How to Play "Closest to 1000"

Here's a new math game that is easy to play at home.  All you need is a sheet of paper, a pencil, two dice, and a calculator.  Enjoy!

Update on Spelling City and Multiplication Wrestling

The video pretty much says it all!  The link to SpellingCity is below (your child's list will be one of the top five lists), and the prior post is the instructional for Multiplication Wrestling.  As always, please let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks!

http://www.spellingcity.com/mrbauer/

P.S.  When I recorded the video, the page's mirror image was showing.  Thus, simply ignore the "reverse" comments.

Multiplication Wrestling

Now that the kids have had a lot of exposure and practice with multiplying single-digit numbers and using area models for larger numbers, it's time to learn how to multiply multi-digit numbers efficiently (because let's face it...adding 312 + 312 + 312 + 312 + 312 + 312  simply takes too long!).

MULTIPLICATION WRESTLING!

Here's the instructional video:

To play at home, here's the link for the directions and recording sheet.  Good luck!

http://pierce.cr.k12.ia.us/classrooms/Grade4/Mr.%20Bauer/Everyday%20Mathematics/Unit%205/Multiplication%20Wrestling.pdf

New England Breakfast

Thanks to everyone who made the breakfast a huge success! We were able to enjoy pancakes and syrup, dried cranberries, blueberry muffins, and apple cider. The kids were stuffed by the end. What a perfect way to finish our first region of the United States!

This Week Before Thanksgiving

Math - Our next unit is focused on large numbers (more specifically, learning how to multiply multidigit numbers).  Through many formative (informal) assessments, I am aware of the students who need some extra practice with basic multiplication.  I will keep you posted and also send materials/websites home to practice throughout the year.  Additionally, I will be teaching a couple different ways to multiply multidigit numbers.  One is called the "Area Model".  From this, kids will have a great visual representation of what actually happens when multiplying large numbers.  

Area Models for Multiplication

After this understanding has been developed, we will explore the traditional method: 

Traditional Method of Multi-digit Multiplication

Reading - This is the last week for the novels Turtle in Paradise and The Young Man and the Sea.  Students will be using the highest level of Bloom's Taxonomy (Creation) to create their final projects.  On Thursday, we will also take our Unit 2 test, which checks comprehension, vocabulary, and text features.

Social Studies - We will move from the Northeast Region to the Southeastern Region for the next 4-5 weeks.  We will be exploring many concepts including traditions, populations, geography, and economy.  Again, if you have any artifacts/pictures from the Southeastern Region, feel free to send them to class!

Science - We have recently finished our Human Body unit.  Our next unit is Magnetism and Electricity.  For those looking for early shopping items, I HIGHLY recommend Snap Circuits.  I have this one (http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-SC-300-Snap-Circuits/dp/B0000683A4) in class for indoor recess, and kids have loved playing with it, seeing what they can build.  There are more advanced as well as simpler versions of this as well...and it certainly provides highly motivational engagement during the winter months!

Game Day and Khan Academy

So the news is spreading like wildfire!  About 18 kids have signed up for Khan Academy, and students are racking up knowledge (and points) during and outside of school hours!  To prep for our test tomorrow, students spent time playing decimal computer games (here!) and passing decimal exercises on Khan Academy (here!).

Khan Academy rocks!

Just as a notice, your child took home the Unit 4 pretest I use to differentiate lessons.  This has two purposes: 1.) to show the kids how much they have learned over the course of the past 2.5 weeks; 2.) to be used as a study guide.  Anything that can be done on that pretest will be easier on the post test.  Also, there is no need to return the Unit 4 pretest - it's for your child's use at home.

My Mule Named Sal...

As we conclude our study of the Northeastern Region, the kids have been exploring the purpose and usage of canals, locks, and dams.  After all, it sure beats going all the way up to the St. Lawrence River only to backtrack hundreds of miles on a rugged river.

To help emulate this, the following website is a place for the kids to build their own lock and control the water so a boat can safely travel along the river.  Simply click on the image below to be taken to this site.

A canal lock for smaller boats

I also found this video series of a girl making her own model of a canal lock.  Part 7 is posted below, but if you'd like to watch the others, simply check out her other 6 videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XETcPsq10c&feature=share&list=UL0XETcPsq10c



Last, of course, the infamous song with commentary: