The following sites can be used to assist students in practicing multiplication tables:
http://www.mrsbogucki.com/aemes/resource/apps/madmath/madmath.htm
Zap the correct answer to guide your spaceship through the hole:
http://www.playkidsgames.com/games/Tunnel/multiplyFrame.htm
This one may be hard for students who do not have significantly fast skills, but is great fun for those who are well practiced (even I LOVED playing this game myself!) You have to answer the questions to move your rocket in different directions and avoid the astroids:
http://www.mathplayground.com/SpaceRacer_Multiplication.html
This one you can choose which table you want to practice. You must use the arrows on the keyboard to move your character at the bottom and use the space bar to shoot the balloons that has the correct answer to the question. If you get a question wrong, the balloons speed up.
http://www.mathplayground.com/balloon_invaders.html
Free printable worksheets: (these are GREAT to print out as a practice Timed Test at home!)
http://math.about.com/od/multiplication/ig/Times-Tables-Worksheets/
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Week of Sept. 28th - Oct. 1st
Fiesta Catracha:
Due to the fact that we have been absent from school so many days, all of the activities for Fiesta Catracha have been cancelled.
Book Report:
Our book report is due Oct. 5th, 2009. The format will be given in school and it will be completed in class.
Literacy:
Since we didn’t come to school Tuesday and Wednesday of the last week, all activities planned for those days related to Just a Dream have will be done until this week. Thursday and Friday of last week the students read City Green in class.
Read Aloud:
This week we will begin reading the story “Just a Dream”, by Chris Van Allsburg, we will focus on making inferences and predictions, and irregular verbs.
Read Aloud for fun! "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing", by Judy Blume.
Shared Reading:
Similes: We will be reading similes from the story City Green; we will focus on identifying and understanding the meaning of similes.
We will be reading the poem “Who Cares about Trees? “. We will focus on discussing poetry as a text structure:
1) Compare and contrast poetry to other text structures2) We will identify common features that we notice about poetry: stanzas, white spaces, creative punctuation, phrases units versus complete sentences, rhyme, etc.We will also make connections between the poem and the story “Just a Dream”.
Interactive Writing:
City Green: We will finish a Problem and Solution chart.
Just a Dream: We will be completing a Cause (different ways humans are harming the environment) and Effect (the consequences of our actions) chart based on what we read on Just a Dream.
Independent Writing:
City Green: Students will read and explain the meaning of similes.
Just a Dream: Students will be explaining some of Walter’s dream, explaining their cause and effect, and coming up with possible solutions.
Students will also participate in Guided Reading Groups and Centers.
New Word Wall Words:
edge, receive, believe, necessary
Math:
This week we have started the second of three sections of the place value and time unit. Section A was looking at place value. Section B is exploring comparing & ordering numbers as well as rounding numbers.
Thursday we will have our regular time test (this week based on 3s times table) followed by a Section B Quiz.
In our 4A community meeting this morning we identified the "problem of the week" was that students needed to better prepare for the Time Tests. Solutions to solve this problem included practicing for at least 10 minutes EVERY day.
Science:
We are currently doing interactive editing on the theme of "Water Mixes". Wednesday we will start the last of our formal lessons in the water unit - "Sink or Float" which should take us to the end of this week. Next week we will do some follow-up activities and then review for a test that I have yet to schedule but will most likely be at the end of next week. This test will include EVERYTHING that we have learned about water thus far. Students can start to review now using the handouts in their notebooks.
Due to the fact that we have been absent from school so many days, all of the activities for Fiesta Catracha have been cancelled.
Book Report:
Our book report is due Oct. 5th, 2009. The format will be given in school and it will be completed in class.
Literacy:
Since we didn’t come to school Tuesday and Wednesday of the last week, all activities planned for those days related to Just a Dream have will be done until this week. Thursday and Friday of last week the students read City Green in class.
Read Aloud:
This week we will begin reading the story “Just a Dream”, by Chris Van Allsburg, we will focus on making inferences and predictions, and irregular verbs.
Read Aloud for fun! "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing", by Judy Blume.
Shared Reading:
Similes: We will be reading similes from the story City Green; we will focus on identifying and understanding the meaning of similes.
We will be reading the poem “Who Cares about Trees? “. We will focus on discussing poetry as a text structure:
1) Compare and contrast poetry to other text structures2) We will identify common features that we notice about poetry: stanzas, white spaces, creative punctuation, phrases units versus complete sentences, rhyme, etc.We will also make connections between the poem and the story “Just a Dream”.
Interactive Writing:
City Green: We will finish a Problem and Solution chart.
Just a Dream: We will be completing a Cause (different ways humans are harming the environment) and Effect (the consequences of our actions) chart based on what we read on Just a Dream.
Independent Writing:
City Green: Students will read and explain the meaning of similes.
Just a Dream: Students will be explaining some of Walter’s dream, explaining their cause and effect, and coming up with possible solutions.
Students will also participate in Guided Reading Groups and Centers.
New Word Wall Words:
edge, receive, believe, necessary
Math:
This week we have started the second of three sections of the place value and time unit. Section A was looking at place value. Section B is exploring comparing & ordering numbers as well as rounding numbers.
Thursday we will have our regular time test (this week based on 3s times table) followed by a Section B Quiz.
In our 4A community meeting this morning we identified the "problem of the week" was that students needed to better prepare for the Time Tests. Solutions to solve this problem included practicing for at least 10 minutes EVERY day.
Science:
We are currently doing interactive editing on the theme of "Water Mixes". Wednesday we will start the last of our formal lessons in the water unit - "Sink or Float" which should take us to the end of this week. Next week we will do some follow-up activities and then review for a test that I have yet to schedule but will most likely be at the end of next week. This test will include EVERYTHING that we have learned about water thus far. Students can start to review now using the handouts in their notebooks.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Finishing Off This Week
This week has been a bit of a different situation with all of the things that have been going on. Here is a bit of an update, as to what is happening for the rest of the week:
Math: Students continued with our "One Grain of Rice" activity. Tomorrow will be the last day to work on it (as students have had a week) and then it will become homework. Monday will be the last day to hand in this assignment.
We did not have our time test today, as I wanted to give students warning and one more day to study. Tomorrow we will be covering the 2s and 3s times tables.
Science: We finished the Mixing Water Experiment and have started to write up the Scientific Method for this experiment. Students will have time tomorrow to finish this but if it is not completed, it too becomes homework and must be handed in on Monday at the latest.
Literacy: Ms. Leary is absent this week, and will return on Monday. In the meantime, Ms. Aguilar will be covering her classes. They will be covering lessons left by Ms. Leary. Homework should continue as normal with reading and completing daily journal entries.
Progress Reports: These went home today with many of the students. Please review with your child, sign the paper, and send it back. If you wish to set up an appointment with either of us, please call the office, or indicate on the form.
Math: Students continued with our "One Grain of Rice" activity. Tomorrow will be the last day to work on it (as students have had a week) and then it will become homework. Monday will be the last day to hand in this assignment.
We did not have our time test today, as I wanted to give students warning and one more day to study. Tomorrow we will be covering the 2s and 3s times tables.
Science: We finished the Mixing Water Experiment and have started to write up the Scientific Method for this experiment. Students will have time tomorrow to finish this but if it is not completed, it too becomes homework and must be handed in on Monday at the latest.
Literacy: Ms. Leary is absent this week, and will return on Monday. In the meantime, Ms. Aguilar will be covering her classes. They will be covering lessons left by Ms. Leary. Homework should continue as normal with reading and completing daily journal entries.
Progress Reports: These went home today with many of the students. Please review with your child, sign the paper, and send it back. If you wish to set up an appointment with either of us, please call the office, or indicate on the form.
Monday, September 21, 2009
IMPORTANT: Late start tomorrow!
Because of the recent curfew, school will be starting 2 hours behind schedule tomorrow. This means that buses will pick students up 2 hours after their scheduled times, and school will start at 9:30am tomorrow morning.
If anything changes, we will let you know.
If anything changes, we will let you know.
Week of Sept. 21st - Sept. 25th
Literacy:
Fiesta Catracha!
Before the break students started highlghting important/interesting information. This week and next week they will create posters and illustrate them. Oct. 9th we will have a degustacion de comda tipica in our classroom. Students should wear a traje tipico this day.
Book Report:
Our first book report was schedule for Sept. 7th, but we were on the break that day. I do not want to assign a book report on a book the children probably read a long time ago. Therefore, please make sure students are reading a new book. The next book report will be scheduled for Oct. 5th, 2009.
These days, we have begun again our daily activities after the break and are ready to continue working and learning! This is what we will be doing this week:
Read Aloud:
-We will finish reading a book we started reading last week “The Three Questions”, based on a story by Leo Tolstoy, written and illustrated by John J. Muth. We have focused on making prediction and using context clues.
-We will begin reading the story “Just a Dream”, by Chris Van Allsburg, we will focus on making inferences and predictions, and irregular verbs.
Shared Reading:
- An excerpt from “Three Questions”, we will focus on easy steps to using context clues:
1) Identify /highlight the unknown word
2) Identify /highlight the context clues
3) Come up with a synonym of the word that you think makes sense
4) Replace the unknown word with the synonym
5) Reread to find out if the synonym sounds right!
We will be reading the poem “Who Cares about Trees? “. We will focus on discussing poetry as a text structure:
1) Compare and contrast poetry to other text structures
2) We will identify common features that we have noticed about poetry: stanzas, white spaces, creative punctuation, phrases units versus complete sentences, rhyme, etc.
We will also make connections between the poem and the story “Just a Dream”.
Interactive Writing:
We will be completing a Cause (different ways humans are harming the environment) and Effect (the consequences of our actions) chart based on what we read on Just a Dream.
Independent Writing:
Students will be explaining some of Walter’s dream, explaining their cause and effect, and coming up with possible solutions.
New Word Wall Words:
couldn’t, doesn’t, finally, already, possible
Students will also participate in Independent Reading, Centers and Guided Reading groups.
We will continue to Read Aloud for fun: “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”!
Math: Last week we read a book called "One Grain of Rice" by Demi. We will be working on an assignment that will continue to use this book as our resource. We are doubling rice every day and then calculating the totals after 30 days. This is great practice for adding large numbers, as well as place value. This week we will also be testing place value. Please be sure that your child knows how to read and write numbers up to 100 million.
Please also review the 2 and 3 times tables, as this will be our timed test for Thursday morning.
Science: Today we conducted an experiment in the Science lab about mixing water. We will continue this experiment tomorrow and students will then have a short assignment following the Scientific Method (as discussed in class). We will then be doing interactive writing on this same topic.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Literacy Assignments to be completed from Sept. 4th - Sept. 16th
The days we are not going to be attending school students will be expected to read every day and to complete a journal entry after reading. Students have been explained that they will respond to a total of 12 entries between Sept. 4 and Sept. 17th (one a day). They should choose the 12 entries from the 3 lists given to them the first weeks of school. The lists are found in their journal noteboks. Posted on this blog are two of the lists too! Just scroll down and you will find them. Please follow the Journal Entry Rubric to make certain students do a good job when completing them. All entries should have the four parts: date, title of the book, question and response. The entries should be written with at least 4 meaningful sentences, should be descriptive, and presented in a neat way.
Additional Reading: This last week of school, students read two tales in class: "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters", and "The Three Litle Pigs and the Fox" . They shoul reread both stories at home (they are found in the Reading Textbook) to practice the reading strategies taught in class. Students took their Reading Textbooks home. A Reading Test about these two stories will be given to students the day they come back (Sept. 17th).
Students should also finish reading the book for the book report over these days. When they finish a book they should begin a new one.
Please use this time to read as much as possible. It is important that students continue reinforcing their reading and writing skills (through their journals).
Additional Reading: This last week of school, students read two tales in class: "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters", and "The Three Litle Pigs and the Fox" . They shoul reread both stories at home (they are found in the Reading Textbook) to practice the reading strategies taught in class. Students took their Reading Textbooks home. A Reading Test about these two stories will be given to students the day they come back (Sept. 17th).
Students should also finish reading the book for the book report over these days. When they finish a book they should begin a new one.
Please use this time to read as much as possible. It is important that students continue reinforcing their reading and writing skills (through their journals).
Friday, September 4, 2009
Time Off From School
Due the circumstances we are facing, we have decided to assign the students additional work during the time away from school, so as not to get really behind in our studies. The students have written down their homework in their assignment books but as a reminder, the following homework has been added for my classes (Ms. Willett):
Math: In addition to the page we did yesterday in class (Pg. 57, #7-18), please complete the math workbook pg. 16-18.
Read the blog posted just before this one about my concerns for the multiplication tables. Now you have LOTS of time to practice. I expect them to be better when we return.
Here is a link to an awesome website that I found that has lots of fun multiplication games to help you:
http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm
(The edgemoor tournament is fun!)
Science: Since many students received poor marks on the testing/assignments thus far in our Water Unit, I have assigned a written report. This report should be 2 pages in length and should cover the 3 lessons learned so far: The Amazing Molecule, The Water Cycle, and Water Clings. Please use the 3 sheets from that lesson, as well as the water cycle sheet given to you yesterday. One of you forgot these 2 new sheets in class, so you may have to use extra resources on the internet or photocopy from a friend. This assignment may be completed in your Science workbooks, or you may complete it on the computer. I do not want reports that are 3-5 pages in length, so please summarize only the most important information. Think about how we did the interactive editing in class; go through the pages and find the KEY WORDS. Write the keywords on a new page and create your own sentences around them. THIS shows true understanding of the concepts. Please DO NOT copy informationstraight from the pages or the internet. You may use the internet as a resource but not to copy. I will definitely be able to tell if the words in your report are not your own (or copied) and this will be reflected in your grade. Summarize, summarize, SUMMARIZE!
Class Meeting:
Quote: "To be a star you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest."
Share this quote with a family member. Tell them what it means to you and how you can apply it to your life in the future.
Never Forget: 4A is the best, and you know it's not a lie!
Math: In addition to the page we did yesterday in class (Pg. 57, #7-18), please complete the math workbook pg. 16-18.
Read the blog posted just before this one about my concerns for the multiplication tables. Now you have LOTS of time to practice. I expect them to be better when we return.
Here is a link to an awesome website that I found that has lots of fun multiplication games to help you:
http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm
(The edgemoor tournament is fun!)
Science: Since many students received poor marks on the testing/assignments thus far in our Water Unit, I have assigned a written report. This report should be 2 pages in length and should cover the 3 lessons learned so far: The Amazing Molecule, The Water Cycle, and Water Clings. Please use the 3 sheets from that lesson, as well as the water cycle sheet given to you yesterday. One of you forgot these 2 new sheets in class, so you may have to use extra resources on the internet or photocopy from a friend. This assignment may be completed in your Science workbooks, or you may complete it on the computer. I do not want reports that are 3-5 pages in length, so please summarize only the most important information. Think about how we did the interactive editing in class; go through the pages and find the KEY WORDS. Write the keywords on a new page and create your own sentences around them. THIS shows true understanding of the concepts. Please DO NOT copy informationstraight from the pages or the internet. You may use the internet as a resource but not to copy. I will definitely be able to tell if the words in your report are not your own (or copied) and this will be reflected in your grade. Summarize, summarize, SUMMARIZE!
Class Meeting:
Quote: "To be a star you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest."
Share this quote with a family member. Tell them what it means to you and how you can apply it to your life in the future.
Never Forget: 4A is the best, and you know it's not a lie!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Concern About Multiplication Tables
As stated previously, we will be completing timed tests every Thursday morning covering multiplication facts. This truly should be review, as this is something that is introduced in 2nd grade, then mastered in 3rd grade.
Our first test last week was with 0 and 1 as factors. Most students did very well on this test.
Today was our second timed test and was covering 2 as a factor. After 1 minute of working on this test, students were stopped. I took a look at the test and was very disappointed by the results. Most students received a B grade, as they got 9 or more incorrect answers or left the questions blank and did not complete them.
Quite a few students got stuck on the equation (2x12) and so they only completed a few questions. This is very concerning. If students cannot state their multiplication facts quickly enough, they are going to have a lot of trouble when we get to division.
I've decided to consider the test today as a practice. Tomorrow we will repeat the same test and I will take that mark as the final grade. Students have been told this and should be practicing their 2-times tables tonight.
My suggestion for the future is that students practice Monday-Wednesday in order to prepare for the test that week. Each week will get harder and harder as we increase the factors.
Next week we will be working on 2 and 3 as factors. Please practice these to prepare for next Thursday. Finding time to practice these can be simple. Suggestions: while driving somewhere in the car, while walking in the mall, while shopping in the supermarket, while preparing dinner, while walking the dog, etc. It doesn't have to be something that you do for 30 minutes while sitting, as long as it's something done every day for best results.
Thanks!
Ms. Willett
Our first test last week was with 0 and 1 as factors. Most students did very well on this test.
Today was our second timed test and was covering 2 as a factor. After 1 minute of working on this test, students were stopped. I took a look at the test and was very disappointed by the results. Most students received a B grade, as they got 9 or more incorrect answers or left the questions blank and did not complete them.
Quite a few students got stuck on the equation (2x12) and so they only completed a few questions. This is very concerning. If students cannot state their multiplication facts quickly enough, they are going to have a lot of trouble when we get to division.
I've decided to consider the test today as a practice. Tomorrow we will repeat the same test and I will take that mark as the final grade. Students have been told this and should be practicing their 2-times tables tonight.
My suggestion for the future is that students practice Monday-Wednesday in order to prepare for the test that week. Each week will get harder and harder as we increase the factors.
Next week we will be working on 2 and 3 as factors. Please practice these to prepare for next Thursday. Finding time to practice these can be simple. Suggestions: while driving somewhere in the car, while walking in the mall, while shopping in the supermarket, while preparing dinner, while walking the dog, etc. It doesn't have to be something that you do for 30 minutes while sitting, as long as it's something done every day for best results.
Thanks!
Ms. Willett
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