Holy smokes! It takes me sitting down at my personal computer at 8:00 at night, but I finally feel like I have a few minutes to truly update you on what's been going on in the classroom! To start with, here's our homework board for this last week:
Things have seriously been moving! We've completed our second unit in math, and hopefully they know everything they'll need to know about decimals: adding, subtracting, multiplying dividing, comparing, ordering, etc. We also learned about some new techniques for greatest common factor (GCF) and least common multiple (LCM). I'm not going to lie. I, as a teacher, learned a new way to teach a few things this year that really excited me. Hopefully my excitement passed onto the children. Let me give you an example. For instance, let's take the fraction 18/24. Using what we referred to as the cake method, we can find the GCF and LCM of those two numbers, and simplest form of that fraction, all in the same calculations. Take a look at picture below. The numbers to the left are common factors (numbers that will evenly divide into both numbers). When you multiply all of the common factors together, you get the GCF. The two numbers across the bottom are the fraction in simplest form (3/4). Multiply the GCF by those two numbers and you have the LCM!
I knew the cake method before this year, but it wasn't until this year that I realized the power of it! As I previously said, I just hope my excitement over my learning translated to the kids and their learning.
The other really exciting thing I have to share is math related as well. A while back I told you about our PEMDAS Music Video! Well, here it is, fresh for your debut!
I'm so proud of the kids for how well they did during the filming of this. I may have conceptualized the video, but the song is original, and the acting and singing is all them!
All in all, things are really just moving. The end of the first term is just around the corner! Some things, I've already started moving assignments to second term. Math and language will end the term with the tests we just took. anything knew we do won't appear until I can start putting grades in for fourth term. Spelling will end after the tests this week and science will pretty much continue until the last day. As for the other rotations, I think they should stop collecting first term assignments here soon. The official end of the term is November 7. The estimated date for report cards to come home is November 19. I'll keep you posted if that changes, but keep an eye out around that time frame!
That's pretty much all I have. I feel much better having updated more than just the homework board this week! Things are going great here. We'll live, laugh and learn and before we know it, sixth grade will be over!
"Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm." ~ Robert Schumann
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