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Students had another busy week at NCS as they worked through a collection of concepts and ideas. In math, students continued to develop their understanding of place value and understanding word problems. Students used base ten blocks to build 4 digit numbers. Use these link for more work with base ten-block place value.
http://www.abcya.com/base_ten_fun.htm http://www.abcya.com/base_ten_bingo.htm http://www.roomrecess.com/mobile/BaseTenBlocks/play.html Part of our place value work was focused around students learning what expanded form is. This is the process where a number is broken into its proper place value. For example: 4561=4000+500+60+1 7189=7000+100+80+9 This process is very important for students, as they need to understand the 4 in 4561 is actually 4000. Can your child expand these numbers? 3299 1902 1529 Students worked to improve their understanding of decoding place value problems for clues and then solving what was being asked. Sample questions from the lesson are below: You have been collecting stamps for as long as you can remember. You know you have more than 1 234 but less than 2 311. How many stamps could you have? Represent this number 3 different ways. Knowing there are 365 days in a year you used a calculator to find out how old you were in days. The calculator said you were 3000+200+80+5. Write this number in standard form. Write three numbers smaller than this and three numbers larger. Science this week has been focused on students applying their understanding of the decomposition cycle into a visual illustration. Students researched for two days to gather scientific information to add into their picture. Their assignment was focused on creating an image that included such vocabulary as: human waste, natural waste, biodegradable, non-biodegradable, decomposers, energy and producers. Ask your child to explain how the concepts of biodegradable and decomposers relate to each other.
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citadel.sjfc.edu/students/naa07113/e-port/decomposers.html
www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/foodchain/decomposers.htm http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/forsite/2004presentations/taylor/forsite/forsite.html http://www.eschooltoday.com/waste-recycling/waste-management-tips-for-kids.html http://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Paper-Waste-Facts http://www.eschooltoday.com/waste-recycling/types-of-waste.html September 20th
The students have been learning the routines of middle school. Now that we have learned how to open our lockers, we are developing an understanding of when it is appropriate to be in them. We stress to students that they need to bring items to class (including water bottles) and to only go to lockers during the morning, nutrition break, lunch and afterschool. This helps to save time for students and maximize the time learning in the classroom. In mathematics this week, we continued to build 4 digit numbers and organized them from smallest to largest value. In preparation for their quiz on Thursday, students had a review period. This period was dedicated to mastering each type of question that was on the quiz. Students could work independently, with a partner or directly with a teacher to learn the concepts needed. The quizzes will be going home next week. Students can use these links to practice their understanding of place value. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/placevalue/mathman_place_exp.htm http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/placevalue/MatchingPV.htm http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/placevalue/mathman_place_digit.htm https://www.funbrain.com/games/place-value In science, students started to deepen their understanding of Waste in Our World. They learned what could go into green, blue and black bins. Make sure to ask them to see if your household is following the rules. They also learned what sorts of materials couldn’t go into any bin. This research led to the topic of Toxins. The information can be found at this website: www.calgary.ca/UEP/WRS/Pages/Garbage-collection-information/Residential-services/What-Cannot-Go-In-Black-Cart.aspx Student also learned important vocabulary words of biodegradable and decomposer. Can they explain these words to you? The students have used their first full week of school to continue learning our classroom routines and get comfortable with the changing schedule. Students have a daily timetable in the agenda to help them remember where their next class is.
In math this week, students have been busy learning more warm up activities as well as building a stronger understanding of place value up to ten thousand. Students learned how to reorganize digits to create numbers with different values. For example: 5-6-2-1 can make: 5621 5612 5162 5126 5216 5261 etc. With numerous collections of numbers, students had to begin organizing their numbers from smallest value to largest. We learned to read numbers left to right and checking our place value to ensure our answers were correct. Students can show you this process by creating at least 5 different four-digit numbers and organizing them smallest to largest. They can use the numbers 6-7-1-9. How about the numbers 4-2-1-1? This week students also started a free online math program called Prodigy. In their agendas they have a short introduction sheet that has their user name and password. The link is found below: https://www.prodigygame.com/ This program can be done at home as well as at school. Show your parents how you navigate through this game. In science, students continued to explore how waste impacts our world. We explored a City of Calgary video about how compost is positively impacting our city. You can watch the video with this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP54rKPFFYI To begin building the students’ ability to express their learning, they wrote a scientific reflection. The students were trying to connect their ideas with concepts they learned and vocabulary words from the lessons. Writing scientific documents is an ongoing process in Grade four, as students really need to begin to see how important it is to support their ideas with evidence. Can you explain three facts you learned from this week to your family? Welcome to Mr. Baker’s Math and Science Blog. We have been extremely busy as we started our new school year. We had many wonderful experiences already from Tuesday to Friday. With hot dogs and pancakes fueling us, we began learning math games and questioning the world around us in science. In math, the students began working on a warm up activity called Numbermania. This activity is meant to span a short period of time and challenge the students to write numerous math sentences. The only rule, students need to make sure their answer equals the number provided. Look below for an example. Students are challenged to use all processes and make the questions multi-stepped. Have the children try a couple Numbermania questions at home with any two-digit number.
In science, students learned the topics of study this year. These topics are: -Waste in our World -Light and Shadow -Simple Machines -Things that move -Plant growth We looked through a collection of photos and started generating questions that we want to know more about. Creating questions and becoming curious are going to be important qualities as we begin our scientific investigations. Take a look at the following photos what questions do you ponder when you see them? |
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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