Test Grades are in

Here's the schedule for this week:

Monday: Chapter 4 Test (Fractions, Decimals, and Percents)
Tuesday: Standardized Test version of Fractions, Decimals, and Percents
Wednesday: Mid Year assessment, this shows us improvements from the beginning of the year pre-test
Thursday: Chapter Opener and a Bill Nye probability video (The only video we watch this year, I think)
Friday: Starting chapter 5

Note: I shared with the students today that we are looking at summer school possibilities and we really want to use the class time to learn sixth grade math, not summer time.  If you see many, many 1's we'll talk about it at conferences and try to diagnose the root of the issue.  It will be very hard work for some, but I will be available and opening up my self to extra time during lunch and after school almost every day! 

Math Test Monday!

Chapter 4 math test is Monday.  You can do a practice test here:

Practice Test

If you don't do well on it, you can go here:

Chapter Review

I hope this helps, as always, the best way to prepare for a test is to listen in class, do your work, and come in for help any lunch period or after school on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:00 - 3:30. 

This week's schedule

Here we go!

Wednesday: early release rotations (math scavenger hunt)
Thursday: Section 4-5 lesson with homework
Friday: Quiz for Sections 4-4 and 4-5, check it out on the bigideasmath.com website

Next week:
Monday: Chapter 4 Test
and some mid-year assessments. 

Lots of info will be coming for conferences, like Aimsweb progress, Pre and Mid assessment results, and an update of your child's progress. 

As always, I'm here to help every lunch period and also after school from 3:00 - 3:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays!  Let's learn some math. 

Fraction, we are just past 1/2 way through the year. 

Mental math and percents

I want to run some data analysis on the quizzes, so they will be returned on Monday and posted in the gradebook as well.

Today we are working on problems like these:

Quiz on Thursday

Here's a game you can play to get ready for the quiz on Thursday.  Not sure if this is the actual quiz we are using, but an example of the types of problems.

Game

This or That?

Today I kind of made up a game show, without the prizes, and showed the students these problems

It was fun to compare on things we might actually buy or see in our daily lives.  Just think about how many times we use fractions, decimals, and percents throughout the day.  Here's the thing, our kids don't have the practice yet to see that 0.33 is 33% is 33/100.  They need more practice, keep asking them about the work they are doing in class.

Additionally, each student has a work folder in the classroom and they are free to bring those papers home for review as you request.  Just ask them and have them bring the papers home.  We are having a quiz on Thursday, so we'll see how much was retained from our practice so far this chapter.  Three keys to success: supplies, effort, behavior.

Fractions, Decimals, and Percents.

Sorry for the delay in posting, I wanted to leave the schedule and big ideas link on the first page for at least a week so everyone could get there.  We're into changing fractions, decimals, and percents back and forth.  We do have an assignment each day and I'm tracking them for completeness and seeing if there are errors we can fix before the quiz/test.

As always, I'm available every lunch and after school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays until 3:30.  Start to talk to your child about where you see fractions each day and try to incorporate that into your daily conversations. 

Think about cooking, your gas gauge, anything that has a percent or decimal or fraction on it should be showcased this month.  Maybe even a time to show them some household bills and talk about the life skill of budgeting?  Lots of possibilities. 

Things like this get them thinking.  How much gas is in here?  How far do you think we can get?  Should we fill up soon or are we alright?  How do you know?  How much gas does the car hold?  How much is in 1/4 of a tank?  And so on.  :)

I'll be back to posting more frequently and if you have questions, please contact me. 

Thanks,
 Mr. Flaten

Big Ideas Math

Here's the pacing guide for the first chapter of the book that we will be starting on Monday with the projected dates of the lessons/activities/tests.  Please try to look ahead at the lessons with the online book if you can so it's even easier the day of the lesson.

www.bigideasmath.com

We're in the green book, go to student and then home, click go and you're there, no password needed. 

And we're back!

We're back to school.  Today we got thinking again with a fun talk about compound interest and how it can multiply savings accounts using math to become more wealthy.  :)

We are starting the new Big Ideas Math books on Monday and I will be sending home a letter that needs to be signed and returned on Friday.  Please look for that on Thursday evening.

If you have any questions or need help with transitioning into the new book or how I can best help please let me know.

Until tomorrow!