Math Practice

By now, you've seen your child's score on their January Math Test. There's a lot of work yet to be done, obviously. BUT...we are up to the task.

Here are some great ways to get some extra math practice at home:

MATH GAMES
This page has a ton of links to some great interactive online games. The best ones for what we're working on can be found by scrolling down to the sections titled "Fractions Games" or "Fractions, Decimals, and Percents Games." Almost of the games will help, though. Want an extra challenge? Try the Algebra section.

MAP-Based Games
This collection of games is tied to MAP test score. For each section, there are different score ranges. 5th graders should be somewhere between 200 and 220. That's a great place to start.

MATH WORKSHEET CREATOR
Make your own practice worksheets on a number of topics!

TEN MARKS
I've blogged about this before, and we're going to get back into using it at school. I encourage you to use it at home, too. Here's a little rundown of how it works...

Once they've logged in, they'll see their dashboard:

In the middle, they can scroll through their assignments and click Start Practice to begin them. Once they pass a certain number of assignment, they can go to the Reward Zone to play games.

If they've done all their assignments, they can still access practice problems. Just scroll down on the home page to the PRACTICE section and choose from the topics listed in the menu. Any of them will provide good practice:

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Of course, you can always let me know if you have specific questions and concerns. I recommend making math practice a regular thing 2-3 times per week. Or 5!

New Read Aloud

I like reading a book aloud about 3 days a week after recess. We just finished a fun book called Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman. The kids enjoyed it. It was spooky, suspenseful, and it had some online videos that went along with it, making it kind of a unique experience. If you're at a bookstore or library, you might want to pick up the next books in the series: Ghost in Machine, Crossroads, and The Raven.

Now, for the first time ever I think, I'm reading a non-fiction book aloud. It's called Witches: The Absolute True Tale of Disaster in Salem. It's about the Salem witch trials in the 1600s in the small Puritan colony in Massachusetts. It's a gripping supernatural story about prejudice and the dangers of making assumptions. I hope the kids enjoy it and learn a lot from it.

This is Going to Be Good

If you were with UPA in fourth grade, you remember our awesome "human wax museum" that we held to celebrate and honor African American History Month.

This year, the entire school is getting in on the act. A Black History Month program will be held February 29th at 5:00 p.m. in the gymnasium. Each grade will be making a short presentation to honor some aspect of African American History.

Our grade is studying the African American experience in Social Studies. We are going to put this information into a series of readings from a wide range of poems and speeches by important Americans ranging from Langston Hughes to Maya Angelou to President Obama.

It will be a powerful performance. And every child will have a part. You'll be impressed and proud!

Gateway Exhibition Work

By now, you've seen the massive list of Gateway Exhibition Requirements. I wanted to let you know what we'll be working on first...the 10 Places Project!

For this project, students will learn about 10 Places in the world that they would like to visit. They will then write paragraphs (10 sentences minimum EACH) about each one and why they would like to visit them.

We are working on the research right now. Students can definitely work on it at home using the links I've provided on the class wiki page. Soon, we'll start writing and typing the paragraphs. They can work on that at home, too! (From this point forward, there's never a night "without homework!")

It's very similar to our 10 Things project from last year. The final product will be similar, too. Students will publish their final work on the class wiki and will include maps, hyperlinks, images, and maybe even videos, too.

Here's a sample page from last year: http://mrcurran.pbworks.com/w/page/36322455/sample10

And here's a full description:

A New Challenge

Today was a challenging day. My goal this semester is to help my students become more independent. It is obvious that they depend on me for many things. A lot of these things, however, are things I need to stop helping them with. It's time to "cut the cord" in some ways.

As a former middle school teacher, I know that their 6th grade teachers, whereever they go to school, will answer a lot fewer easy questions and tolerate a lot fewer interruptions. I need to get the kids doing things on their own, thinking for themselves, and feeling like they don't need me at every moment of the learning day.

That's where the Gateway Exhibition comes in. By the end of today, all of you will have seen the requirements. It's...how do I say this...A LOT. I'm not going to be able to hold their hands. That doesn't mean I'm going to abandon and make them do it all by themselves. But it's time to set them loose as independent thinkers and learners.

This is going to be a challenge for some of them. Today we were finishing up letters to colleges. Normally, I would work with each student to help them make sure theirs was formatted correctly. Normally, I'd take any and all questions to make sure they got everything right. Not today. Today I gave them a sample letter and made them figure it out on their own. I didn't allow interruptions. I made them wait to speak with me. It was frustrating for some of them. It's going to continue to be frustrating.

But I believe it's worth it. It's time for these baby birds to leave the nest and fly. I just wanted to give you a heads up when they come home talking about how "mean" I've become. :)

Coming Home Tonight

Tonight, your child is bringing home a packet that contains...

*REPORT CARDS! These include comments and scores (out of 100) for all subjects.

*MEAP Scores

*MAP Test Scores This shows results from every MAP test they've ever taken! If you have questions about it, see me OR check out this online parent toolkit

*GATEWAY EXHIBITION Requirement--This is a list of all the projects we'll be doing in the second semester, along with short descriptions of each. Students will present 10 of them at their final Exhibition in May. MUCH more on this to come.

Writing and Math Tonight

There's no POW this week...BUT there is homework tonight due tomorrow. In fact there are two assignments. Here they are:

*Write and solve two story problems that are at FIFTH GRADE LEVEL. (Not just addition or subtraction) Please have your child share these with you. We're going to turn them into VIDEO STORY PROBLEMS tomorrow.

*Write TWO paragraphs...one in favor and one against...to answer this question: Should students be allowed to go to school completely online?