Thursday, October 14, 2010

End of the First Quarter

Hello all,
I know it has been a while since my last post, but better late than never. I want to let you know how proud I am of all of your children. We have made a great deal of progress since the beginning of the year and I predict great things for your children in the future. We have been working on both or terrariums and data analysis this week. The kids seem to really be enjoying the football math activity we have started doing each week. Here are some of the skills that are being introduced and reinforced through Football Math:
* Reading and following directions
* Multiplying (decimals, two-digit factors, basic facts)
* Dividing (with remainders, long division, repeated subtraction)
* Percents
* Addition
* Averages
As you can see, Football Math does a lot of great things for the students mathematical development. Your child may struggle at first, but the more they are exposed to these skills the more fluent they will become. I have added a couple of new websites to the Math Links that may help your child practice their facts and other skills. One such website is KidsNumbers. Caroline Cherry told me about this site today and there is a great section that helps with long division. I believe it is called Snorks on Division of something to that effect. Also, there is the Free Rice site. It is a way for students to help work on math while helping out the hungry.
I hope that everyone enjoys a great long weekend with your children. Take care.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

ANSWERS TO A40 - A51 questions

Hello all,
I am really sorry, but I thought the substitute on Tuesday went over the correct answers. Here they are:

Note: You do not have to have the exact, word for word answer as long as the idea is the same.

1. nonliving and living
2. community
3. LOTS OF POSSIBLE ANSWERS - starfish, fish, whale, manta ray, frog, lily pad, etc.
4. soil, water, and sunlight
5. a) eat up all the food or water/build homes, etc.
5. b) birds eat harmful insects/people build preserves/plants help with erosion
6. Mild forest lands - Mild winters and summers. Plenty of rain or snow. Trees lose their leaves in winter.
7. a) green
7. b) LOTS OF POSSIBLE ANSWERS - Any plant would work here
8. Carbon Dioxide, Water, Light/Sun's energy
9. a) chloroplasts
9. b) chlorophyll
10. A living thing that eats to get its own food.
11. LOTS OF POSSIBLE ANSWERS - Lion, zebra / Bear, fish
12. It eats first level consumers
13. plant/producer
14. mold
15. a) carnivore
15. b) herbivore
15. c) omnivore