Holiday Party!

What a fun holiday party we had!  Thank you so much for all of the donations and volunteers.  This fun day wouldn't have been possible without you all!! Here are some pictures that I was able to capture.  I know that Rachel G's mom took some great ones, so I will post those as soon as I can.  Happy Holidays to all!

The "Snowball Game" was a hit!  Students had to throw the marshmallow through the wreath into the bucket!

Ornament Station-

Thank you so much to Hector and Tyler's mom for helping our students make awesome ornaments!

Silver Bells Game-  This game was played like memory with hershey kisses. Students had to match the multiplication sentence with the product! Thank you to Devin's mom for running this station!

Ornament Challenge- Students had a blast with this game.  They had to work as a team in pairs to slide the ornaments onto the yard stick while it balanced on a gift wrapping tube!  Both of these teams did awesome!  Thanks to Makenzie's dad for doing a great job running this station!

Oh' Christmas Tree Game! - Students had a great time competing in this challenge of stacking the cups into a christmas tree shape. For an extra challenge, they had to take the tree down with one hand!  Thank you to Brice's mom for running this station!

Tree Treat Station!   Students used ice cream cones to decorate trees!  Thank you soooo much to Daisy, Sean, and Sarah's mom for helping with this station!  

Gift Box Challenge!-   Each student had 1 minute to get ornaments into the square using a gift box to guide the ornament!  Thank you to Mrs. Reynolds for running this station!

Hanukkah Station-  Thank you so much to Rachel F's mom for providing and running this station!  Students loved the dreidel game, eating the latkes, and learning more about Hanukkah!  

Nutcracker Game- This game was a challenge! Students had to slide the nuts onto the candy cane.  Thank you to Mr. Wood for assisting with this station!

Do You Want to Draw a Snowman?   Students had to draw a snowman on their head!!  FUN!

More fun!  At the Reindeer Games!  Our assistant principal, Mrs. Franks even made an appearance as  a penguin!

Unit 6: Comparing and Ordering Fractions

Unit 6: Comparing and Ordering Fractions

Comparing Fractions

Today's lesson was on using strategies to compare fractions. I was home today taking of my little girl. She is feeling better and I will be returning to school tomorrow. Since I wasn't at school today, I don't have actual pictures of the lesson in action, but I do want to share an overview of the lesson that I provided the substitute teacher with. The 2 strategies that students learned for comparing fractions were using benchmarks (such as 1/2) and rewriting the fractions using common denominators.

Ordering Fractions

Tomorrow's lesson will be focused on ordering fractions. I wanted to give you an overview of the lesson incase you would like to use it when you're helping your child with their unit review tomorrow night.

Tomorrow night students will bring home their unit 6 review to complete. Students will take the Unit 6 (Fraction Equivalence and Comparison) Test on Thursday. We will go over the review Thursday right before the test. Thank you so much for your help and support at home!

Unit 6: Equivalent Fractions using multiplication, Common Denominators, and Simplest Form

Using Multiplication to Find Equivalent Fractions

When we began this unit, students spent a lot of time using models to find equivalent fractions.( see previous post) Once students built their conceptual understanding of finding equivalent fractions through models, they were ready to learn a faster more efficient way of finding equivalent fractions. Throughout this lesson students learned that they could use multiplication to find equivalent fractions.

To begin the lesson, I posed this problem to the students. (Before telling them that they could use multiplication to find equivalent fractions.) I wanted them to find the connection on their own!

Students began by drawing models to show that 5/8 is equivalent to 10/16, so yes Paul has the right amount of peanuts. 

We used the online fraction tool seen below to explore what happens to the amount of parts when you change the fraction from 5/8 to 10/16. As you can see the 1st model shows 5/8. The whole is broken into 8 equal parts and 5 of them are shaded. When we change the model to represent 10/16, the total number of parts in the whole (the denominator) doubles/multiplies by 2. Because of this, the total number of parts that are shaded (the numerator) also doubles/multiplies by 2.

By using this model, students were able to make the connection that you can use multiplication to find equivalent fractions.

As a class, we came up with the rule below for using multiplication to find equivalent fractions. 

Then students played an "I Spy Game" to find equivalent fractions. They had to justify how they knew the pair of fractions were equivalent. For extra practice at home, I would use the picture below and ask your child to explain to you which fractions are equivalent or you could even play this game at home but make up new equivalent fraction pairs!

Next students solved the following word problem. I am trying to give them more practice with these types of questions where they can choose more than one correct answer. Some of the students seem to struggle with these types of questions on the unit tests.

Below is an example of a student using multiplication to find all of the fractions that are equivalent to 1/5.

Next we played a "Mix and Match Fraction Game". Each student had a fraction card and they had to walk around the room mixing and matching until they found another student that was their equivalent fraction pair. Students had to justify by using multiplication why or why not their fractions were equivalent.

As you can see these students were not equivalent fraction pairs and they had to explain to eachother why 8/16 and 4/6 we're not equivalent.

These students found their match! They had to explain how they knew 3/8 and 6/16 were equivalent.

Finding Common Denominators

For this lesson, students learned the strategy of finding common denominators for two fractions with unlike denominators. To find a common denominator, students must apply their skills that learned in the previous unit involving finding multiples and common multiples. This skill will also be important in the future when students are comparing, adding, and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. 

We began the lesson with following problem.

Students were given 2 post its to represent the 2 cakes in the problem.  Students folded the 1st post it in half to represent the cake cut in 1/2 size pieces. They folded the 2nd post in thirds to represent the cake cut in 1/3 size pieces.

After exploring, students found that they could split both cakes into six equal pieces. You can see how the student below split the models into six equal pieces.

We discussed that the cake could be cut into sixths because 6 is a common multiple of 2 and 3. We also talked about how the wholes are now broken in the same number of pieces and have a common denominator. I introduced the anchor chart below and we discussed the definition of common denominators and how we can use common multiples to find common denominators.

Next we did an activity that got the students up and walking around. They paired up and had to list all the common multiples of both numbers.

Students continued solving problems like the ones below to practice finding common denominators.

Examples of student work

Example of student work

Simplest Form

Our next lesson was writing fractions in simplest form. We began the lesson with following problem

The students solved and were able to explain that Lexi was correct because 2/6 and 1/3 are equivalent fractions. I then showed students the following anchor chart with the definition of simplest form and asked them which fraction was in simplest form ( 2/6 or 1/3). Students explained that 1/3 is in simplest form because it represents the same fraction using the fewest pieces possible .

We then discussed how we can use common factors and division to write fractions in simplest form. See chart below.

We practiced using common factors and division to simplify fractions by solving problems like the one below.

Example of student work

We then played a game called " To Simplify or Not To Simplify". The fractions below were taped around the room. Students rotated in groups to each fraction. They had to decide if the fraction could be simplified or if it was already simplified. If it could be simplified they had to simplify it. If it was already simplified they had to explain how they knew it was simplified. You can practice this game at home by showing the students the following fractions that we did in class or making up some of your own.