Hello all,

I’m very sorry that I missed updating on Monday.  I’ve been a tad under the weather lately, and I ended up sleeping instead of doing many other things.  apologies!

 

This morning we talked a LOT about some of the properties of division that can help us when performing difficult division problems.  In particular, we talked about how we can solve division problems where our divisor is a decimal.

Essentially, when we are dividing there are some neat properties that we can use to help us make difficult problems much simpler.

For example, all of these problems will give me the same answer:
6 ÷ 2 =
(6 x 3) ÷ (2 x 3) =
(6 x 10) ÷ (2 x 10) =
(6 x 7) ÷ (2 x 7) =
Each problem will give me an answer of three.
This means we can take some division problems that might look difficult, and make them easier by multiplying our dividend and our divisor by some number.

The students tonight have a set of problems to do utilizing these properties.  A bit more of an explanation and an example or on the worksheet as well.

Nov11MathHomework

In Language Arts we spent some time talking about our reasoning for our answers to last night’s homework, and the students got to debate their answers against each other to come up with an answer key.  It’s amazing how fervidly students will talk about their evidence when their grades are on the line!

Tonight, students have a very short passage to read and 4 simple questions to answer WITH REASONING!  These are on page 228 of their motivation reading books.

They also have a word ladder that they should have received on Monday while I was out.  This should be completed and turned in by tomorrow as well.

Nov11WordLadder

In science we went outside and took a final look at our poor, poor, dead or dying plants.  They did their best for us, and provided us with some delicious vegetables.  They will be missed.

We talked about taking all of our data and graphing the growth of our plants.  Students each picked a plant to graph, and they listed all of their data points, as well as their range for the y axis.  We will graph all of these tomorrow hopefully, and then see if we can find more data on the weather for the time period, and try to find correlations between growth and other things.

Finally, we watched some animations about the landing on Comet 67P this afternoon.  It is really neat stuff.  Maybe tomorrow we can find some good video or pictures of the actual landing itself.

 

ok, so tl;dr

One worksheet dividing by decimals

Nov11MathHomework

One page in Motivation reading – P 228

On word ladder

Nov11WordLadder

And as always, reading log!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

 

Carnival!

 

Tonight is the Fall Carnival!  Join us from 6-7:30 to have some good food, and hang out.  There will be games to play all over the campus including in our classroom, and prizes to be won!

 

We finally had a semi-normal schedule today.

We talked more about finding the area of unusually shaped objects, and what is really going on with that whole division thing.

Tonight students have two problems to do, one division problem, and one area problem.  They should take their time with both of these and make sure they really understand how they came to their answers.  The quiz we take on this tomorrow will not ask them to find an answer.  It will ask them about the PROCESS of finding an answer.  They have already been warned!

Nov5MathHomework

 

In Language Arts we had a talk about our classroom library.  We have had some students leaving books out or not putting them back where they belong, so we revisited how our library is organized, and then shelved some new books I had gotten.  There were lots of good new ones, and hopefully the majority of students found something new and neat to read.

After that we did some rotations, where we talked about the digestive system in reading groups, did activities on Lexia, and worked on a short passage on the digestive system.

Tonight students should finish their work on the digestive system packet.  They should read the passage and annotate it.  On the back of the second page they should write what they believe to be the main idea, backed up by 3 details from the passage.  Finally there are some short questions to answer.

Where Does Food Go Passage_2_550

WhereDoesFoodGoQuestions

In science we finally got around to starting our mini-aquariums.  Students cut up coke bottles, put gravel in them, filled them with water, and then we put some purifying drops in them.  We’ll wait overnight for the water to normalize at room temperature and for the drops to do their work.  Tomorrow we’ll see if we can put some fishies and stuff in them.  It should be fun!

 

also please remember that tomorrow is an early release!

 

so, tl;dr

2 math problems

MathHomeworkNov6

passage, annotations, main idea and details, and questions answered!

Where Does Food Go Passage_2_550

WhereDoesFoodGoQuestions

 

 

come on out to Fall Carnival tonight!

 

-Mr. Potter

I forgot to do something yesterday, so I’m doing it now!

In The Mysterious Benedict Society book that we are currently reading, there is a riddle that we figured out as a class yesterday.  The students insisted I put it on the website to see if their parents could figure it out as well, so here it is:

Looking for something? Open me!
I’m sure that your something inside of me lies
Of course you can always find hope in me
though despair must come first; and later, surprise
what’s sought, though depends on the seeker –
one looks for bobbin; the other, for beaker;
Others, for nature; still others, for nurture –
the quarry will vary from searcher to searcher
and yet (I suspect this will strike you as strange),
my contents are set and will not ever change.
If you still cannot guess what I mean, here’s a clue
The answer – what I mean – is inside of me, too

So did you figure it out?  If not, ask your student!

 

Today we had a bit of a crazy backwards day, and we have VERY little homework because of it.

We did some quick review of division and the standard algorithm, but it seems most of our students are doing pretty well with this now.  We introduced the idea of a repeating, never ending problem, and how we can solve that, and represent our answers.

Next we talked about finding the area of non-standard objects.  We are pretty good with finding the area of simple things like rectangles and now triangles, but if we put a bunch of shapes together, how do we find the area of those?

We can break most objects down into triangles and rectangles, and find their respective areas, and then add them up.   It’s very similar in fact, to the way that we break down numbers into their parts, find their products, and then add up the partial products using the distributive property of multiplication over addition.  Neat how all of math is connected, isn’t it?

Tonight the students have two division problems, and two area problems to do.  They have copied down these problems and shapes on a piece of paper.  For the shapes they should find the area of each shape, by breaking them into smaller, manageable pieces.  They shouldn’t worry about the perimeter, as we haven’t talked about finding sides of a triangle yet.

Nov5MathHomework

 

We did some typing of our Goldilocks stories, and students decided how they are going to split them up into multiple pages, and what pictures they would like to put on each page.

 

After this, we had an officer form the Knightdale Police department come and talk to us about drug and alcohol abuse.  Our kids had some really great questions and made some very good connections to these things, and Officer Guthrie put on a really great presentation for the children.  Please if you get a chance ask your child about this today and what kind of impressions they got/things they learned.

 

Finally, we took some quick notes on the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems.  The students will have a LOT of vocabulary this quarter to learn, so looking back at their science journals from time to time would be a good idea.

 

And then before we knew it, we were out of time!

 

so, tl;dr

Just 2 division problems and 2 area problems to do tonight for homework:

Nov5MathHomework

And as always, read for 30 minutes and get reading log signed!

 

remember our fall carnival is tomorrow evening from 6-7:30.  Come out and have some shaved ice, a hot dog, get your face painted, and play some games!

 

Friday is early release!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

Oh nooooooooo!!!

Our plants have met with a most unfortunate frost incident 🙁

 

We went out today to find many of our plants had died.  We knew this was coming, but it was still a bit of a shock for some.  We picked most of what was left on the plants, and we will set the tomatoes aside for a day or two and see if they ripen.

As for the bunch of tiny cucumbers, we’ll see if we can make some pickles!

 

Math was again focused on the standard algorithm for division.  We had a good talk about how it is important to understand what is going on with the algorithm, as opposed to simply memorizing the algorithm.  Memorization without understanding is essentially pointless.  Many students still don’t believe me yet, but they will!

 

Tonight students again have some division problems to do.  We had 3 problems and also an example that we did together.

256.8  ÷ 4

743.6 ÷ 5

94.2 ÷ 3

654.2 ÷ 4   (our example)     Nov4Example

It is very important that students be thinking/saying what is going on as they step through each problem.  For instance, in our example I would expect students to say something like:

Alright I have 6 hundreds to split 4 ways.  I can put 1 in each of four groups.  I’ve given out/put 4 hundreds in each group, now I have 2 left over.  I’m going to turn my 2 leftover hundreds into tens.  I’ll get 20 tens, and I had 5 before so now I have 25 tens to split 4 ways……

 

In Language Arts we talked about main idea and supporting details.  We had taken a short assessment on this, and the results were slightly less than stellar.  The main idea and details beatings will continue until morale (or test scores) improve!

Tonight students have 2 short passages where they are required to identify main idea and supporting details.  The first we did together as an example.  For the second, they should follow the same outline as the first: they should identify the main idea and at least 3 supporting details below the passage.  Then the second passage has a few comprehension questions to answer about (surprise!) main idea!

First passage (example)

Nov4PlanetsMainIdea

Second passage (to be done as the first, and then answer questions)

Marathon Kids Passage

Marathon Kids Question Sheet

 

In Science we talked about the respiratory system.  I am very sad that my wife (who is a science teacher)  gave away her set of plastic pig lungs the last time I moved.  I will have to find a new set of life-like lungs to help the kids really visualize what is going on in our bodies.

I think this Thursday we’ll see if we can make a little model of the lungs and diaphragm to help us with this.

 

so, tl;dr

4 math problems:

256.8  ÷ 4

743.6 ÷ 5

94.2 ÷ 3

654.2 ÷ 4   (our example)   Nov4Example

two main idea passages:

Nov4PlanetsMainIdea

Marathon Kids Passage

Marathon Kids Question Sheet

 

 

Also, please remember Thursday is our Fall Carnival! Come out and play some games and have a good time from 6-7:30 pm!

 

Friday is also early release!  we’re done at 12:30!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

Vegetables!

So this was our harvest from Friday, and today we washed them, chopped them, and gobbled them right up!

 

Besides that, we had a rather uneventful day.

 

We started with a trip to the computer lab, where we double checked all of our passwords and wrote them down in our agendas.  Over track-out many of us had forgotten our passwords, so that was something that needed to be fixed quickly.

Next most of us got to finish typing out our Goldilocks stories.  Many people have completely changed their story, and some are quite……..violent 😛

Not sure about that one.

 

In math we talked about the algorithm we use for division.  We have spent a good amount of time doing this with play money, and in centers and in pairs.  Today we talked about doing it strictly on paper using the long division algorithm.  For homework tonight students have three problems to do, using this algorithm.

376.24  ÷  2

15.15  ÷  3

24.60  ÷  4

 

In language Arts we read a short piece on how energy is acquired and used by plants and animals.  This is partly review from the first quarter, and partly introduction to the human body system we will be working on this week.

Tonight students should finish the questions that went along with their energy selection, and also finish the questions that went with their selection from Friday on laughter.  If they used their time wisely Friday and today, they should have very little of them left.

 

 

so, tl;dr

3 math problems using the division algorithm

376.24  ÷  2

15.15  ÷  3

24.60  ÷  4

laughter reading and questions

energy reading and questions

 

read for 30 minutes!

 

Also, this Thursday is our FALL CARNIVAL from 6 – 7:30 pm!! Students today took home an envelope with four free game tickets.  It’s a fun night at Lockhart where we will have games, food, prizes, and other neat things to do.  If you and your family can make it, we’d love to see you!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter

Today was a GREAT day.

The students did a wonderful job meeting expectations today.  Our lines were great, we had just one calling out problem the entire day, and in general everyone was hard at work when they were supposed to be hard at work.  It really was fantastic.

We are doing a lot with area lately, and are starting to move away from simple rectangles.  This ends up often-times turning into a sort of puzzle as we think about how to calculate area and find different sides of objects.  Tonight students have a short worksheet dealing with these types of problems.

Missing_Sides_Area_Oct30

In Language Arts we read some Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey.  We reached an interesting part where Reynie and Mr. B have a conversation about the nature of people, and whether people are inherently wicked.  It sparked some thinking, and tonight students have a response to complete in their writing journals.  They should tell me whether they agree with Reynie:

Reynie:  Most people are wicked

Or with Mr. B:

Mr. B: Wickedness stands out more than goodness.  Therefore most people are good, but you don’t notice it.

 

They should tell me which viewpoint they agree with and why.  It seemed that most students realized this was a thinking question, and that their reasoning should reflect some thought.  It goes without saying then, that I expect this to be more than two sentences.

 

In our reading groups, we read an interesting non-fiction piece about the health effects of laughter, and how it can affect the cardiovascular system.  It really surprised many of our students.

 

Finally we watched some quick interactive videos on the cardiovascular system, and got to see a real-live heart beating.  I might have timed this poorly as many students may have been finishing up their snacks as I switched over to this video.  Oh well!

 

so, tl;dr

math worksheet on area/perimeter

Missing_Sides_Area_Oct30

one writing journal response: do you agree with Reynie or Mr. B on the wickedness of people?

 

Have a good one!

 

-Mr. Potter

Today was a bit of a roller coaster

We had an absolutely amazing morning, where we got 6 paws in the hallway just on our way to Science.  Then on the way back, however, we had to practice walking in straight, quiet lines.

 

We did very well during math centers, and we got to talk quite a bit about area, and how we can find missing sides of a rectangle given area or perimeter, and one side.

For homework tonight, students have but a single problem.  I expect it to be done perfectly:

Please draw a rectangle with the following properties:

One side equal to 5cm, and a total perimeter of 60 cm

 

In Language Arts we read a short text about hiccups, where we talked about genre, and point of view.  We had a very lively discussion about whether the text was written in first, second, or third person point of view.  We didn’t even come to a consensus by the end of the discussion.  Many students had very valid points for their belief that the text was written in first or second person.  How about you?  What do you think?

Hiccups_Oct29

For homework tonight, students should finish this short packet, answering the questions with reasoning.  They should also finish questions 9-14 on pages 124 and 125 in their Motivation Reading books.

 

In Science, we finally finished discussing the cardiovascular system in small groups.  Many students had really good questions about how blood, arteries, veins, and your heart work together, and why they are moving about in the first place.

 

I had promised the students some quiet reading time, so after that we quickly measured our plants, and then took a vote on what we will do for our celebration of earning our Gold medal (We earned our first jewel today by the way!).  We are a tad behind with celebrations, so we’ll try to get a few done in the next few weeks!

The students ultimately decided upon extra recess, so we’ll have a super-long recess period on Friday!

 

so, tl;dr

One math problem:

Please draw a rectangle with the following properties:

One side equal to 5cm, and a total perimeter of 60 cm

 

finish Hiccup packet

Hiccups_Oct29

Questions 8-14 on pages 123/124 of their motivation math books

 

and as always, read for 35 minutes!

 

Also a quick reminder about parent teacher conferences.  Many people have already signed up, and I look forward to talking with you in the upcoming days!  If the spots fill up completely I will add more, and please remember that if none of those times work for you, I am here most days at 6:30 and stay until around 5pm, so if there is a time that works for you, simply let me know and I’ll figure something out.

 

Have a good one!

 

-Mr. Potter

I was told this morning by a student that I “stink at handing things out”.  They are completely correct, and I apologize!  The end of the day is usually so hectic with trying to get everything done, that handing stuff out becomes a last minute event.  I’ll try to get better at this!

 

We started off our day going over the handout from yesterday, in fact.  Many students need a review of area and perimeter, which was evidenced from yesterday’s homework.  We spent a good bit of time going over it, and talking about the relationship between area, perimeter, and multiplication.  Tonight they should FIX their homework from last night, as they will be turning it in for a grade tomorrow.  They also have a new very short and quick sheet dealing with factoring and area.

Area_FactoringOct28

 

In Language Arts we talked more about making good annotations in texts which we read.  Many students are able to explain that the purpose of this is to slow down our reading and improve our reading comprehension.  However, not all are truly stopping and thinking, and instead are simply putting down something to get ‘done’.  I had many students re-do this assignment from yesterday.

Tonight they are going to re-read a selection they have already read (p 119-122 in motivation reading) and annotate as they read.  They should then answer some questions about the passage they read on page 123 and 124, numbers 1-8.

In science we began talking about the cardiovascular system in small groups.  We only got to half of the students today, and I’m hoping we can finish up the second half tomorrow.  As such, we won’t have any homework in science today.

Our plants are really coming along.  It blows my mind every day that they are still going strong.  We have a TON of cucumbers, a good amount of tomatoes, a few carrots, and two of our corn stalks are beginning to husk.  Can you believe it?  Next we have to do some research to find out when it’s alright for us to start picking things.

 

 

so, tl;dr

One new set of problems on area/factoring

Area_FactoringOct28

fix worksheet from yesterday, have it ready to turn in for a grade

Read pages 119-122 in motivation reading, annotating as you go.

Answer questions 1-8 on page 123 and 124, WITH REASONING

and as always, read for 35 minutes and get your reading log signed

 

Have a good one!

 

-Mr. Potter

 

busy busy busy!

We had a very long morning due to the PLT schedule.  We started off with a short review of perimeter and area, and students took some quick notes:

PerimArea

We then spent some time talking about how to determine perimeter, area, and the length of sides given certain attributes of a rectangle.

We did this using little square unit tiles, and the students took those home tonight to help them with their homework.  Their homework tonight is fairly straightforward.  They are to find all of the possible rectangles they can make with the given attributes, and then answer some questions about them.  It is very important that they double check their work using the tiles, and that they read the worksheet very carefully to ensure they are answering all of the questions asked.

AreaPerimeter

In Science we talked a little bit about muscles and bones, and the musculoskeletal system.  We made some movements and felt our muscles in an attempt to discern how they were really working.  Finally we watched some videos to confirm what we had thought was going on.  We determined that muscles only pull, not push, and that what we thought was a push was really just the muscles relaxing.  So for our body parts to move in a direction, they must be pulled by skeletal muscles in that direction.

 

We then took a look at our Goldilocks stories, and did some typing in the computer lab.  Students are now free to begin brainstorming how they will end their story.  What happens after they go to sleep in the bed is completely up to them.

 

To end the day, we talked about using annotations to help us understand a passage.  We discussed how our goal when reading is to best comprehend what we read, and the best way to do that is to actively think about what we are reading.  We then came up with four different annotations we can make to ensure active reading:

We can underline or circle words we don’t know, and make inferences as to their meaning

We can write short summaries of what we have read in a section or paragraph

We can make personal or academic connections to what we read

We can ask questions about what we read

Tonight, students have an article to read about the original 13 colonies, and annotate as they read.  They have been told they should have at least one annotation per section, chosen from the above four.  They should be doing their best to think about what they read, and not just plow along until they hit the last period on the page.

13_colonies

 

so, tl;dr

one math worksheet dealing with area, perimeter, and side measurements of rectangles

AreaPerimeter

read and annotate the following article

13_colonies

Students also received a good amount of correspondence in their Monday folders.  Please take a look.  Also included is a Conference Letter.  I have a sign-up page set up here.  If those times don’t work or you have other concerns please send me a note, an e-mail, or a call.

 

Have a good one!

 

-Mr. Potter

It’s Thursday already.  Jeeeeeez

This morning we finished up some notes on multiplication and division.  We talked at length about how they are the inverse of each other, and the vocabulary used with both.

Then we started talking about how to find the factors of a number.  We know that a factor times a factor gives us a product.  So a factor is one of two numbers that when multiplied, will give us our original number.

a (factor)  x   b (factor)   =    c (product)

 

So for instance, the factors of 12 are…..

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12

because….

1 x 12 = 12

2 x 6 = 12

3 x 4 = 12

 

We then went on to talk about common factors.  In this case we are given two numbers, and we are trying to find all of the factors that the two numbers have in COMMON.

So if we were given the numbers 4 and 10, the common factors would be 1 and 2 only.  This is because these are the only two factors that 4 and 10 have in common.  We can see this by making a list of each number’s factors.

Factors of 4: 1, 2, 4

Factors of 10: 1, 2, 5, 10

Tonight for homework, students have a list of 10 pairs of numbers.  They should find the common factors for each pair.  They are:

1. 7 and 24
2. 16 and 48
3. 32 and 64
4. 11 and 95
5. 27 and 35
6. 58 and 20
7. 100 and 10
8. 36 and 48
9. 2 and 3568
10. 12 and 1,456,374

Number 9 and 10 are thinking problems!  Don’t kill yourself making it more difficult than it is.  For example in number 9, the only two factors of 2 are 1 and 2, so the only POSSIBLE common factors for 2 and 3568 are 1 and 2.  So you just have to check them with 3568……

 

In Language Arts we talked more about our Goldilocks stories.  The students did a MUCH better job coming up with “why I did it”s last night, and we started re-writing our stories using these ideas.

Tonight students should finish their re-write up until the point where they fall asleep.  They are WELCOME to make changes to the story to fit with their new ideas, and I look forward to reading these this weekend!

 

Finally, we went outside and we have TONS of new growth.  It is fantastic.  I asked students to “pick one of your vegetables to start measuring its growth!”, and one student only heard the “pick one of your vegetables”, so we had a bit of a pre-mature picking of a cucumber.  That was fine though, because we chopped that little thing into 24 little pieces, and we all got our first little taste of our garden.  It was great!

 

 

so, tl;dr

10 common factor problems

1. 7 and 24
2. 16 and 48
3. 32 and 64
4. 11 and 95
5. 27 and 35
6. 58 and 20
7. 100 and 10
8. 36 and 48
9. 2 and 3568
10. 12 and 1,456,374

 

re-write goldilocks story using new ideas and motive for breaking and entering!

cucumbers are delicious!

 

Have a good one,

 

-Mr. Potter