Welcome to Mr. Baker's Math and Science Home Page
It is hard to believe the year is coming to an end so quickly. With only a week left students are still working hard to engage in numerous activities. Many of the challenges they are facing are set at a Grade 5 level!
Students have learned many new concepts, procedures and skills. Throughout the year, students have been working on increasing their mental math strategies and how to engage in multi-step math problems with persistence. Students also started to see the benefit of using scientific reasoning while designing, building and modifying a variety of creations. All of these ideas are life skills that need continual practice and exploration. I hope everyone has a fantastic summer full of many adventures outdoors and in new locations. During these adventures, keep open a keen eye for connections to mathematical and scientific concepts that you learned at school. As we discussed, the connections are everywhere. The pool, zoo, science center, park almost anywhere. As you explore make sure to practice your mental math facts, computation procedures and engage in some math/science/logic puzzles to refine your skills before Grade 5. Wishing everyone a happy summer and enjoy the break.
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Our students have continued their focus on mental math processes and applying mathematical reasoning into multi-stepped problems. They worked through a collection of problems this week centered around the Calgary Zoo. The questions were:
1.The Zoo has created a new bridge from the Dinosaur section to the Panda exhibit. It is a suspension bridge. Bridges are amazing pieces of art and science. Let’s pretend this bridge can hold a recommended weight of 10 575kg.If we say an adult man weighs 80kg If we say an adult woman weighs 55kg If we say a child weighs 25kg How many people could fit on the bridge before someone would have to get off? 2.The lemurs have two new bridges. One of the bridges was made out of small wooden planks. If each plank was 5 and 3/4cms wide and there were 84 planks, how long was the bridge? 3.You are standing in front of the Flamingo area and you see 19 flamingos. Your little sister counts all the legs she sees. She said she saw 31 legs. How many different combination of 2 leg and 1 leg standers can you make? In science, students had to refine their debating skills as they engaged in a lively debate over a scenario of developing Nose Creek Park into a new recreation facility. Talk to your child about the pros and cons of city development. Our goal in June is to increase both our mental math strategies and our ability to be persistent while solving multi-step math problems. The students have been engaging in many activities, many of them different dice games. This weekend have your child teach you how to play Pig, Frog or Farkle.
Cannot remember the rules: Pig One player rolls two dice and adds the two numbers together They can either take the points or roll again and add the sums together Feeling lucky? they can continue rolling as many times as they want Once you stop you bank the points for that round You add each round together until you reach 100 points THE CATCH: you never want to roll a 1. that means you lose all points in that round -if you roll snake eyes you lose all points from all rounds Frog -roll two dice. If the numbers are different add them. If they are doubles multiply them. Do you keep the points? Or do you roll again? -Each round gets a possible 4 rolls -watch out for 1 s. If you roll a one you get 0 points for the round -Who wins after 5 rounds? How to play Farkle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farkle Students are investigating numerous puzzles from this website: https://www.brainbashers.com/today.asp They can teach you how to do skyscrapers, 30 seconds and bridges. These are teaching many different mathematical skills. Happy Game Playing this weekend. It is hard to believe we are beginning June next week. The students have been busy learning the last concepts of Grade 4. In math, students completed their graphs and pictographs. They learned how if we change the scale and legends our visual representation can look quite different. Ask them what their results were from their survey data. In class, students learned a dice game called pig. All you need is two dice. The objective of the game is to get a score of 100. You roll the dice and add both of them together. You then choose to roll again and add your next roll to the previous or save the points from the first roll. You can roll as many times as you like in a row. BEWARE if you roll a 1 you lose all points from that round. If you roll double 1s (snake eyes) you lose all points from every round. Who will be the first to 100? Students also engaged in one of the largest math problems they have seen. It was a bedroom painting scenario that included: surface area, fractions, decimals and numerous computations. Here is the PowerPoint below to see what sorts of questions they are working through.
This week students researched a variety of topics about plant reproduction. They then needed to apply their research into 4 different scientific scenarios. The scenarios are posted below.
Science Challenge: Find me the most interest plant ever. Why is it so interesting? What makes it different from other plants?
Mine is the old growth Redwoods or Sequoia. Any plant that has ages spanning into the 1 000 years is something to spend some time investigating. These trees can have a diameter of 7 meters, can grow almost 75+ meters call and weigh more than 700 000 kg per tree! Can you find a more interesting tree than that? Information found: https://www.livescience.com/39461-sequoias-redwood-trees.html 1.What is tubers, cuttings or runners? What plants can do this?
2.Why are insects so important for plants? How do plants attract them and what do they need to happen? 3.Can you name more than 3 ways plants spread their seeds? How? 4.Draw and label the parts of a flower. What does each part do? 5.Why are berries colourful and sweet? http://www.biology4kids.com/files/plants_reproduction.html https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/articles/z28dpbk https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/articles/zqbcxfr https://www.natgeokids.com/za/discover/science/nature/the-life-cycle-of-flowering-plants/ https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zs4tyrd/revision/1 This week students have been learning the process of generating a strong survey question. We were working hard to move away from the phrase "what is your favourite…" and create a more specific question. We came to ideas such as:
-What animal would you like to be for a day? -What is your opinion on hunting? -What emotion do you feel most in a day? -What pets do you own? Students also learned what makes a good answer and what answers can lead the results. Students then used a tally chart to record over 50 votes for their personalized question. Next week we will be drawing pictographs and bar graphs to represent our results. Practice your graphing with these sites: https://www.abcya.com/games/fuzz_bugs_graphing https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/51/bar_charts http://toytheater.com/fishing/ In science, students were learning about the resiliency of small seeds. They examined images from a Powerpoint of plants growing in harsh conditions. They needed to pinpoint the characteristics that are missing that should have stopped the seed from growing. They then used their research abilities to find their own image and are creating a visual representation of their plant. The Powerpoint is linked below: I hope everyone has a great long weekend and you are able to enjoy some time with family.
This week students learned about how seeds travel. They learned some seeds can travel great distances. Your child should be able to explain 3 different ways seeds can travel. They also should be able to tell you why seeds need to travel. Hint: Zone of Darkness. This week students have been reviewing how to add and subtract decimals. These are tricky skills that need focus on both computation procedures and place value. They can use these links to practice: https://www.mathgames.com/skill/7.93-add-and-subtract-decimals https://www.mathplayground.com/ASB_Hungry_Puppies_Decimals.html This week students have been starting to generate a holistic view of why plants are not only important to humans, but also animals and the world around us. Students brainstormed multiple reasons why plants are important in our lives. They then wrote a persuasive paragraph explaining what they believe is the most important reason we have plants in our community. Have your child explain their must important reason along with their supporting evidence.
Students also started planting their own bean seeds. Their goal is to care for a seed through the plant’s full life cycle until it creates another seed. This has been an important skill for generations and we hope we can be successful. These links will be useful for gaining more information about the life cycle of a bean plant: https://garden.lovetoknow.com/garden-basics/life-cycle-bean-plant https://biologywise.com/life-cycle-of-bean-plant In math, students completed a Shape check in, marks were posted on Powerschool. Students have also been working on mental math check ins where they need to verbally express their answers for a wide range of questions. Continuing to practice multiplication and division facts at home will support students to increase both their accuracy and efficiency. The higher times tables continue to be a struggle for many students. the 7, 8 and 9 times tables. Students started to work with 3 dimensional solids in class. They built solids, explored nets and learned the vocabulary of edges, faces and vertices. By using these links, students will gain more practice with each of these concepts. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/symmetry/symmetry-matching https://www.topmarks.co.uk/symmetry/symmetry-sorting https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/115/sorting_3d_shapes_on_a_venn_diagram# https://www.education.com/games/3d-shapes/ Sorry for my delay in posting. I am now back in the classroom and the students are going to be beginning a new topic in science. We will be beginning our final science unit, Plant Growth. This is an excellent hands on unit, which the students thoroughly enjoy. They will research, learn and most importantly care for plants in the classroom. To help build some knowledge, students should read these websites: Plant site 1 Plant site 2 Plant site 3 In math, students have started exploring shape and space. These units are smaller and still hold very important concepts, which students need to understand. They should be able to explain to you what Lines of Symmetry are and what Congruency means. Can they provide you with multiple examples? In the coming weeks, students will also be doing a large portion of mental math practice and testing. Students have been told they need continual practice with each computation process. For homework this week, students can explore links from previous posts focused on mental math and computation skills. Increasing solving speed is our focus. The students have continued their work with fractions and decimals. We have started to see how we can add decimals together and our regrouping strategies stay fairly consistent. The big ideas that Grade 4s need to remember is: -each whole number (1) is broken down into 10 equal pieces (tenths) -each tenth is then broken down into 10 equal pieces (hundredths) -you need ten hundredths to make 1 tenth -10 tenths makes 1 whole (1) Students need to continue to practice their addition with decimals using these links: http://www.math-play.com/baseball-math-adding-decimals/adding-decimals-game.html http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/decimals/matchingDecimalsAdd.htm Students can continue to practice building and comparing fractions with this link: https://www.mathplayground.com/fractions_compare.html As we explore all of our math concepts, students are still finding their mental math skills are still not as quick or accurate as they want. This is a process that needs continual practice. Here are some great games to help build mental math fluency. mental math skills: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10 https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/mental-maths In science students are continue to learn about objects that move. They finished their balloon powered rockets and reflected on the forces at work with them. As part of our unit for things that move, students really need a strong understanding of how to compare two different vehicles. Use the two images to create a contrast of similarities and differences between these machines. Think about purpose size, power, materials, forces, environment etc. How many similarities and differences can you brainstorm? |
AuthorHello, My name is Mr. Baker and this is my third year at NCS teaching Math and Science. Please visit my blog regularly for updates on what is being done in the class as well as for extra support with your learning. Archives
June 2019
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