Thursday, March 20, 2014

Thursday spelling test tomorrow

This morning after we learned about apostrophes, we went outside and wrote poems about nature.  We wrote an AABB poem with three stanzas.  It is a little tricky to balance the rhyming and the rhythm, but we are working on it and should soon get it.

In math we are still working on division.  We tried a new way today.  It is called hangman math.  It is similar to the standard algorithm, but gives a lot more room for wiggle.  For example, you write the problem out the same, but instead of putting answers on top, you put a complete place value answer on the side.  So if I was dividing 3 into 1815, I might say, well 3 won't divide into 1000, but it will divide into 1800 600 times.  I write the 600 just to the right of the 1815.  Then I multiply it out and under the 1815 I write the answer to 600 x 3 which is 1800.  Then I do the standard part and subtract.  This leaves me with 15.  How many 3s are in fifteen, 5.  I write the 5 under the 600 and multiply the 5 x 3 and see that I am at the end of my problem  I add the 600 and the 5 and that is my answer.  We have not tried it with remainders and I don't think we will be doing that this year.  The biggest difficulty is being fluent enough in our multiplication, that we recognize the answers.  But we will continue to work on that.

I did get to go to the Milton Creagh program last night.  He did an excellent job.  He talked about the ease of gangs getting into small towns.  He said this happens because of the music videos and tv shows that children watch.  He went to a tiny town in Alaska, and the young people were split up into gangs.  They had never seen gangs, but they had watched enough of it on music videos and television, that they knew all about them.  I will mention more of his lecture as I thought it was very good.

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