Week 8 with no tests!

Dear Parents,

Congratulations! I understand most of your students were able to get into RM and work last night. I did get a few messages saying there were issues, and I believe I have the solution. If your student's Guided Study building is closed, be sure to have them check the Office, which is the building directly to the right of the Guided Study building. They most likely have a few problems to complete in the Office. When they are done, they can go into Guided Study.

I mentioned in my last blog post that students should not go beyond the lesson “Equations” in Guided Study. For their weekend homework and for the coming week, they may work in Equations. They should not go beyond the lesson, “Properties of Multiplication.” They may complete it, but they should not go beyond it. If they do complete it, they should go to Wall of Mastery.

I am not sure if I mentioned this last week, but online homework is part of your students' grades. I have records on my end to tell me how much time they have completed, and I will be logging and entering their time online into my grade book. They will receive full credit for completing the full 20 minutes, half credit for completing 10-19 minutes, and no credit for completing less than half the time online. (If students are not getting at least 10 minutes online in Guided Study, they will get very little productive work done because Guided Study always starts with a 5 minute warm-up.) Their time does not start being recorded until after they are logged in, so if you are using a timer to monitor, please don't start it until they are logged in. Also, if the internet stops, or the program kicks them out, or any other technical disruption occurs, that time does not get recorded on the record that I see, so please pause any timers until they are logged back in.

Next week, we are starting multiplication, and we will be working on multiplication facts. We are going to be doing multiplication facts a little differently than addition and subtraction facts. Students are going to start by studying their multiplication flashcards each night, preferably with a parent or an older student. I will send the students home with a multiplication log each week to record how many times they practiced their facts. (They should go through them at least twice each night.) Please sign and date the log to confirm they have practiced their facts. At the end of the week, students will turn the log into the math fact bin, and I will include it as part of their grade based on how many times they have completed their facts.

We are going to start by practicing our two, five, and ten times tables. I have instructed the students to separate their multiplication flashcards into groups for each fact, but since facts do overlap, it is probably best if they separate the twos , fives and tens they need for the coming week into a pile single separate from the rest of the flashcards. Multiplication flashcards were on the list of supplies students were to bring to school on the first day. Most of you should have them, but if not, please get some this weekend. You can usually find them at Walmart.

I understand that practicing multiplication facts with your student is potentially time consuming, and I thank you for your support in this area. Math facts are crucial to math success, and multiplication facts are especially important. Students who have memorized their multiplication facts can easily perform column multiplication and division. They are set up for success with equivalent fractions and fraction conversion. Students who do not know their facts struggle in all these areas because all of areas require multiplication.

While it might be less time-consuming to have students fill out worksheets of multiplication facts, in my experience worksheets are ineffective in this area until students have had some multiplication fact practice. It is not as easy for students to try to figure out a multiplication fact they don’t know as it is for them to figure out an addition or subtraction fact they don’t know. If they do try to figure out an unknown multiplication fact by successive adding, they are more likely to be wrong. Naturally, practicing wrong answers would defeat the purpose of the facts, so it is best if they have supervised practice at first. We will eventually move into worksheets for multiplication fact practice after they have had plenty of supervised flash card practice.

In science this week we will continue our investigation of atoms and begin working more directly on electricity. We will be discussing some electricity basics like charges and states, and we will also learn about static electricity. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to do a lab experiment on static electricity as well.

There are no tests in either math or science this week.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. Please send me a message through Jupiter Ed with any questions, comments, or concerns you have.

Sincerely,



Miss Wycklendt

Week 7 and Math Test

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all well. This coming week we have some exciting things going on in both math and science.

In math, we will be transition to the portion of our curriculum where students have online homework in the RM system. I have received many questions from parents and students about when this would occur, so I gather this is a much-anticipated event. Students will be expected to log into the same RM accounts they use at school on computers at home and work for 20 minutes each night in the “Guided Study” portion of the curriculum. I will send more specific directions on how this is to be accomplished on Monday.

 If your students has absolutely no way of accessing the program at home (i.e., you do not own a computer, or you are not able to afford internet) please let me or Mrs. Washburn know ASAP so we can make arrangements for your scholar to complete their homework. In the past, some families have had success with using the RM program on a smart phone or iPad, so that could be an option at home as well.

Each week there will be a point in the curriculum BEYOND WHICH STUDENTS SHOULD NOT GO. We love it when students are enthusiastic for math, but if they get too far ahead of the full class instruction they often end up confused. As a result, they get less out of the online lesson than they would have if they had waited. When students are ahead, we ask them to work in Wall of Mastery, which is another portion of the curriculum where they can work on harder problems similar to the ones they have done already. I will explain how parents can check what lesson their student is on in the directions sent out on Monday.

This coming week, students should not go beyond the lesson “Equations.” They may complete it, but they should not go beyond it.

In science, we are transitioning to our study of atoms and states of matter (i.e., solid, liquid, gas). We do not intend to teach a thorough chemistry course in fourth grade. (They will have one in fifth grade.) Rather, we are studying atoms and states of matter because they are involved in a number of the other branches of science we teach in fourth grade, such as electricity and geology.

The definition of atom that we give students will be, “An atom is the smallest part of matter.” Now, there is some qualification to that definition; an atom is the smallest part of matter that can exist for the matter to still be the same kind of thing. For example, an atom of hydrogen is the smallest part of hydrogen; you can split that atom, but you will no longer have hydrogen. You will have disconnected ions and an explosion! We will be discussing this qualification in class, but we do not want to put it in the formal definition we give the students because too many words can be confusing.

Regarding our recent science work on graphs, I was in error when I told students line graphs had to start from 0 even if the first point is not at zero.  This was not something we discussed in class, but it was something for which I took half a point off on a number of homework assignments. Of course, half a point will not make much difference to most students’ grades, but if you would like me to fix it, have your students bring back any mismarked papers, and I will correct the grade in my gradebook.

One more thing: We have a math test coming up this Friday. The main focus of the test will be column addition and subtraction and addition and word problems. I will write a quick study guide and post it beneath my signature on this post. When I have done this, I will send a quick message through Jupiter Ed so you will know to look for it.

These are all the notes I have for you this week! If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt 

Column Addition and Subtraction Test Study Guide

1.       Students should be able to identify the parts of an addition problem. The numbers being added are called summands, and the answer to the addition is the sum. (For example, in the problem 4 + 5 =9, 4 and 5 are summands and 9 is their sum.

2.       Students should be able to identify parts of a subtraction problem. The greatest number and the one from which we subtract is called the minuend. The numbering being taken away/subtracted is called the subtrahend. The answer to the subtraction problem is called the difference. (For example, in the problem 250 – 70 = 180, 250 is the minuend because it is the greatest number and therefore the number form which we must subtract. 70 is the subtrahend because it is being subtracted/taken away. 180 is the difference because the answer to the subtraction problem is 180.)

3.       Students should be able to correctly identify parts of addition and subtraction problems even when the answer is given first (as in 56 = 60 - 4 or 450 = 50 + 400). They should also be able to identify parts of addition and subtraction problems when those problems are written in columns.

4.       Students should be able to perform column addition with and without regrouping (also called carrying).

5.       Students should be able to perform column subtraction with and without regrouping (also called borrowing).

6.       WARNING: A surprisingly large number of students at this age have a tendency to simply invert the numbers of column subtraction problems to avoid regrouping/borrowing. For example, when given a problem like 423 – 179 in a column, they will do their ones column and write 3 – 9 = 6. Then they will do their tens’ column and write 2 -7 =5.  Then they will do their hundreds’ column and write 4 -3 = 1, thus producing the answer 156. In my experience, this seems to happen for 2 main reasons: A. The student does not understand how to regroup/borrow. B. Much more often, the student is not comfortable with the process and so tries to avoid it by inverting the numbers. This usually means they don’t fully understand that you cannot subtract a greater number from a lesser number. They don’t fully understand that 9 – 6 DOES NOT EQUAL 6 – 9. (In this case, I usually give the students concrete objects to think about. If I have 6 candy bars, can you eat 9 of them?) For that reason, they don’t always recognize the situations in which borrowing is necessary.

7.       Given the above warning, please check with your student to make sure they know how to borrow and recognize when it is necessary to borrow instead of trying to mentally invert the digits of the column subtraction problem. Even if you are fairly confident they can do column subtraction with borrowing, please check. You would be surprised how common the above errors are at this age.

8.       Students should be able to perform one and two step addition word problems using language like “more,” “total,” “altogether,” and “combined.”

9.       Students should be able to perform one and two step subtraction word problems with words like “How many more?” “How many less/fewer?” “How much cheaper?” and “What is the difference?” (For example: John has 98 apples and Jane has 70. How many more apples does John have than Jane?)

10.   Students should be able to perform two step word problems where one step is addition and the other is subtraction. (For example, Taylor bought a bike for $250 and a football for $175 less. How much dud she spend altogether? ) WARNING: This is another concept that even very good students may find tricky.

Science Test Study Guide and Week 6 Blog Post

Dear Parents,


I hope you are all well and that you and a relaxing weekend. We are already more than half way through the first quarter. This week will be a normal one, with no special events or changes in schedule.

We do have a science test on graphs coming up on Thursday. Most of the students have done well with all the graphing we've taught so far, but I have included a short study guide on graphs beneath my signature line on this post.

This week in math we will have a short review of column addition on Monday. Several students have asked me questions about column addition that will be more efficient to answer in front of the whole class, so we are having an extra class on it. That way everyone will be on the same page. We will do more word problems on Tuesday, and then we will spend the rest of the week working on column subtraction and borrowing. We will have a math test next week on addition and subtraction.

I mentioned in a recent email that the fourth grade team was considering sending graded work home to students on Mondays instead of Fridays. That change has now become official. From now on, we will send your students home with manila folders of graded work every Monday. We still ask that you sign and date them to acknowledge that you have received the graded work and that you send them back with the you students on Tuesday. We will start calling the folders "Monday folders" in order to reflect the change.

I would also like to take a few moments this week to discuss the purpose of the missing assignment bin as there has been some confusion in that regard. Some day, much sooner than you may realize, your students will not have the option to replace a lost homework sheet, a missing homework sheet, a homework sheet turned in without a name. Certainly in sixth grade, but possibly even as early as fifth grade, teachers will not reprint assignments or give extra copies to students. Right now, many students are used to getting teachers to reprint extra copies of assignments they have lost, which reduces their sense of responsibility for the assignments. The missing assignment bin is intended to be a bridge that will help students develop responsibility for their work while still offering them a chance to fix their mistakes when they occasionally lose assignments.

 I have had a number of students approach me and ask me if I can give them the assignments or help them find the assignments in the bin. The answer, as graciously as possible, is no. The students need to go through the bins and find the assignment themselves in order to take responsibility for their work. So far, most students who have made the effort to look have successfully located their missing assignments and handed them in. A lot of students have come in with notes about the assignments they are missing, which helps them remember what they need to find. I am also trying to make it easier for them to find assignments by numbering or titling all assignments. I hope this clears up any confusion regarding the missing assignment bin.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,


Rebecca Wycklendt

Science Study Guide on Graphs

1. A line graph is used to track one thing that changes over time. (For example, one might use a line graph to track the profits of a business over the course of a year, or the weather conditions of a city over the course of a season.)

2. A bar graph is used to compare several things at the same time. (Bar graphs are often used to compare how different opinions on a general subject, such as favorite snacks, movies, etc.)

3. Students should memorize the above descriptions of line and bar graphs and be able to apply them to decide whether to draw a line graph or a bar graph for a given data set.

4. The sides of a graph are called "axes" (singular axis).

5. All graphs should have a title that explains what they represent, and the axes should be clearly labelled so that we know what the numbers on them mean. (Inches? Weeks? Degrees of temperature?)

6. Students should be able to answer questions about the information presented on graphs. Particularly with line graphs, students should know that a line pointing up and to the right indicates an increase, while a line pointing down and to the left indicates a decrease.

7. Students should be able to draw line and bar graphs based on given sets of data. Particularly with line graphs, students should know that they have to connect the points on their line graph with a line and that the line they draw always starts from zero.

Week 5

Dear Parents,


I hope you all had a relaxing Labor Day weekend with your families! Personally, I was a bit disappointed by the hot weather, but I spent a lot of time playing with my dog and catching up with my friends.

This week there are no tests in math and science, but we do have a few other things happening. On Wednesday, we have our MAP standardized testing. This means that students will have a slightly different schedule during the day, and time will be taken from science and writing to accommodate the testing. However, they will be released at their normal early release day time.

Deficiency notices will be sent out at the end of this week to parents of students with a D+ or lower in any class. In a few cases, a student may receive a deficiency as a result of recently failing a test or neglecting to turn in a few recent assignments. In this case, the deficiency can be as much of a surprise to teachers as it is to parents. However, most students who receive deficiencies are students who have been struggling significantly throughout the quarter. If that is the case, you will most likely have been contacted about their struggles before now, so it should not be a surprise.

 I know this can be a tough time of the quarter for parent and students, but the deficiency system is intended to provide an opportunity for struggling students to improve their performance before the end of the quarter.We are here to work with you to help your students improve! If you are concerned about your student, especially if they have received a deficiency, we will be happy to set up a meeting to discuss how we can help your students. We will also have several afternoons at the beginning of second quarter set aside strictly for parent-teacher conferences,

One more important thing occurring this week: we have our very first seminar in literature class! Seminars are at the heart of a Great Hearts education: they are an opportunity for students to to discuss their ideas about what they have read with each other. The students get to work as a team to discuss what the book they have read means, and they get to do so with minimal direct input from their teacher. The teacher's role is to ask interesting questions; the students do their best to answer the questions using examples from the book they have read and building on each other's ideas. During a seminar, the students speak to each other, not the teacher, and they learn from each other, not directly from the teacher.

The seminar will have more weight than an ordinary class or assignment in the student's grades, for which reason we have been preparing them for a few days. They have been sent home with worksheets asking them to think about what makes someone a good king in "Prince Caspian" and also what role belief plays in the actions and decisions of the characters of "Prince Caspian." They will be allowed to take any notes they make about the story on these papers into the seminar with them.

As a parent, the best thing you can do is simply discuss the story with your student. Ask them about the story, the characters, parts they like, which characters were good or bad, etc. You don't have to discuss the specific seminar questions with them; just get them talking and thinking about the story.


As for grades, we are not expecting the students to be geniuses or mini literature professors; what we most want to see in seminar is students who are working as a team, responding to each other's points and not interrupting each other. These matters of classroom etiquette will set them up for long term success with the seminar method.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please send me a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

Sincerely,


Miss Wycklendt