Today students were tasked to synthesize their knowledge by using information from past experiments to make predictions about the outcomes of hypothetical scenarios. This can be one of the hardest tasks for students: applying what they have learned in the past to novel situations. But it is precisely these process-oriented skills that we want students to walk away with. We're getting there! Tomorrow we take a break for the Marshmallow Challenge and then on to Lifeboat experiments with Mrs. Arbour! (Don't worry, it's just a simulation, they won't need life jackets :)
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Today we continued our discussion of the Distributive Property and started Lesson 7, workbook pages 119-120. Students are off to a great start with this strategy. Keep practicing those math facts everyone!!
For a closer look at this, and other lessons, don't forget you can log on to the Math website by going to : My Math https://connected.mcgraw-hill.com/connected/login.do This is a link to the online textbook. Here students have access to their entire eBook, so if they forget to bring home a homework page, they can download and print one from this site and still turn it in on time! The login is your child’s first name - last name and their password is the capital letter A plus their lunch number. For example, my login would be lindsay-ely and my password would be A12345. (When you sign in for the first time you will have to add the text book to your child’s account. Click “Add”, then enter the redemption code: TG6H-F4O6-FTWQ) Today students got a taste of what it's like to be the teacher! Teacher volunteers led (with some gentle coaching by me) the class through some exercises using partial products and the distributive property. The Learning Objectives for the next two Lessons (6 & 7) are to "Explore multiplication by using area models" and "Use the Distributive Property to multiply mentally." We rounded things out with a lively game of Kahoot!, testing our skills with powers and exponents.
Today in Math we did some whole class review of powers and exponents, prime factorization and powers of ten. I then handed back students’ quizzes from last week with my feedback and allowed students to ask questions and make revisions accordingly- a "retake" if you will, after some additional teaching.
Today we finished the last graphing exercise of our pendulum experiments: length of pendulum. Visual representations of data give us another perspective in terms of discovering relationships between variables and making predictions. Our graphs illustrate that the length of the arm of the pendulum seems to be the only variable that affects the period. To further investigate and confirm this, students used the Explorer Learning Gizmos App on the iPads to discover the properties and measure the period of a pendulum. Students also designed controlled experiments to determine the effect of length, mass, starting angle and gravity on the period. Students will then apply their knowledge to create a pendulum clock that will tell time accurately.
Today we practiced graphing skills. Some students claimed this seemed more like Math class than Science, go figure how the two overlap! :) Students practiced labeling the x and y-axes of their graphs with either the independent or dependent variables. Then they practiced plotting their two coordinates to create a graphic representation of their data. Finally, we aggregated the classroom data and will use these graphs to confirm or disconfirm the conclusions we made during the pendulum experiments and to help us make hypotheses about the future behavior of pendulums.
Stuff the Bus is an annual student council run food drive that CEMS does each year. We will be collecting non-perishable food items from now until November, 19. The winning homerooms in each grade will win a pizza party for their class and the Arbour/Ely's REALLY want to win. Send in those cans! Thank you in advance :)
Today we had an in-class review for the Quiz on Lessons 1, 3, 4, 5. Students completed whole class, small group and individual exercises tailored to their learning needs. All Lessons can be accessed via the online textbook and most students have some takeaway materials from today that they can work on to study. The study materials are not graded but meant to help them prepare for the quiz. I will also be allowing students to study for the quiz during W.I.N. Here is a quick slideshow we used to review some key terms: |
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April 2020
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