All posts by Mr. Potter

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Homework May 13 (Tues)

We had an absolutely fantastic morning today.  We had little calling out, and we had almost everyone on task for the majority of the morning.  We were actually on negative 4 before we even went to specials.  It was really great.

 

In Math, we got a good amount of review done and we’re finishing up our unit on multiplying decimals.  For homework tonight, student’s should do the first two rows of this worksheet.  They don’t need to write sentences indicating what their first number of each row is, but they should definitely be thinking it.

MultiplyingDecimalsMay13

In Language Arts we had some good conversations about media, and commercials, and being critical consumers of media.  Our reading selection for the week deals with this topic.  It’s a great thing to talk about with your students, and we had some heated discussion about some commercials the students had seen, especially dealing with the fushigi ball.  Everyone has a story about being duped by an ad.

Students should answer the question on page 205 and 206 in their motivation reading book dealing with this passage.

 

In Science we are doing some quick review of electricity, and energy.  We ran into some bumps last week when talking about electromagnets and maglevs, so we’re fixing those this week.

 

So tldr;

first two rows of multiplying decimals

MultiplyingDecimalsMay13

p 205 and 206 in motivation reading

read for 35 mins and fill in your reading log!

 

PS:

Another update about the field trip will be going home tomorrow, and please remember that we have an informational meeting JUST FOR ADULTS on Thursday, at 5:45 in the media center to talk about our upcoming unit on human growth and development.  We hope to see you there.

 

Have a good night all!

-Mr. Potter

Homework

Homework May 12 (Mon)

And we’re back!

 

Very lite day today.  The students managed to do one of our games on Friday in less than a minute, so they won themselves a lite day of homework today!

Math is still rooted in our exploration of place value, and we are now talking about exponents, writing our numbers in exponential form, and how we can use this to tell what kind of numbers we will end up with when we are multiplying.

The students should do these three math problems for homework.  First they should write the numbers in exponential form, and then solve them in exponential form before converting back to a simple decimal.

.000001 x 4000 =

300 x .00006 =

.000002 x .000004 =

Here is the first problem which we did together as an example if they need a hand.

MathHwk_May12

In Language Arts we took quite a bit of notes about figurative language, as we are having some problems with this vocabulary.

We then looked at our flect/flex stories from last week, shared them with each other, and finally took our vocabulary quiz.

As this is a fairly short week, we won’t be doing a vocabulary list this week.  We’ll be doing a new one starting next Monday.

 

Which brings me to Friday, and the Field trip!

Students took home some information about the field trip again today, as well as reminders about the Human Growth and Development meeting this Thursday at 5:45 in the media center.  Please make sure you take a look at this, and also note that the meeting is for adults only.

If you haven’t seen the itinerary yet, here it is:

FieldTripItinerary

tldr;

3 math problems – convert them to exponential form first, solve in exponential form, and then write them as a decimal

.000001 x 4000 =

300 x .00006 =

.000002 x .000004 =

Reading log as always!

Take a look over the field trip/human growth stuff in the Monday folder!

 

The homework is essentially to read and do three math problems….I expect 100% turn-in tomorrow!

Have a good one

-Mr. Potter

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Field Day!

I think a very good time was had by all today.

but man, was it warm out.

We started off with our little class party.  It was unreal how many snacks everyone brought in.  We ended up sharing our snacks with the ENTIRE grade level.  Thank you very much to everyone who sent something with their student.  Everyone was stuffed.  So much so, that by the time we had finished watching our movie, everyone was ready for our NAP TIME:

NapTime3

NapTime2

 

We also had some people just snuggle up with a good book

NapTime1

 

We then had our lunch, and then a very fun-filled day of games and activities.

Grats to the girls for winning the tug of war THREE times in a row!  Our guys need to remember to hold onto the rope!

My hat’s off to Mr. McLaney because that was an absolutely crazy field day.  He had been setting it up all of yesterday until late, and then was here this morning at the crack of dawn to finish.  If you see him, please let him know how much we appreciate all of his hard work.

Also if you are one of the people who graciously volunteered their time to come in today and help run field day, thank you so much.  It would not have been possible without your help.  I know the kids had a fantastic time.

 

I gave the students a pass on homework until Monday, so if they didn’t have it today, they can still bring it in Monday for full credit!  It’s just their reading log and their vocabulary story, so it’s not too much at all.

 

I hope everyone has a restful evening after that packed day.

 

I’ll see everyone Monday! (FINALLY no more Saturday school!)

 

-Mr. Potter

Homework

Homework May 8 (Thurs)

Field Day and Nap time tomorrow!

 

So today we had a pretty good day, and we therefore have a very lite night of homework!  I’ll keep this short and sweet…..

In Language Arts, students should finish their story using their vocabulary words.  They can skip using circumflex and reflex angle, but should do their best using the other eight words.

 

I sent home a letter that has our basic plan for tomorrow, but here are the important parts:

Tomorrow we’re having snack and a nap

students may bring in a snack to share with the class!

Students may bring in a pillow/stuffed animal and a small blanket/towel.  This is because yes, we have decided that we will have nap time tomorrow before our field day.  That is what we decided upon as our reward.  I can’t make this stuff up folks.

In case it was lost, here is the letter:

FieldDayLetters

so tldr;

vocab story

wear appropriate clothes for field day!

nap time!

 

Tomorrow should be fun!

-Mr. Potter

Homework

Homework May 7 (Wed)

Place value, research, and electromagnets!

 

We are well on our way in this unit about place value, and multiplying decimals.  We took a good bit of notes, that are pretty much required for doing tonight’s homework:

PlaceValueNotes

 

There is an example at the bottom, which shows how students should do their homework tonight.  They have two multiplication problems to do.  As they do these problems, they should be thinking about the example, and how we know where our decimal point goes based on what we are multiplying.  For each ‘line’ in their problem, they should have an arrow and a sentence stating what decimal place they are beginning with.

The homework is these two problems:

MultiplyingDecimalsHwkMay7

 

In Language Arts we talked a great deal about our weather research, and how we should be organizing our notes.  This is very much uncharted territory for many of our students, as they are unused to taking notes and being in charge of what information they must find.  We talked about how making sure our notes are well organized will lead us to making better decisions about what kind of information we already have, and therefore what information we still need.  Again this is brand new to many of our kids, so it will take a while and some real experience until this sinks in.  When they must later organize their paper into sections, they will really see how organizing their notes and information will pay off.

We then watched a short video about how electromagnets are used in motors, and how almost any appliance in their house that spins in some fashion contains a motor, and therefore an electromagnet.  This will help them to answer the final two questions on pages 255 and 256 in their motivation reading books.  They must also answer the quick questions on pages 251-254.  These six pages will be turned in tomorrow and GRADED, so make sure they get done!

 

In Science, we played around with electricity, metal, magnets, and all sorts of cool stuff!  We saw how electricity traveling through a wire creates a magnetic field, and it made our compasses go crazy.  We then built our own electromagnets out of wire, nails, and batteries, and had some fun picking up different stuff.  I hope that good times were had by all!

 

so tldr;

Math homework is two multiplication problems, done using our strategies for determining place value

MultiplyingDecimalsHwkMay7

 

Language Arts homework is pages 251-254, and finish the last two pages on 255-256.  THIS WILL BE GRADED!  Do your best on it.

 

Have a good night, and I will see everyone tomorrow!

 

ALSO….

Friday is Field Day!  It so happens this also coincides with us earning our first jewel.  Therefore we will have a small celebration on Friday morning before Field Day.  Students are invited to bring in a snack to share with the class, and their pillows/blankets.  We are going to perhaps watch a movie and have nap time (No, seriously, this is what your fifth grade students decided to do….) before we go outside for the afternoon.  It should be quite a relaxing morning.

 

See everyone tomorrow!

 

-Mr. Potter

 

 

 

Homework

Homework May 6 (Tues)

Magnets Magnets Magnets!

 

I can’t believe how many of our students had never used a compass before!!!

It’s a new world, full of new-fangled gps, google earths, and online maps.

Today in science we busted out the compasses, and talked about how they work by lining up with the Earth’s magnetic field.  We then tested out a few different objects to see if they would affect the compass at all.  We discovered that copper wire and plastic are non-magnetic, but that steel nails are magnetic.  Tomorrow we will see if we can possibly magnetize some of those items that were non-magnetic.  It should be good fun.

 

In math, we started our unit on multiplication.  We’re going right back to the basics, with what multiplication means, powers of ten, and the base ten system and place value.  We talked today about knowing what would happen when we multiplied certain numbers.  For instance if we multiply something by 1, we get that number again.  If we multiply by a number greater than 1, we get a number greater than our starting number, and if we multiply by something less than 1, we get a number that is less than our starting number.  We extended this to talk about place value.  In that vein, tonight’s homework is to answer the following, with examples…..

 

What happens when you multiply…

 

ones x tenths =

ones x hundredths =

ones x ones =

tenths x tenths =

hundredths x hundredths =

tenths x hundredths =

 

I want them to answer what the answer will be in terms of, and then give me an example.  We did three of the problems together in class, so here are examples if needed:

Multiplication_Homework_May6

 

In Language Arts, we did some more research in the computer lab.  The students will be writing a fairly in-depth research paper on a facet of weather of their choosing.  We discussed that doing research means becoming an expert on a given topic, and their beginning questions should be “What is it?” and “How does it happen/form, and why?”.

 

We also talked about our new vocabulary words.  They are flect and flex words.  Unfortunately I don’t have any extras to post here, so I will just post the list:

deflect

reflect

reflection

retroflex

infection

flexor

reflex angle

inflexible

circumflex

flexible

 

Students should write a sentence for only NINE of the words (Leaving out reflex angle, as it’s kind of a a toughie to really write a sentence as it has one and only one use).

 

 

so tldr;

6 math problems that ask students what happens when you multiply two different place values, with examples

9 vocab sentences

 

Come tomorrow ready to play with some more magnets and electricity!

 

-Mr. Potter

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Homework May 5 (Mon)

Countdown to Field Day!  3 days to go!

 

In Math today, we talked a bit more about division involving decimals, but it seems that the students are doing very well here, and we are probably moving on tomorrow.  I had planned to move on to strategies for comprehension when it comes to word problems……

 

HOWEVER…

 

Today when we had to double check an answer that involved multiplying decimals, it became quite clear that we still have some gaps there.  As such, we will probably be doing that for the rest of this short week.

Students should finish the final two rows of their converting decimals to fractions worksheet tonight.

 

In Language Arts, we started reading a new selection about electromagnets, and maglevs.  We are really working on reading comprehension, so we will continue to do short reading passages, and then answer comprehension and critical thinking questions afterwards.

 

Students should complete pages 255 & 256 in their motivation reading books tonight.  EXCEPT for question 3, and question 5.  After we talk more as a class, I would like them to look at these questions.

 

In Science, we are still talking about the weather, and today we read a short passage about the job of meteorologist.

 

Finally, we watched a short video about the process of turning fossil fuels into electricity, as we had some questions about that from our reading last week.

 

Students took home an updated itinerary for the field trip next Friday.  Please make sure you see it in their Monday folders!

 

tldr;

in Math,

last two rows of converting fractions to decimals

In Language Arts,

Pages 255 and 256 in Motivation Reading EXCEPT #3 and #5.

 

Have a good night!

-Mr. Potter

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Homework May 1st (Thurs)

Today was actually a beautiful day outside.

And of course we had a fundraiser during our recess ……

but then we had recess in the gym! 🙂

 

Today in math we talked more about converting decimals to fractions using the idea that something like 2/6 = 2 ÷ 6, and we can now do a problem like 2 ÷ 6 on paper.  

We also talked about how one of our weaknesses as a class is reading comprehension when it comes to math problems.  We can do the math fine, but taking a word problem like:

Five people are running a relay race.  The race is six miles long.  Each person runs the same length of the race.  How much does each person run?

And picking out the important information and figuring out what we have to do, has been a struggle for us.  This problem is really asking what is six miles divided among five people.  We can do that math:

6 ÷ 5

 

So we will be working on strategies for reading comprehension quite a bit this quarter.

For math homework, students should do the next two rows on their converting fractions to decimals worksheet.  This will leave just the bottom two rows undone.

FractionsToDecimals

 

In Language Arts, we again talked about reading comprehension, and went over the Motivation Reading passages we had done on Monday and Tuesday.  Especially with questions that are ‘right there’ questions (questions where the answer is stated explicitly in the text) there is no excuse to get these incorrect.  We talked about finding evidence for our answers, and constructing arguments for or against a given answer choice.  The students then got a chance to defend their incorrect answers on a sheet of paper and turn it in to me.  I’m looking forward to see what these arguments look like tonight, and hopefully giving out some partial credit.

Tonight in Language Arts students should write a story that incorporates their vocabulary words.  I really like how creative our kids can get with these things, and I hope it helps cement these new words into their vocabularies.

 

We did have an assembly to talk about the school fundraiser.  The students also got a packet all about it.  Please take a look at them with your students tonight.

In Science, we talked again about weather, specifically today about thunderstorms.  I was impressed with how the students read together in their groups about thunderstorms and answered the questions together today.  We are still improving our ability to work well with others, but I liked what I saw.

 

tldr;

two rows of converting fractions to decimals

FractionsToDecimals

one story that uses all of our vocabulary words

 

Tomorrow is Friday!  That means we have some quizzes to take!!  Consider yourselves warned!

Also, remember that THERE IS SCHOOL AGAIN THIS SATURDAY.  Your kids aren’t lying to you because they just love coming to school so much.  It really does exist.  We will be here, learning, and getting smarter.

 

Have a good evening

 

-Mr. Potter

 

Homework

Homework April 30 (Wed)

What a dreary rainy thundery day.

 

Good thing we’re studying weather!

In math, we did more long division, yay!

We talked about using what we have learned to convert fractions to decimals.

First, we reviewed that if we are splitting one thing among 2 people, each person gets 1/2.  Essentially if we are splitting x things among y people, the answer is x/y.

Then we talked about how if something like 1/4 is equivalent to 1 ÷ 4, then we can solve 1 ÷ 4 using our new-found knowledge of division.  Our answer will be a decimal, and this will allow us to convert fractions to decimals.

The students have a worksheet that has fractions to convert to decimals.  We have done the first three together, so they have a good example set already.  They should do ONLY the second row of problems tonight.  they SHOULD NOT do any more problems.  We talked about this in class today.  I DO NOT want them to do any more than the second row tonight.  The other rows will be assigned tomorrow night but I want to ensure they are doing this completely correctly before they move on.

FractionsToDecimals

In Language arts, the students should finish writing their 10 sentences for their vocabulary words.

 

In science today, we previewed some reference books that we will be using in our study of weather.  They each came up with a quiz question from their chosen book and quiz’d each other.  Ask them what their question was, and see if you can answer it!

 

Starting next week, the students will be picking one facet of weather on which to do a simple research project.  They will gather information from a variety of sources, and write a research paper, complete with bibliography.  This is of course something we will be doing over several weeks.  I do not expect them to start searching for information until we finalize topics next week, but it would be a good idea for them to think about what they might really like to research.

 

We also had this fantastic opportunity to talk about what exactly are thunderstorms, what makes them different from regular rain, and what is going on with clouds anyway?  The students read a nice little passage about clouds and answered some questions as a group.  Ask them tonight if they remember what clouds are! (a mass of liquid droplets).  Also ask them which clouds they should be wary of (cumulo-nimbus – the storm clouds).

 

 

tldr;

one row of converting fractions to decimals

FractionsToDecimals

10 sentences, one for each of our vocab words

 

Hope everyone gets home safely tonight, and that tomorrow clears up at least a little bit!

 

-Mr. Potter

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Homework April 29 (Tues)

Decimals, Division, and Dragons, oh my!

Well, not really dragons.

 

We are in full swing, connecting our algorithm for dividing money among people to our long division algorithm.  For homework, the students should do math problems involving division of decimals.  They may either do this using their sentences, or they may use the long division algorithm.  If they take it upon themselves to do both, that would be fantastic, however.

In case you need a look at the example again, here it is:

LongDivision

The two problems they should do are:

456.27 ÷ 3 =

2394.8 ÷ 2 = 

 

Students should also finish the motivation reading passage, and answer the questions on page 63-66.

Students will turn in their motivation reading books tomorrow for a GRADE on this passage.  Please make sure it is finished, and done well.

We also introduced the new vocabulary words.  Students should write a sentence for each word, but this is not due until THURSDAY.

One of our words this week is ‘fractal’, so we watched the first 10ish minutes of this video to help explain it.  It’s a great video, and if you have time, go ahead and watch the rest!

We went into the computer lab this morning and took another Lexille Star test.  We talked a bit beforehand about taking these kinds of tests seriously, as they give us as teachers very valuable information about students’ abilities.   The students put in a great effort this time around, and I was very happy with the results as a whole.

We talked about weather and that it is the state of the atmosphere.  We also learned that air moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure, and that this is what causes the wind.  We will be exploring weather this semester, and I’m looking forward to all of the great science we will get to do!

 

so tldr;

In math two problems done either way, or both, students’ choice:

456.27 ÷ 3 =

2394.8 ÷ 2 = 

In Language Arts, pages 63-66 in motivation reading.  The motivation reading books will be turned in for a GRADE on these pages tomorrow, as well as yesterday’s 67-68.  Make sure they are done well!

 

That’s all for today, have a good night!

-Mr. Potter