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Math
Grade 5 Math
For math class, we separated the grade 5s and 6s to focus more one grade specific expectations. I will be teaching grade 5s this year and Ms. Mehes will teach the grade 6s.
We will focus on a variety of math strategies to help students to grow in all 5 of the strands: Number Sense and Numeration, Measurement, Geometry and Spatial Sense, Patterning and Algebra and Data Management and Probability. Special emphasis will be placed on the Number Sense strand as we regularly practise mental math and working with numbers on a daily basis.
We will focus on a variety of math strategies to help students to grow in all 5 of the strands: Number Sense and Numeration, Measurement, Geometry and Spatial Sense, Patterning and Algebra and Data Management and Probability. Special emphasis will be placed on the Number Sense strand as we regularly practise mental math and working with numbers on a daily basis.
Fractions
In the beginning of May, we will start to look at fractions and emphasize the concept that a fraction expresses parts of a whole. We will use manipulatives and a number of investigations to look at different ways in which we use fractions in real life (chocolate bars and pizza, of course).
Later in the month we will look at mixed and improper fractions and also comparing fractions to decimals. |
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3D Shapes
We studied the differences between prisms and pyramids through a number of different hands on activities. For example, we drew and constructed nets, worked with shape manipulatives and drew 3D shapes with dot paper. It's also interesting to look at differnet 3D shapes that we see in the world like in the presentation below.
geometric-shape-buildings.ppt | |
File Size: | 3651 kb |
File Type: | ppt |
Measurement farm Project
As our culminating activity for area and perimeter, the students must create a farm with the following specifications:
- a barn with a perimeter of 36 units
- a paddock with a perimeter of 50 units that is a regular shape
- a paddock with a perimeter of 50 units that is an irregular shape
- a crop field that is 70 units
oldmclevecquerubric.docx | |
File Size: | 103 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Measurement
In grade 5, the emphasis in measurement will be on perimeter and area. The students will also need to understand how to convert units of measurement and we have been using the acronym King Henry Doesn't Usually Drink Chocolate Milk to remember the order of the units. See below for a page that explains the acronyms. There will also be smaller parts of the unit on elapsed time and temperature.
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Number Sense
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The students have spent the new year working with different strategies to estimate and calculate problems in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We have worked on mental math, lots of discussions about different ways to solve equations and ultimately, students are settling on ways to solve them that work for them.
In February we started working on multiplying and dividing decimals. Students should look for apps and programs or real life problems to help them practice these skills. |
Data management
We spent December collecting and analyzing data in charts and graphs. The culminating activity in this unit was a graphing project in which the students had to formulate a question and determine the best way to collect and display their data. The students were challenged to ask questions that would have real world applications and to focus on who their target population would be.
Patterning
We have been enjoying the exploration of patterns and the students have been working hard to solve challenging problems in class. We will have a quiz to finish this strand on Wednesday, November 16.
Ghost Whisperer Math Problem
After reminding the students about the importance of struggling with problems for brain growth, we spent math class on Halloween figuring out a difficult math problem. The students were surprised by how the Ghost Whisperer crystal ball seems to read minds when you do a simple math calculation. After leaving them stunned for a few minutes, I explained that it was not magic but a pattern. They struggled with it in small groups until the pattern emerged.
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Prodigy Math
On October 14, students logged into online Prodigy accounts for the first time. Prodigy is an engaging way for students to practice their skills. They love gaining points and doing battle with others in this wizard-themed program and I love that I can plan what math strands they work on. I have the ability to choose specific curriculum strands for the students to work on. Parents and teachers can log in to see how the students are doing and where they may need extra help. Parents would only have access to their own child's information. Students were given letters to bring home with their login information. Please see below for a copy of the letter.
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parent-letter.pdf | |
File Size: | 329 kb |
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NUmber Sense: Place Value
The students are doing really well in our unit on Place Value and are having little difficulty in pronouncing, writing and working with large numbers up to 100 000. They will continue to work on greater than and less than whole numbers before we start on decimals. The chart to the right helps students to visualize what place each digit represents and they are encouraged to use it throughout the unit. What I like best about the chart is that it is coloured so that students can easily remember to say the first part (pink) of the number together (ex. five hundred thirty-two thousand) before the blue part (ex. seven hundred seventy-five).
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Thanksgiving Ham Problem
We had a large family gathering for Thanksgiving and I agreed to pick up and cook the ham, which ended up being much bigger than I expected. I enlisted the help of the students to do real-life math along with me.
hamproblem.pdf | |
File Size: | 1445 kb |
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2D Geometry
We finished our unit on 2D geometry in early October. The students got plenty of practice with their protractors and rulers as we explored different shapes. The unit test went home to be signed on Friday, October 14. In the final assessment for the unit, I met with the students to discuss what they learned and took that into account along with their answers on the test. The Ministry of Education's assessment document, Growing Success encourages teachers to look at conversations with students and observations in addition to the product (like unit tests) when assessing students.
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Growth Mindset in Math
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Jo Boaler is an expert at teaching math at Stanford University and she believes that the most important factor in a student's ability to learn math is the belief that he or she can do it. Growth Mindset means showing the students that "I can't do this" needs to be replaced with "I can't do this yet." We will spend several classes in September working on developing this attitude in math and I will be using many activities from Jo Boaler's web site, specifically her two weeks of inspiring math.
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Number Talks
We are starting the year with some of the mental math strategies that author Sherry Parrish developed called Number Talks. These strategies will be a review for some students whose teachers have done Number Talks with them before. Other students are adept at mental math and will not find these strategies useful but it is a good starting point to help develop skills and confidence in the students. Please see the document below for a summary of the main strategies.
Week of Inspiring Math
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We are watching Jo Boaler's videos in her series called "Week of Inspiring Math" and practising her techniques. On Day 1, she talked about neuroplasticity and how we can change our brains the more we work them.
On Day 2 we talked about how using visuals and math problems can help us to better strengthen our math brains. We did the following problem: |
Geometry
After working on some introductory Number Sense, we have moved on to Geometry. We have been pulling out the protractors and rulers as we study classifying 2 dimensional shapes in grade 5 math. First, we have been studying triangles and how to classify them by angles and then by side length. We will next be looking at other regular 2-dimensional shapes.
I encourage you to talk about triangles at home and think of all of the places you see triangles in the real world. What's so important about triangles?
I encourage you to talk about triangles at home and think of all of the places you see triangles in the real world. What's so important about triangles?
Hockey Card Problem
My son, Sam is eager to collect all of the Tim Horton's hockey cards that he possibly can. I thought that they were too expensive at $2.25 per pack of 3 cards (without a drink purchase) compared to other hockey cards. I decided to bring the problem to the students so they could help me to convince Sam that he is wasting his money.
hockeycardproblem.pdf | |
File Size: | 8784 kb |
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