Week of September 15-19

Hello!  This week in math, we began Unit 2: Patterns and Estimation for Multi-Digit Multiplication. We spent a majority of the week working on multiplicative comparison problems.  Multiplicative comparisons focus on comparing two quantities (ex: Deb ran 5 miles.  Karen ran 5 times as many miles as Deb.  How many miles did Karen run?).  A simple way to remember this is, "How many times as much?" or "How many times as many?".  Your child learned the strategy of using a bar model to solve these types of problems.  Below you will see an example of a multiplicative comparison problem using a bar model to solve.  The students seemed to find that the bar model was a helpful tool when solving these types of problems.  If you would like more examples of these types of problems, you can click the Unit Flyers and Videos tab on top of the main blog page to access the Unit 2 video.  It has great examples of how the bar models are used.  I suggest challenging your child to look at the model below with you and asking them if they can tell you how many cards Meredith has and how many cards Ashley has?

We also discussed multiplying by multiples of 10, 100, and 1,000.  Students were given the following problems: 2 X 3, 2 x 30, 2 x 300, 2 x 3,000.  Students were asked to solve all four using multiple strategies as well as noting any patterns that they noticed among each problem.  Students already seemed to know the "trick" of simply counting the number of zeros and adding that to the end of their product (or answer).  However, very few students were able to understand why that works.  We had a very deep discussion of why that "trick" works.  The anchor chart below was very helpful for students to understand why that "trick" works.  For example, when multiplying 2 x 30, we have 2 groups of 30 or 2 groups of 3 tens which is a total of 6 tens or 60.

This week in science, we wrapped up our chapter of "What are some forms of energy?"  Students learned a lot about heat this week.  Below is a picture of a pair of students rubbing an eraser on a piece of paper. Students observed that the friction of the paper and eraser caused the heat of the paper to rise.  We also talked about how heat flows from warmer objects to cooler objects.  In addition, students studied poor conductors of heat and good conductors of heat.  Try to ask them to give you an example of each!  Students took their energy test on Friday.  Their scores will be sent home on their progress alerts on Monday. Have a great weekend!