, have to line up the decimals.  (Like a button down shirt, I stole that from Mr. Nelson)

2. When multiplying, we DO NOT line them up, but count them and then move it over in the answer.  Example:

23.4 x 3.2                        First, math books write it this way to save space, we want to do it vertically.

     23.4
  x   3.2                            That's better :) 
      468
 + 7020                           Multiply like normal ignoring the decimals.
    7488                           Life is good!  We have the answer with only the decimals left to deal with.
                                       We count how many numbers are after the decimals in the problem, top = 1,
                                       bottom number = 1, so two total.  Starting from the right, count two over and
                                       place the decimal.

     74.88                         That's it!

Huge congrats to Jazzmyn for solving the Challenge Problem #1.  Awesome Job!  A new video and problem are coming for Wednesday this week.  Enjoy! 

Here's the rundown of our Chapter, we're already at 3-4
3A UNDERSTANDING DECIMALS

• 3-1  Representing, Comparing & Ordering Decimals
• 3-2  Estimating Decimals
• 3-3  Adding and Subtraction Decimals

3B MULTIPLYING AND DIVIDING DECIMALS

• 3-4  Multiplying Decimals
• 3-5  Dividing Decimals by Whole Numbers
• 3-6  Dividing by Decimals
• 3-7  Interpreting the Quotient
• 3-8  Solving Decimal Equations

Estimating Decimals and Family Fun math night

Getting ready to really understand and use decimals!  

Clustering: rounding numbers to the same value
     Example: 147, 153, and 158 can be clustered at 150, so 150 + 150 +150 = 450. 

Front End Estimation: use only the first number of the decimal number
     Example: 38.2 + 14.7, just take the first numbers and add them together 38 + 14 = at least 52. 

Rounding Rules: When the number next to the value you're rounding to is 5 or more, it increases by one.  When it is 4 or less the value stays the same. 
     Example: 56 would round to 60, but 52 would stay at 50. 

We are going to be working on adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals over the next week of class. 

BIG NEWS! 
Family Math night will be happening on Wednesday, Oct. 24th, from 6:00 - 7:30.  It is an open house format and is intended for you to come meet the math teachers, play some math and logic games, and just have some family fun.  Please consider adding this into your busy schedules. 

More info here: Math Night Information

Early Release and Math Retakes

Greetings, today is early release day and students are trying to log onto their family access (grade book) page.  If you access it, please sit down with your child and show them the grades if you are not already doing so.

We are moving into decimals and how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide them.  Check out Chapter 3 resources and the book chapter at my.hrw.com

Retakes for the Chapter 2 Intro to Algebra test will be on Friday and I will do a 15-20 minute reteaching session on Thursday with any student(s) who scored a 1 or are interested in refreshing their skills on beginning algebra.

Math Challenge Update

Lots of people are just dividing by two, but it is an exponent problem. 

In round 1 I call two people, so Round 1 = 2
In round 2 those 2 people each call 2 people, so Round 2 = 4
In round 3 those 4 people each call 2 people, so Round 3 = 8

and so on.  We need to get to about 307,000,000, how many rounds will it take? 

Math Challenge and Chapter 2 Test results

Tests will be back tomorrow and were graded today, they will be in the grade book tonight and your child should know how they did, so feel free to ask them or check the grade book tomorrow.  Any student(s) who score a 1 will have a meeting with me and more practice opportunities before the retake.

Math Challenge Hint: This is an exponent problem, so use that to help you solve it.  :)

Math Challenge question: How many people are in the US, according to 2010 we will go with: 307,212,123

Math Challenge Update

It has been brought to my attention that the question was not clear enough. I'm looking to see how many rounds of calls it would take to reach everyone in the United States. In the video the first round would be me calling the two little people. Then they each call two other people. It would continue until all people have been called. So far Lauren answered 157,277,500 calls. Based on how many rounds of calls would have to be made it would be too high. However, if Lauren explains her work and convinces me that she made a plan, worked it out, and found that result, but it's not technically the right answer. How many rounds of calls will it take to reach all USA people if each person calls two people each round?

Math Challenge #1 Oct.11, 2012 from John Flaten on Vimeo.

TEST Tomorrow and exciting video challenge

Test for Chapter two is tomorrow.  To see interactive practice tests and more visit the my.hrw.com math website.

Interactive practice test

Chapter 2      Introduction to Algebra
            Lesson 1 - Variables and Expressions
            Lesson 2 - Translating Between Words and Math
            Lesson 3 - Translating Between Tables and Expressions
            Lesson 4 - Equations and Their Solutions
            Lesson 5 - Addition Equations
            Lesson 6 - Subtraction Equations
            Lesson 7 - Multiplication Equations
            Lesson 8 - Division Equations

TEASER: There will be a video tomorrow, if all goes well, that has the first challenge problem of the year.  Feel free to have parents work with children, children with children, and so on.  I will tell all details in the video tomorrow.

Addition and Subtraction Equations

Friday and today, Monday, we worked on addition and subtraction equations.  Here are two examples:

y + 24 = 30

There are three steps, first copy down the problem.  Done.  Next do the inverse operation of the problem on the side with the variable (letter)

y + 24 = 30
   - 24 = -24

You'll notice that the + 24 and the - 24 will cancel out, or equal zero, leaving us with just y on that side, so we now have:

y = 30 - 24, which is y = 6. 

The same is done with subtraction, but the inverse operation will now by addition.  Example:

101 = b - 48

Inverse operation would be to isolate the variable (letter) so it is by itself, so apply + 48 to both sides:

101 = b -48
+48 = b + 48

On the right we are left with just b, since - 48 and + 48 = zero

101 + 48 = b, solve for b.  101 + 48 is 149, thus 149 = b, or b = 149, either way. 

The test is on Thursday and we are going to continue the same types of problems with multiplication and division, doing the inverse operations of each to solve for the variable (letter). 

Enjoy and check back this weekend for an open ended family problem solving opportunity.  More details to come. 

Mr. Flaten

Balancing Expressions Section 2-4

Greetings,
 Today we finished up balancing equations.

The Chapter 2 Test will be on Thursday, October 11th, and no school on Friday, October 12th.

Interactive practice test

Environmental Site

Today we did not have math at school because we were at the environmental site.  My station was cutting firewood.  I resisted figuring out angles of the blades and also the trees, but did manage to plant the seed that we should remake that Taylor Swift song to:

We never, ever, ever multiply bases and exponents. 

Now we just need to write the rest of the lyrics and make the video :) Problem something rhymes with order of operations.  Good stuff!

Back to math tomorrow and students get quizzes back to bring home.  We will continue to balance equations. 

Things like 38 + y = 100, find the value of y

Math Fact Practice

Math Fact Practice (not flash cards!) click to enter the site.  Enjoy! 

If you need to brush up on facts or just want to practice, this is cooler than flash cards and it tells you the results at the end.  I chose dynamic, all facts, for 2 minutes.  I'm sure you can beat me if you try.  :)


I answered 29 problems, skipped 1, in two minutes.