Mrs. Spence’s Class

That’s right, we have a countdown to the math TAKS test. It will be Tuesday, April 8, only a few days away. Here’s what you can do to prepare yourself:

*study your vocabulary words…look them over each evening

*review your past benchmark tests…can you still work those problems?

*read through your red math folders…do you remember making all those pages?

Studying a little each night will really help you to remember all that we’ve learned this year.

I’m not sure who’s more excited about Spring Break… it will be here very quickly…March 17-21. During this time off, it’s important to rest, but don’t forget anything you’ve learned so far this year! You’ve worked so very hard all year long, we don’t want to lose any information that is in your brain!

 What are your plans? Send me a reply!

Welcome parents, grandparents, and students to another wonderful week in Texas! That’s right, it’s Texas Public School’s Week. This is a special week set aside to showcase our schools, a chance to brag on all the amazing things that our students are learning.  We have it all here at DPE. Whether it’s academic or extra curricular, our children are our first priority. “Whatever It Takes!” is our motto and we mean it. We work diligently to help all our students become the best they can be. We have high expectations for all and we strive to help them meet their goals. Take a look around the school this week. You’ll see amazing things! Be sure to check out the following areas:

gym - activities that promote strong bodies

computer lab - latest technology available

cafeteria - fostering nutritious meals

library - showcasing a spectacular “Book Fair”

hallways - variety of student work displayed

classrooms - activities that promote strong minds

Here at DPE you’ll meet an exceptional staff - caring and loving. DPE is a great place to learn, play, and grow!

We concluded our metric study with mass. We discussed that the smallest measurement was a milligram with the mass of a grain of rice. Boy is that tiny! Using different objects around our classroom, our pan balances, and gram stackers, we discovered the mass of various things. What a great time we had! Most things measured in grams - some more than others. We used a small paper clip to remind us the mass of one gram and our math textbook as the mass of a kilogram.

What was your favorite object? What was the mass?

After our reading test, we had a bit of extra time to squeeze in a fun art project. And guess what?… It was also math! We used two different colors of construction paper, folded them, and drew half a face on the top sheet. Putting all sheets together, we cut out the half face and when we opened it up, we had a whole face. The fold made a perfect line of symmetry. Symmetry is having the same things on both sides - like a mirror reflection. Next, we cut half a nose and mouth from the top sheet, flipped it to the other side and made a reflection! Cutting out the eyes and eyebrows was a bit more difficult, however everyone took the challenge. The eyes and eyebrows showed translations - it’s like the shapes were slid across the face. Check out these creations!

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!