Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Enjoy the 4 1/2 days you have on break; you don't have homework.
If you want to keep your skills sharp, feel free to play some of the math games or watch a video here on the blog, but make sure you spend some of your time away from the computer and spend some quality time with your family.
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Today we went on a field trip to the Salem Maritime Museum and we boarded the Friendship. For some of us, it was our first time ever on a ship! We learned how important Salem was to this country in the 1700s. Most (98%) of the country's revenue (money) came from other countries that traded goods with people in our country, and most of the boats going to those other countries departed from Salem. Amazing! While on board the Friendship we emulated the crew members who worked hard hauling cargo by singing sea shanties as we hauled a load of cargo up to the ship. We also got to go below deck to see where the crew spent their free time and slept. When you have a "real world problem," or "math word problem," sometimes it's hard to know what to do with the numbers. You need to figure out if you add, multiply, subtract, or divide them. If there's more than 2 numbers in the problem, you also need to figure out which numbers to compute! That's when bar modeling can help. If a word problem tells you about two people with different amounts, the first step is to draw a little bar for the smaller number, and a bigger bar for the bigger number. Imagine a problem started out saying "If Tim had $1 and Kim had $2..." you can see that Tim has a smaller amount than Kim. Addition and Subtraction problems are here. Multiplication and Division problems are here. The top person has less. The bottom person has more. Once you've drawn these bars correctly, you can tell the difference. Just look at how much more the bottom person has. Of course the difference will be a smaller amount than the bigger bar. The difference can be found by subtracting, because subtracting gives you a smaller number. If Tim has $1 and Kim has $2, subtract to find the difference is $1. A problem might also tell you or ask you how much they have altogether. See how I'm indicating both? A bracket (the thing that is drawn like a mustache) shows both. The total amount they have together is going to be bigger than the bigger bar. Adding gives you a bigger number. So if Tim has $1 and Kim has $2, add them together to show that they have $3 altogether. Try it! If Noun1 has $20 and Noun2 has $50, what is the difference? How much do they have altogether?
For a GREAT website with interactive word problems, check out Math Playground! Addition and Subtraction problems are here. Multiplication and Division problems are here. For now, there is also a FREE iPad app for math word problems! Please let me know if you visit this link and they change their policy and charge money for the apps; I'll take the link down when this happens. Since so many of you enjoyed the multiplication videos and learned a lot from them, here are two more! Some kids asked me if I could make a long division video. I actually made some last year, so here are the links:
Level 1 and 2 division problems are here. You might decide you want to skip over the level 1 problem if it's easy for you and go to 3:15 for the level 2 problem. Level 3 and 4 division problems are here. I can't wait to see what you've learned on your math test tomorrow! Last month we learned how to estimate in long division, but this month we are working on finding exact answers. We practiced dividing hundreds, tens, and one dollar bills into "wallets." By "dealing them like cards" we made sure each wallet had the same amount, and then we counted how much was in each wallet. This week we've learned how to multiply a 2 digit number by another 2 digit number. One way to do this is to turn the problem into 2 smaller problems using expanded form.
Since the last video I made was so helpful (many of you watched it at home, as well as a few extra times in class) I made another one! If you get stuck on any of the steps in multiplying, this video will reteach you the process. Watch it as many times as you need to, and remember you can also ask a question in the comment section! I'll answer it in math class. Remember when you multiply a 2 digit number by another 2 digit number: you can expand the bottom number!
First multiply 38 by 2 tens. Ten times anything will give you a 0 in the ones place so we write a "cats eye zero" to remind us about the ones place. Then, multiply 38 times the 6 ones. Finally, add both your answers together to get the answer to 38 x 26. Can you tell what 35 x 20 is in the comments below? This month we talked about another way to build character, and that was to use manners. Manners are mostly things you say, but there are also some things you do to show respect. Here is a list of manners you thought of:
Can you remember a situation where you used your manners this week? I hope you learned a lot from the factors video. It was created by a teacher using Educreations. I liked it so much, I decided to make my own video using the same app!
In this video, I will show you how to multiply a 2 digit number by another 2 digit number, as long as one of the numbers ends in zero. You will hear my voice, although you won't see me. It will sort of look like I'm writing on a whiteboard (but you won't see my hand). Please leave a comment if you watch, and let me know if it's helpful or if you have a question. Do you need extra practice finding common factors of a pair of numbers? Check out this video!
Check out the first 2 minutes and 25 seconds. This part reviews how to find the common factors of 12 and 30 using the "t-chart" method. Today we had an artist (Neil Nichols) come to McCarthy to teach us about United States geography. Not only did he draw a map of the United States, he taught us where many capitals are, the year each state was founded, historic figures from each state, landforms, rivers, and natural resources from each place. Below is a video of a different artist drawing the United States. It's not Neil drawing or singing, but it's a similar idea! You'll learn all the state capitals, and some other facts about the states. Stories you read, especially works of fiction, each have a theme. The theme is the important part of life that the story is about.
Although stories have different themes from the ones you read when you were little and the ones you will read when you are older, in fourth grader there are basically 6 common themes:
Can you think of a story you have read this year that is all about acceptance? Answer in the comments below! Good story writers try as hard as they can to make their reader feel like they are a part of the story. One way to do this is to show, not just tell. In the example above, it would be boring if I wrote "The boy was scared. Really, very, so, so scared." Instead, I tell how the boy's face looked when he was afraid. I tell what his hands did and I tell what happened to his voice when he was petrified. It's more interesting this way. Another trick story tellers use is to think about the mood of the entire story. If you want a scary story you'll describe things differently from a carefree comedy.
Take a look at the different ways I can write "The boy went up the stairs." I change my verbs and descriptive details depending on the mood I want for my story. |