Mrs. Spence’s Class

We’ll it’s the last day of February and that means we had another calendar month full of learning! This month, we focused on geometry and 3D (three dimensional) figures -figures that have a length, a width, and a height. We discussed the attributes of 6 shapes: cones, spheres, rectangular prisms, cubes, cylinders, and square pyramids. Their attributes included their faces, vertices, and edges. With these shapes, we were also able to find patterns on the calendar. They were in diagonals and in various multiples. Using the calendar numbers on the shape pieces, we found the least common multiples (LCM) and the great common factors (GCF).

We continued our count of school days and today we were at 1.13. How is that written in word form? Send a comment.

This month also focused on customary measurement. We covered length with a “giant inch”, marking off each section from sixteenths, eighths, fourths, halves, and finally the entire inch. We were able to see equivalent fractions, such at 4/8 = 1/2.

What is an equivalent fraction for 12/16? Send a comment.

We also covered capacity. Using a gallon divided into cups, pints, and quarts, we were able to discover which measurements were equivalent. For example, we could plainly see that two cups were equivalent to one pint. We even took it a step further by finding the smallest unit, a fluid ounce.

What is equivalent to 1 quart? Send a comment.

We also worked with weight. Using Play-Dough, we formed ounce pieces for each day on the calendar. When we reached day 16, we had one pound. Our scale said so! Using graph paper, we tracked our progress and were able to make fractions up to a pound. After day sixteen, we could make improper fractions like 1 4/16.

Do you know the definition of an improper fraction? Send me a comment.

Today was a very special day, February 29. It only comes around once every four years. Each year, the earth loses approx. 6 hours in the revolution around the sun. So after four years, we’ve lost 24 hours. Twenty-four hours makes a day, and that day needs to be made up. Today is that extra day!

Do you know how many hours in a day? Days in a week? Weeks in a year? Days in a year? Send a comment.

Today we continued our study on metric measurement. Using a pipette, water, and a measuring cup, we just spent some time discovering with water and our measuring tools. Most people filled up the measuring cup, milliliter by milliliter. Others poured water into their cup and read the measurements. Others were just fascinated with the pipette and how much water it could hold…all in a days work!

1 milliliter - about a drop of water

1 Liter - 1000 milliliter

Today we spent most of our time finding things to measure. We measured with the smallest measurement, millimeter. We found little things like the width of a pencil lead. We then used a little bit larger unit, the centimeter. For this unit we measured larger things like erasers. We moved to the next larger unit, decimeter. We used our booklet we completed yesterday to remind ourselves that a decimeter is 10 cm. With this unit we measured larger items like the computer monitor. Finally, we used our meter stick and measuring tapes to measure a meter. Reminding ourselves again, we remembered that a meter is 100 cm. The chalkboard was a long item to use to measure with meters and I think the back door was exactly one meter! For kilometer, we just wrote what we could measure - like from our house to the school.

Here are the units in order from least to greatest:

millimeter (mm)

centimeter (cm)

decimeter (dm)

meter (m)

kilometer (km)

Hm…what do all these words have in common?

Today we made a step book about metric measurements. It was a neat way to put paper together that is so useful! We were able to make a title page and main ideas of our work. (You’re welcome Mrs. Galvan for the mini reading lesson!!:)

We reviewed that when measuring metric length, you use meters. It can range from the smallest length (millimeters) to the largest (kilometers). We also discussed which tools could be used to measure length: rulers, tape measures, even string!

***Can you name all of the metric measurements for length from the smallest to the largest?

Next, we reviewed capacity which is measured in liters. We demonstrated how small a milliliter is (a drop of water) and developed quite a list of tools that are used in measuring capacity. Mrs. James has helped us learn all those containers by the awesome investigations we conduct in the Science Lab. Just to name a few: graduated cylinders, beakers, and flasks.

***Can you name the metric measurement for capacity that is 1000 mL?

We then moved to mass. It is measured in grams. We discussed that the smallest unit is a milligram (about the mass of a grain of rice) and a gram is about the mass of small paper clip. Again, using our Science Lab investigations and the Outdoor Learning Center activities, we remembered that one tool to measure mass is a triple beam balance.

***Can you name the largest metric measurement of mass? What did we discuss would be an example of this mass?

Finally, we reviewed temperature and its metric measurement. The tool we drew was a thermometer and then marked off various temperatures. Our room temperature was approximately 30 degrees Celsius.

***What is the metric temperature in which water freezes? Water boils?

Our step book was a great way to organize the information for metric measurement. Other ideas were to use this type of book for recipes, address/emails of friends, vocabulary words/definitions, and even layers of the earth! Any other ideas?

Benchmark, what a funny word - but it’s really a great tool for all concerned. They are marks in learning, hopefully showing progress.

We’ve just finished our last (3rd) math benchmark and I’m very proud of my students. We’ve discussed and calculated raw scores (the number of items correct.) Some students are working for passing (30 out of 44), some for commended (40 out of 44), and some are working for a perfect score (44 out of 44). And boy are they all working - they look like little bees buzzing about…some working by themselves, some in groups of 2, some in larger groups - but all are working! Yea!…a teacher’s dream - involved students, excited about math!

A big THANK YOU to our wonderful PTO! Our homeroom class had the most children order Domino’s pizza so we were treated to our very own pizza party today for lunch! It was delicious. And since it was such a great day, we decided to have a picnic lunch.

So, if we have 22 students and each student got two pieces of pizza, how many pieces did we eat?

Want a challenge?

IF each pizza was cut into 8 pieces, how pizzas did we need for everyone to have their two slices?

Send me a reply with your answers…I have stickers!

The past few days we’ve been practicing our math skills on paper in testing format. Here are the main points:

* write out all information

* use your strategies (Giant G, 3 rule, multiplication helps, etc.)

* while reading the word problems…”get the movie going in your head”…

* put on your “blinders” to distractions

* use your Math Chart

* THINK

It sound simple, but just following these simple steps will help you when testing.

Tomorrow we’ll be in the computer lab learning something new. Wednesday we’ll review our benchmark 1 and 2. Then Thursday is our LAST MATH BENCHMARK. I’m excited to see what all you’ve learned from the last benchmark. The next step will be the official TAKS math test. We’re almost there!

Yes - we were able to make a connection to the word Valentine and use it in our probablity lesson today. How…?

Well, we took hearts with a letter on each and put them in a bag. We predicted how many draws from the bag it would take until we pulled all the letters in the word “VALENTINE”. Some guesses were a little low, some were a little high, and some were just right. And that’s OK! We had to justify why we made our prediction and some people just guessed. And that’s OK too! It’s a great strategy to use when you check to see if you were right or not. From our predictions, we found the range of our numbers. We wondered where our particular number would fall…

Many students were able to explain that since there were 9 letters, it might take 2 to 3 times for each letter drawn to actually be able to spell out our word. As it turned out, each class had an average of 23 draws to complete their word. Then we checked which letters were pulled most often. Hm…I wonder why most groups pulled “E’s” and “N’s”?

Send me a reply if you know!

Our day ended on a “sweet” note…ahhh…chocolate! Our party was really fun! Thanks to our Homeroom Mothers we had cookies and punch after a long day of learning!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

There are three different kinds of transformations:

translations, rotations, and reflections

Using a trapezoid, we drew out these transformations. Notice the arrows that show the direction that shape moved. Also notice the vertex in rotation and the mirror in a reflection. It helps to remember these simple moves.

We also did our transformation “dance”.

We SLID…for our translations and we TURNED…for our rotations.

How do you find the equivalent fraction? There are two strategies: cross multiply or divide.

 For example:

If you have the fraction 4/8, you can divide both the numerator and denominator by the same number to simplify it. Do you know what you would divide by? Do you know what the simplified fraction would be?

Send me your answer!

Here’s another example:

Is 4/8 equal to 2/3? Cross multiply them to find out What do you think?

Send me your answer!