No Updates

No updates today--it's Adolescent Issues Forum!

Homework

THe kids may have one or two things for homework.  One is a decimal ordering sheet and the other is a decimal "Maze."  Ask them about it :)

It's all due on Thursday, when we have our next class (because of Adolescent Issues Forum).

Hypatia and getting ourselves "in order" :)

Today we heard a story about our first female mathematician: Hypatia. Ask your kids about her :)

Then we worked on putting a bunch of decimals in order, from smallest to largest--together. Imagine your children, me, a TA, and tons of sticky-notes covered with decimals. We had so much fun we're going to have to finish tomorrow when we meet at the beginning of class.

No homework tonight!

A Note on Email Updates

You will notice a new box on each of the blogs--"Subscribe to get email updates"--or something to that effect. If you enter your email in that little box, click the button, enter a code, reply to an email they send you, you SHOULD get an email update once a day (between 3-5p) if there are updates to the blog -- which there will be.

This is just one more way to (hopefully!) make your life easier! (And reduce reminder emails from me :) )

You can also keep checking the blog--since they will only send out one email per day.

Onward!

Comparing Decimals

Most, well all really, of today was spent practicing using symbols to compare decimals (mainly <>).  They kids did great!

Ah, I almost forgot!  We also worked on fractions for our warm-up.  Some folks still need a tune-up on finding common denominators!

War!!

During break today we registered for Adolescent Issues Form Workshops, which pushed into third period about 15 minutes.

So with our shortened time together, we played war (you remember that old card game) -- but with decimals and place value!  Man--they were into it!  And what was even more awesome were the conversations they were having: "Uh huh!  Six tenths IS bigger than fifteen hundredths!"

It was great :)  NO homework!

Bigger or Smaller?

Today we really jumped into comparing decimals using the symbols: <, >, and =. We've spent a few days comparing things likes 0.9 and 0.90 -- and what makes 0.09 different.

But today we connected the dot. And we did so using pictures. Which, by the way, is exactly what they have for homework. They need to finish the front and back of the first page of the decimal squares packet I gave them.

Enjoy!

Archimedes

Today I took up the kiddos homework and then we read about Archimedes: The Man Who Concentrated Too Hard.  Ask them about some of the things he's known for.  :)

Check your blogs and even newer technology!

Hi all!

You may have realized that you haven't gotten many reminder emails
from me in awhile! I'm experimenting with laying off the emails--to
see if you'll check your child's class blog. :)

You may notice, when you check your blog that you'll see a new little green window up there in the right corner under a title "Audio Updates from Matthew." I have discovered a website called gcast.com that will let you phone in a podcast and stores your files for free. Podcasts are those things you've heard about in iTunes. Now, you could go and "subscribe" to this, but for now, just know that every day I'm going to phone in a message about homework for all of my morning classes and post it online on the blogs. If you click on the Play Button, it will play the latest message -- but it will keep playing the old messages as well. If you click on the "Posts" button, you'll see the list of podcasts I've made so far. (The two earlier ones are just test messages.)

We'll see about the future of these podcasts. Maybe we'll link it up through iTunes so yall can listen to me on your iPod! Ha!

Just another way to help keep you informed. :) Have a great weekend!

HW

I do want them to finish their boardwork over the weekend -- it will be due Tuesday.

(Look for a piece of notebook paper, numbered 1-25.)

Couldn't Settle Down

The original plan for today involved working in groups to learn more about decimals through decimal squares.  Unfortunately we didn't get that far.

Everyone had too much trouble settling-in to class and after multiple attempts to introduce the activity, I gave up and we worked quietly at our seats on place value and writing the word form of a list of decimals I gave them.

I hope next week we'll be able to revisit the decimal squares!

For more information, see http://www.decimalsquares.com/

Delay

As of 6:07, we are on a 2-Hour Delay. School begins at 10:30a.

Pythagoras!

Yesterday being Monday, we spent most of our time reading another story about a famous mathematician: Pythagoras.  The title of the story was "The Teacher Who Paid His Student."  This sure made their ears perk up!

We only got part-way through the story, so we'll be finishing that up today -- plus more work on place value (more on that later).

More Place Value

You'll see "Place Value" all over this blog for the next little while.  In Math 5, our focus is on place value.  Today they finished the other side of what they had for homework today, as well as started off with a dividing warm-up problem!  (The dividing warm-up problem took us quite awhile...)

They next big thing for us is to practice saying and writing all of those decimals -- and using our knowledge of place value.  Next week will be big!

Reading & Writing Decimals

We spent our time today solely on place value.  All kids had their place values filled out for class and we played some games where kids got to come up to the board and identify place values AND some even had to read the decimals.

For example, I wrote 43.98 on the board and had them read it.  (It should be read: "Forty-three and ninety-eight hundredths")

Tonight's homework is called "Decimal Place Value" and they should complete #s 1-12.  Some kids even finished up early!

Decimals!

Welcome to the beginning of decimals!

Today we took some final notes on Thales, filled out a reflection on the Fraction unit, and started our work with decimals. :)  I'm excited--and I hope the kids are as well (although I get the feeling that decimals might not be their favorite topic!).

They had an itty-bitty bit of homework: I gave them a number to three decimal places and I want them to find out what the names of those decimal places are.  I picked a random number, so I'm going to use another one for right now.

Take 243.769 -- the 7 is in the tenths place, the 6 is in the hundredths place, and the 9 is in the thousandths place.  That's what I'm looking for.

I told them as I'll tell you now--I don't care where the answer comes from!  (Hopefully they'll get creative :) )

Hope all is well!

Cleaning & Reading

Today we went as scheduled and cleaned out our folders and filed them away for a rainy day. :)

I also took up the kids test corrections.  Before I go to sleep this evening you will get your child's feedback.  I promise.  I think.  No really, I promise!

The main event of today was Thales.  Who is Thales, you ask!?  Ask your child!

On every Monday from now on we devote a large portion of classtime to reading about the history of some famous mathematicians and scientists.  It's somewhat of a tradition.  :)  I use the text Mathematicians Are People, Too! and it does a really good job of giving a brief introduction to the person, and talking through (in relative terms) the mathematical discoveries that person is known for.  Often, the stories are even humorous.

So, today was Thales.  Ask your child about the pyramids, olives, and donkeys and see if they can remember what we talked about.  We also talked about what "BC" and "BCE" (in reference to years) and "circa" means.

Tomorrow will begin our study of decimals.  Look for some homework.  And next Monday, be on the lookout for more information on our next mathematician!!

Welcome Back!

Hey all!

Welcome back and welcome to 2008!  I know it's going to be GREAT :)  (I love rhyming!)

Today we spent time reorienting ourselves.  The BIG event of today was getting their Fractions test back.  Overall, I was quite pleased with their work.  You'll be getting emails of feedback soon (hopefully later this evening).  (It's the same feedback the kids got.)

Tonight's homework is to #1 - Get ready to clean out and sort our folders for tomorrow and #2 - Finish Test Corrections.  (Prepping the folder is more about just making sure only math stuff is in there and its easily able to be pulled out, sorted and put into a file folder.)

Tomorrow/Wednesday will officially begin our next unit: Decimals!  Check out the math curriculum website for more information (it's also what I've given out at parent functions).

Tomorrow will also include a story... but more on that tomorrow! :)