Addition Strategies

In math class, we have been working on being more flexible with our thinking when it comes to addition strategies.  Students are looking at problems before they start solving. We know that there is not one strategy that is perfect for every problems. Sometimes we can make problems MUCH easier if we just take a quick look at them before solving.

Mystery Plant Petting Zoo

Today we began our unit about plants.  Students spent time observing different kinds of plants using the sense of touch, smell and sight.  Students recorded their work in their science journal.  We are very excited to get this unit kicked off in such a fun way.  A BIG THANK you to the following families for the donations that made it possible to purchase these awesome plants for our class: Nash family, Zou family, Hurtado family, Lambert family, Nolan family, Miller family, and Barry family.

What was your favorite plant? Leave us a comment below. :) 

Ruler Game Champs!

Today, we had a "March Madness" Ruler Game Championship.  The students moved through brackets until we had our Ruler Champs. Congratulations to Luis, Fiona, Emma, Gabe, Delaney, Alina, Caleb and Chloe for being our big winners! We are so proud of all of the students for working hard on their measurement skills.

Math Skills Block Happenings

Recently in math skills block, students have been focusing on math standards that requires them to be able to compose, decompose, analyze and classify shapes using angles and sides.  Students have been enjoying working with Tangrams.  Tangrams are a Chinese geometric puzzle consisting of a square cut into seven pieces that can be arranged to make various other shapes.  Students had to manipulate the pieces by sliding, flipping and turning them in order to get them to fit into a new arrangements.

This is an example of the Tangram puzzles with which the students have been working.

In our closing sessions, we have focused on the congruent and similar shapes, different angles (acute, obtuse, and right), parallel sides, and many other attributes! We will have a short quiz on these concepts on Friday.  Students can review these concepts by visiting the following sites:
Slides, Flips and Turns 
Congruent and Similar Practice
Angles Practice

Multiplication and Arrays

This week in math, students have been working with arrays. They have learned that arrays are an arrangement of things in equal rows and columns.  Arrays are a fantastic model that easily allows students to visualize "groups of" things (multiplication). Students have learned how to identify the dimensions of arrays (rows, columns), how to skip count to find the total, and how to break down arrays into smaller, easier arrays. Check out our anchor chart from today's math lesson.

Visualize an array that is 6 x 7. What smaller arrays can you break a 6 x 7 array in to? Leave us a comment with your answer.