Math Test Thursday, November 17th

Next Thursday we will have a math test that will cover everything we have learned in our Place Value unit. To study, please use the review sheets that I sent home with students today. If you cannot find them, click here.

Another great way to study is to have students log into the Hapara workspace and review the videos and activities there. Some are quite challenging, but beneficial.

Please review the materials with your child. We will be reviewing throughout the week before our test on Thursday. The review sheet is due on Wednesday, and we will take up the sheet together. Students can bring it home Wednesday evening if they wish to study some more.

Test for Biodiversity

On Thursday, November 17th, we will be having our first science test for Biodiversity. Throughout this unit, students have done a number of inquiries to learn about what makes a living thing, the importance of Biodiversity and how to classify plants and animals. We have read over some study notes and played some Kahoot games to practice our learning and review. Here is the link to the study notes that you can review with your child to study for the test this week. The links to the Kahoot games we played are at the bottom. Try playing these games with your child to review the concepts as well!

Biodiversity Study notes

Long Division

Over the next few days we will be learning how to divide large numbers. Specifically, we will be learning how to perform long division, which is often very challenging for students because of the many steps involved in the process.

There are two things that affect a students ability to do long division:

1. Knowledge of basic multiplication facts - I cannot emphasize enough how important basic facts are for children to understand a variety of math concepts, and this is another one. In order to perform long division, students need to be able to use multiplication facts to figure out at least two of the four steps. I highly encourage students to work on Xtramath as much as possible!
2. Having a systematic process - having a checklist-type system to follow helps students see and perform each step. 

Here is the system that I use to teach students how to do long division. This example is what would be expected at a grade 5 level. 

In this system, we use the acronym "Da Monkey Sells Bananas" to remember the steps of Divide, Multiply, Subtract and Bring down.

For grade 6, students are expected to be able to divide a 4-digit number by a 2-digit number. To help students understand how to do this, we watched a video from Khan Academy. I highly recommend this website for review of concepts and extra practice. Here is the video we watched in class:

Here is another video from Khan Academy that might also be helpful:

To practice we used the practice problem in Khan Academy, and we did some problems step by step together on the smartboard. This continues to be a challenging concept for many students, so we will be doing questions over the next few weeks to review.

Of course, there are other methods, such as the "flexible" method of long division, which I will also teach in class. Here is an example of the flexible method (Taken from Effective Guide to Instruction- Ontario Ministry of Education Document for Division):

Interviews for Progress Reports Tomorrow

Just a reminder that progress report interviews are tomorrow, Thursday, November 9. If you are interested in meeting with me to discuss your child's progress, please book an interview. I would love to have an opportunity to talk with you! I you would like an interview, you can book online using this link:

You Can Book Me

I look forward to meeting with you tomorrow. If you are unable to attend, please know that I am able to discuss your child's progress at any time by phone, or on another day for a scheduled interview.

Multiplying Whole numbers and Decimals

Today in math we began learning about multiplication. We started with a problem involving rates in which students had to figure out the cheapest store at which to buy dog food. They needed to use their understanding of addition and multiplication to solve these problems. Tomorrow we will extend this problem to 72 cans to see if there is a difference in the cheapest store. Then we will learn a few ways to multiply, both with and without decimals. Here are three common ways to multiply:

1) Break apart method (partial products); 198 x 23

• 8 x 3 = 24
• 90 x 3 = 270
• 100 x 3 = 300
• 8 x 20 = 160
• 90 x 20 = 1800
• 100 x 20 = 2000
• added together 2000 + 1800 + 160 + 300 + 270 + 24 = 4554

2) Lattice multiplication: Click here for video explaining

3) Standard method: Here

I encourage students to use whichever method works for them, but to be aware that there is more than one way to multiply. When they do EQAO, the focus is not so much on being able to multiply, but rather being able to solve problems involving multiplication, including multi-step problems that combine concepts from a variety of strands (eg. number sense and measurement). This is something we will be practicing a lot this year. 

After multiplying, we will be learning how to divide larger numbers, again with or without decimals. I will post later about our process for division. 

Learning about Decimals!

This week, we are beginning to learn about decimals. We have already learned about where decimals fit in our place value charts, and what a decimal is (another way to represent a fraction). We also have learned about comparing and ordering decimals. Below is a beginning Blendspace unit that covers the basics of decimals. It only shows decimals to the hundredths. In grade 6, we learn decimals up to the thousandths. This is a great place to start however, and reviewing this unit with your child can greatly assist them in developing their understanding of decimals.

In our unit on Decimals, we will be covering:

• relationship between fractions and decimals
• comparing and ordering decimals
• rounding decimal numbers
• adding and subtracting decimals
• multiplying and dividing decimals
• multiplying and dividing decimals by 10, 100, 100 and 0.1, 0.01, 0.001 (mental math)

Here is the link to the Blendspace unit on decimals. I will be adding to it as we go along:

Decimals Blendspace Unit

United Way Spirit Week October 31 - November 4