Week 24 Jump Rope for Heart!

Dear Parents,

On Friday afternoon, we had the exciting kick-off to our school’s annual Jump Rope for Heart event! Hopefully most of your students have told you about it by now, but we are encouraging  all our students to get involved. Jump Rope for Heart has two components. One is a fundraiser for the American Heart Association to aid in their research on heart defects, especially for kids’ hearts. Students will be asking their families, relatives, and friends for donations for the American Heart Association. The second component is a jump rope competition that will be held near the end of the month. All students should be taking care of their own hearts by practicing for this event!

 Regarding the fundraiser, our school has a goal of raising $6,500. Last year we raised over $6,000, so this is a very achievable goal.  If every student raised $5 for heart research, we would already be very close to our goal. There are quite a few prizes students can earn for raising anywhere from $5 to $150. However, the first two prizes are extremely easy for students to earn. The first prize is a lanyard with a zoo animal students can earn for bringing in a single $5 donation. The second is another zoo animal for their lanyard students can earn for getting one donation online. They should print the coupon they receive after the online donation is complete and bring it in to school.

Anytime students have donations or coupons; these need to go directly to the P.E. teachers at the beginning of the students’ next P.E. class. Neither the other teachers nor the front desk staff will be accepting donations or coupons. Last year, there was a great deal of confusion regarding which students had earned which prizes. By having only P.E. teachers accept donations and coupons, the matter will be simplified, and students will receive their prizes more quickly.

This week on Wednesday, deficiency notices will be sent to parents whose students are averaging C- or in any class. The deficiency notices are intended to help parents are understand where their students are struggling and to give students an opportunity to improve. Most of you should have a pretty good idea where how your students are doing in my classes. I have been sending their graded homework, quizzes and tests home on a regular basis, and I have also sent regular emails when students are missing assignments. If your student has received a lot of low scores and tests, quizzes, or homework, or if you have received multiple emails regarding your student’s missing assignments, there is a good chance they are in the deficiency range. However, if you have any doubts about your students grades, please feel free to contact us.

In math we will continue our study of fractions. This week we will place a special focus on mixed numbers, improper fractions, and the relationship between fractions and division. We will be having a math test next week. I will follow up with details by next weekend, at the latest. In science we will continue our study of the atmosphere, and hopefully the lab will be free for us to perform at least one experiment related to air this week.

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

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Week 23

Dear Parents,


This last week during our Friday assembly, we had a special time together dedicating our school's new friendship bench. One of our very own fourth grade students had the idea for the friendship bench as a place where anyone in need of a friend could go and sit. Others, seeing someone sitting on the bench, would know they needed a friend and would come and sit with them. The fourth grader who had this idea presented it to Ms. Washburn, who liked it so much that she put the plan into action. And so, our beautiful friendship bench came to be. Congratulations to the student whose idea has enriched our campus so much!

This week in fourth grade, we are having some changes in our schedule of classes. The idea is to cut down on the transitions between classes that steal valuable learning time while still giving our student the benefit of preparing for middle school by switching between multiple teachers and classes throughout the day. As a result of this change, I will be teaching 4A science now in addition to 4B science and math, but I will no longer be teaching 4B literature, Please direct all future questions regarding literature to Mr. Ohbayashi and all future questions regarding science to me.


This week in science, we will continue our study of meteorology by discussing the various layers of the atmosphere. We will also be working on the water cycle. In math, we have finally started our study of fractions! This is very exciting as fractions will be our major topic for the rest of the year.

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


Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Week 22

Dear Parents,

This week we have a normal week with school occurring at normal days and normal times. The only slight modification to our normal routine is the Athenian Spirit Day on Friday. Students may wear their Athenian t-shirts in lieu of their ordinary school polo shirts. All other aspects of the dress code remain as usual that day.

In math, we are working on some geometry for state standards. Our focus in geometry is angles, but we will also study parallel and perpendicular lines and shapes that contain them. After we finish with geometry and angles, we will spend more in depth time on problems which require students to find the number of possible unique combinations out of a group of choices. For example, if there is a menu with roast beef and chicken for the main course, salad and fries as side options, and water, milk or juice to drink, how many possible combinations of main course, side dish and beverage are there? Students need to accurately answer such questions and be able to prove their answers. They can prove their answers by creating lists of possible combinations, charts, and tree diagrams.

Also in math, we will have a slight change to our homework structure. All students should have a pretty good grasp of their multiplication facts by now, so they should no longer need math facts and parent supervision to study them. Instead, they will start taking home multiplication fact worksheets and filling out half a worksheet on nights when math facts are assigned. When the worksheets are full, the students will turn them in, as math facts will continue to be a part of their grade.

Hopefully you also remember that students’ math notebooks are being graded as part of their math homework this semester. This will comprise a major portion of their math grade, and it is very important for students to do well on these notebook grades. Below I have included a screen shot from the RM system on what the notebooks should look like. Some main features to note: The problems should be numbered and arranged in a single, neat, vertical row. Each page should have a proper heading with the student’s name, the date, and the title of the lesson on which they are working. If any student gets a problem wrong, they should cross it out neatly, and underneath it they should record the correct steps and answer provided by the computer. This makes the student think about what they did wrong and gives them a record of how to perform similar problems correctly next time.

In science, we are continuing our study of the atmosphere. We will place a special emphasis on atmospheric pressure this week. In addition, we are changing the homework structure slightly in science. In order to be good scientists, students need to be familiar with various units of measurement. They need to know the relationships between units of measurement in order to understand scientific arguments and in order to perform experiments. For this reason, they are going to start spending some time a few nights each week memorizing the relationships between units of measurement. I have selected units of time to start with because they should be familiar and easy. Students should spend 5-10 minutes memorizing these units on nights when memorization is assigned. They will be given a sheet of paper with the units they are required to memorize. Attached to that sheet will be a log, similar to their math fact logs, which parents should sign in order to confirm that students completed the required memorization for science class. The students will turn in these logs at the end of the week for credit.

I will only be assigning science memorization on nights when math facts are NOT assigned. In this way, the students will not increase their homework time but merely change some of its focus.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. As always, please message me with any questions, comments or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Wycklendt

Week 21 Long Division Test

Dear Parents,

I hope you were able to spend some extra time with your children on our recent R&R weekend. I know how excited they all are to have an extra day off, especially without homework!

This week in science class we will finish our study of natural disasters and begin studying meteorology. While many people think of meteorology as weather, it is actually a broader topic. Meteorology is the study of earth's atmosphere. Since the motions of the atmosphere play a large part in creating weather, meteorology includes the study of weather, but it also includes other topics related to the earth's atmosphere, such as the water cycle.

In literature, we are excited to begin some new routines for the new semester. We will continue reading in class, of course, but we are going to structure our discussions differently. We will frequently be giving the students worksheets with questions about the reading to use in class. These questions will be on points that students may struggle to understand individually but which they will be capable of understanding when they work together as a group. Questions about words used metaphorically or incidents in a story that are implied but not directly stated can be difficult for many students. By using structured questions and working as a team to find answers, we hope to deepen our class discussions.

In math, we are finishing our study of numerical expressions and word problems. We will also have our test on long division on Friday. While our previous test included a few long division problems, the topic was not thoroughly covered on the previous test. Although the basic steps for long division are always the same, slight variations can occur when dividing by two or three digit numbers, or when the digit in the first place value of the dividend is too small to divide with the divisor.

Students should all be able to perform long division accurately, and they will need to be able to do so for the test. The topic was first introduced in the middle of second quarter and they have had plenty of time to practice. For this reason, we will spend very little time reviewing long division in class. However, please note your student's performance on our long division quiz. The results should be in the Monday folders we sent home this week. The quiz should give you a good idea of whether they understand long division or if they need some extra review.

I am not going to include a formal study guide for long division. The process would be difficult to describe through a blog, and I'm sure you all know long division from grade school anyway. In case students are stuck, here are some pointers you can give them:

1. The steps for long division are: Divide, multiply, subtract, bring down. In each place value students must perform all these steps until they have no more digits to bring down. The last three steps are sometimes confusing. We multiply to check our division. We subtract to find remainder. By bringing down, we regroup are reminder so that we can including ti in our next division step, 

2. Students should always start performing the steps of long division in the highest place value first. When they have performed all four steps in the highest place value, they should move to the next place to the right and repeat.

3. Students should be able to perform basic long division, long division by a two digit number (252/12) long division in which they first place of the dividend is too small to divide (304/4) long division that ends with a remainder, and long division in which one or more of the digits in the answer will be zero (721/7).

4. In case any student's long division skills are rusty, you can easily help them find a good explanation on the internet.

These are all the notes I have for you this week. Please email me with any questions, comments, or concerns you have.

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Week 19: Project Night!

Dear Parents,

After a week of half days, we will return to school full time refreshed by our break and ready to meet the demands of a new semester. The highlight of this week will be project night, this Wednesday from 6:00-7:00. I had previously announced that it would be in the MPR, but that has changed. Students will go to their own classrooms at 5:50pm to be assigned a location for their presentation by their teacher. Fourth grade students will be in one of the following three locations: the 4A classroom, the 4B classroom or the science lab. Unfortunately, we can’t tell you in which of the rooms your student will be in ahead of time because where students end up will be based upon what kind of paraphernalia they bring for their presentation and also how much space we have. You will just have to come looking for them!

As you walk through the school, please enjoy the exhibits of other grades and other students as well. Each class has been assigned a different time period for their projects, from Ancient Egypt through the Renaissance. There have also been different styles of presentation assigned to each grade level so that the night will have a lot of variation and interest to it. The students have all worked very hard on their projects, and most will be dying for a chance to share their information with someone other than their own parents or teachers. Who knows? You make learn something new!

Please note that presenting the project on Project Night is part of the student’s grade for the project. If any unfortunate circumstances should arise that would keep your student from presenting that night, please contact Mr. Ohbayashi.

The administration has asked me to post the following information on project night as well:

“Archway Trivium East would like to invite you to our Tour through History Project Night event. You will have the opportunity to meet and interact with some of the most important figures in the history of the world from ancient times through the 16^th century and to celebrate the learning of our Kindergarten through 5^th grade scholars.

Please plan to arrive with your scholar (in costume for 1^st-5^th graders) at 5:50pm. They will then report to their classrooms (3^rd grade will report to the Multipurpose Room). Guests will assemble in the courtyard until 6:00 when the community will be invited to begin the Tour through History where they can visit the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome; see the symbols of our very own United States come to life; and view a museum of the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. Our scholars are excited to share their learning from Project Week and we encourage you to visit as many classrooms as you can on this evening. Plan to make your way back towards your scholar’s classroom at around 6:45 to be ready to depart from the event at 7:00.”

Also, the following is a reminder of the school’s costume policy, since the fourth and fifth graders will be dressing as their character. It is the same one we used for Literary and Historic Figure Day, and it can be found in the family handbook as well.  

“Costumes may be simple and should reflect what the historical figure would wear or look like. Everyday objects and materials that families already have around are welcome, and purchasing elaborate costumes is not required. Appropriate props are also welcome if they add to the representation of the historical figure. The same guidelines as Historical/Literary Figure Dress Up Day should be used:

·         Your costume should cover at least the same areas as the Archway polo and shorts/skirts (just above the knee).

·         Items in your costume should not have any logos on them.

·         You may wear non-uniform shoes (such as sandals), provided that they are appropriate for your character.

·         No masks, face paint, or hair dye are permitted.

·         Small props are allowed, but should be put away during class. No props that are weapons are permitted.

·         Students who do not follow the guidelines may be sent home.                

·         Gentlemen should dress up as male figures and ladies should dress up as female figures.

·         Students should be careful not to wear any costume that could be offensive to others.”

In math this quarter I am establishing a weekly notebook grade as part of each student’s grade for the quarter. Keeping a neat notebook helps students focus on their problems, spot errors, and even avoid errors before ever committing them. I have reviewed the notebook standards in class with all the students, so they all know what is expected. They will be graded according to the standards of neatness I have communicated to them on a scale of 0-10. The notebook grade includes the work they do in their notebook when working on RM at home. I will try to post a picture of a proper notebook page as well, so that you can all understand the standard by which their notebooks will be graded. For now, please just encourage them to be neat, number their problems, and leave space between the problems.

In science, we will resume our study of geology, focusing on volcanoes and natural disasters this week. Looking ahead, we will be studying the water cycle, ecology, global warming natural disaster, pollution, and a small amount of biology. Of course, these are all good topics for students to know some things about, but they are also required for the states standardized fourth grade science test.

In other news, we welcomed a new T.A., Mr. Carson Cavaletto, to our team last week. Mr. Marcoe has been transferred to fifth grade, as the fifth grade team has been in need of a T.A. for some time. While we will certainly miss having Mr. Marcoe in our classrooms, we are excited to have Mr. Cavaletto as a replacement.

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

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Week 18 Final Tests and Shakespeare Festival

Dear Parents,

Congratulations to you on your students' excellent performance at the concert on Thursday. I was so impressed with the professional manner in which they conducted themselves and the joy with which they sang. Thank you to all you parents for supporting their performance. I know it is not easy to get students to a concert on time and appropriately dressed in the middle of the week, but you managed it. We greatly appreciate all you do to make these concerts happen. Of course, we also owe a lot to Mrs. Washburn and Mr. Scott for coordinating these concerts and to Miss Sassaman for teaching the students such beautiful music. We are also indebted to the people from King of Kings Church for allowing us to use their facilities.

You all know by now that this is the last week before break. Monday and Tuesday will be full days, and Wednesday through Friday will be half days.  The main motivation for the half days is to give students more time to study. They will have tests in all their major subject areas this week. While these are unit tests, not cumulative tests, there are a lot of tests in a single week, so we feel it is best to give the students more time to study.

                                         

In my classes, we have the following test schedule: There will be a math test on Wednesday on division. On Thursday there will be a science test on geology. On Friday we have our Shakespeare festival. The students’ performance, including their ability to be silent and respectful when they are off-off stage, will count as their literature test. The study guides for the other tests are below my signature line.

While it may seem like a big challenge for fourth grade students to have so many tests in a week, our goal is to prepare them to be successful in middle school. Many students have never taken several tests in a short period of time before they reach middle school, and they are unfamiliar with how to manage their study time. This can impair their performance on tests at a time when their grades are becoming more important. By giving them the opportunity to study for numerous tests before their grades are really important, we give the students tools to succeed.

All this being said, we are very excited to invite you to our second annual Shakespeare festival! Your students have been practicing hard and they would love to have you watch them perform. Relatives and friends are also welcome. The fourth grade performance of “Twelfth Night” will begin at 8:30am in the MPR on Friday. At 9:30am the dram club will have their presentation, and at 10:15am the fifth graders will present “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Please note that while we do want you watch your students perform, the students are also required to stay and watch their peers’ performances; they cannot be picked up until the normal half-day dismissal time.

We are certainly not assigning any official homework over Christmas break, but it would be wise for students to review stanzas 1-6 of “Paul Revere” over break so they do not forget it. Also, students who struggle with math can benefit from occasion review of multiplication facts and spending a little time in the  RM Wall of Mastery or Office so they don’t forget what they’ve learned. This need not be a huge time investment; even one or two twenty minute sessions over break could be helpful.

The first week after break will be project week. This is a week of half days in which students will be expected to use their extra time to complete a major project. Last year we had a successful science fair on the human body. This year our theme is history. Students will be assigned to study historical figures from a time period their class has been studying. They will write a paper with important facts about their historical figure and then they will dress up as their person as part of the formal presentation on project night. Students will be assigned historical figures for project night by lottery this Monday.

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

Math Study Guide

1.       Division: Students should be familiar with division as the inverse of multiplication. 12 x 3 = 36, 36 divided by 3 equals 12, and 36 divided by 12 equals 3. They should also know the formal names of parts of the division problem. The number being divided is the dividend. The number by which you are dividing is the divisor. The answer to a division problem is the quotient, unless there is some part left over. The leftover part is called the remainder.

2.       Students should know and be able to articulate the difference between dividing into x groups and dividing into groups of x. For example, 24 divided by 3 can mean 24 divided into 3 groups with 8 things in each groups OR 24 divided into groups of 3 with 8 groups of three. 

3.       Students should be able to draw the difference in #2 when requested to do so. For example, they should be able to draw 24 divided into 3 groups by drawing 3 circles with 8 dots in each circle. Then they should be able to show 24 divided into groups of 3 by drawing 8 circles with three dots in each circle. (Tally marks or other appropriate marks may also be used.)

4.       Students should be able to perform division with a remainder. For example, 20 divided by 3: Is there anything times 3 that equals 20? No! What is the math fact for 3 that is closest to 20 but not greater than 20? 3 x 5 = 15; 3 x 6 = 18; 3 x 7 = 21. 3 x 7 is greater than 20, so 3 x 6 must be the math fact we want. Now subtract to find the remainder. 20 – 18 = 2. Therefore, 20 divided by 3 is 6 remainder 2. (Students do not need to put all this work on paper, this is just one example of a conversation to have in case a student is unsure how to answer.)

5.  Students should know and be able to apply the properties of division. The properties of division are: 1. Any number divided by one equals itself. 2. Any number divided by itself equals one. 3. 0 divided by any number equals zero.  4. Numbers cannot be divided by zero. If such a problem appears, students should state that it cannot be done,

6. Because column multiplication is one of the fundamentals of math and is not formally taught again after fourth grade, I will also be including one and two digit column multiplication problems on the test. Students are required to use column multiplication (the standard methods you were all taught in grade school) to solve these problems. Any creative methods of splitting the problem apart or breaking it down will be marked wrong, regardless of the answer. It is absolutely vital that they know the standard method of column multiplication because this knowledge will be presumed in higher grades but it will not be retaught.

Science Test Study Guide

1.       Groups of atoms bonded together are called molecules.

2.       The three (main) states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas. Matter changes states according to its temperature. A solid that gets heated becomes a liquid, and a liquid that is further heated becomes a gas.

3.       Heat gives atoms and molecules energy. Atoms and molecules are always moving, at least a little, but when they get heated they move more quickly. The hotter they get, the faster they move. The faster they move, they more space they need in which to move. This need for more space causes atoms to spread out from one another, which we experience as a change in state from solid to liquid and then from liquid to gas.

4.       Cooling down has the opposite effect on atoms. They slow down, and they need less space to move. As a result, the atoms are able to stay closer together.  This changes them from gas to liquid to solid.

5.       Because the atoms in solids are moving so slowly, solids keep their own shape. Because the atoms in liquids and gasses are moving more quickly, liquids and gasses do not hold their shape. They take the shape of whatever container they are in.

6.        The earth is divided into three main layers, the crust, the mantle and the core.

7.       The crust is extremely thin compared to the mantle and the core. In drawings of the earth, the crust is represented as the outline of the drawing. 

8.       There are two kinds of crust, oceanic crust and continental crust. Continental crust is the crust found on land. It is mostly made of solid rock covered by thin layers of dirt. Oceanic crust is the crust found under the ocean. It is mostly made of solid rock covered by thin layers of sand.

9.       The mantle is the middle of the earth’s main layers. It is divided into the lithosphere, the asthenosphere and the mesosphere. 

10.   The lithosphere is composed of huge slabs of solid rock called “tectonic plates.” The plates fit closely but not perfectly together, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. There are gaps between the plates which allow them to move and bump into each other.

11. The places in the earth’s crust that lie directly over the gaps between the tectonic plates are called fault lines.

12.   The plates of the lithosphere float on the asthenosphere, which is made of liquid rock.

13.   The mesosphere is the lowest layer of the mantle, beneath the lithosphere and asthenosphere. The mesosphere is made of solid rock (not plates).

14.   The core is the innermost of the earth’s three main layers.  It is divided into the outer core and the inner core. The outer core is made of liquid iron. The inner core is made of solid iron.

15.   The inner core is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit—That’s as hot as the surface of the sun. Even though it is extremely hot, the inner core is solid because the weight of the earth above it presses its atoms together and forces them to remain in a solid state.

16. The inner core and the outer core are spinning in opposite directions at high speeds. Their motion causes the earth’s magnetic field. This magnetic field reaches all the way though the earth and into the atmosphere, which means it is over 8,000 miles wide.

17.   Earthquakes occur when heat rises from the inner core and causes the magma of the asthenosphere to move and bubble. (Think of water in a pot.) This moves the plates of the lithosphere, which float on the asthenosphere. When the plates of the lithosphere move, they sometimes bump into each other, causing earthquakes.

18.   Mountains can also be formed by the plates of the lithosphere bumping into each other.

19.   Volcanoes occur when liquid magma from the asthenosphere bubbles up through the gaps between tectonic plates and forces its way onto the earth’s crust.

Week 17

Dear Parents,

This is our last full week before Christmas break. Next week (12/12—12/16) we will have two full days on Monday and Tuesday and three half days on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

This week our fourth grade winter concert will be held at King of Kings Church in Goodyear on Thursday, December 8. The address is 3095 N 140^th Ave, Goodyear, AZ 85395. Students are expected to arrive in full concert dress at 5:20pm. There will be a dress rehearsal from 5:25-5:55, and parents will not be allowed in the church during this time. Please keep in mind that punctual attendance at the dress rehearsal and participation in the concert are required as part of your student’ music grade. If you have any questions about the performance or about appropriate concert attire, please send Miss Sassaman a message through your Jupiter Ed account.

 PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS HAVE USED THE BATHROOM RIGHT BEFORE ARRIVING AT THE DRESS REHEARSAL. We will not be able to accommodate bathroom requests during practice or during the concert itself.

This week in math we will continue to study division, especially long division. We also have our test on finding the perimeter and area of squares and rectangles on Tuesday. Please note that students are required to use the traditional method of two-digit column multiplication to find the answers to area problems. Any other methods will result in losing some or all credit for the problem. There are still a few students trying to break apart problems like 456 x 28 into 456 x 8 and 456 x 20 instead of using the traditional method. This is not acceptable; they need to be able to use the traditional method. I have created a study guided; it is posted below my signature line.

In science, we will continue our study of geology by studying earthquakes, volcanoes and natural disasters. The geology project on the earth’s interior is due tomorrow. Students should bring their project into the science lab and set it on the table marked 4A or 4B as appropriate before going out to play. Projects should be in sealed plastic bags clearly marked with the students’ names.

I am sorry that I was not able to post the instructions to my blog last week in addition to sending them home on paper. I had intended to do so, but through an unfortunate accident my work laptop broke and I could do computer work only during brief snatches of time on another people’s computers. For the same reason, I am sorry for any missing/late responses to messages. I now have a new work computer, so I should be in better touch with you all this week.

Students who are interested in extra credit can use any leftover clay to make a cross-section model of a volcano’s interior. I will hand out pictures of the volcano cross-section by Tuesday, but I will not give detailed instructions on how to complete the project. It should have all the same parts as the volcano cross-section picture, and it should be labeled. Students can earn up to 10 points of extra credit for volcano models turned in by December 15 (next Tuesday).

On December 16 we will have our Shakespeare festival.  All are welcome to see our students perform in the MPR! The exact time is TBA, but it will be sometime during the morning. Fourth and fifth grade students are currently practicing and adapted version of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” during literature and writing classes. They are not required to memorize their lines; they can read them from the script during the play. However, we will be asking them to practice reading their lines and scenes at home so they will be familiar with them. We want them to work on understanding what the lines mean and reading them with fluency and appropriate expressions. We will work on these things in class as well, and we will also work on stage blocking.

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

Sincerely,

Miss Wycklendt

Study Guide for Math Test on Area and Perimeter of Squares and Rectangles

1.       Perimeter is the measure of the border around the shape. Area is the amount of space inside a shape. If you imagine a playground, the perimeter is the fence around the playground. Finding perimeter means finding how long the fence is. Area would be the space inside the playground where you actually run and play. Finding are would mean finding how much space is contained in the playground fence.

2.       We measure area in square units such as square inches, square feet, square centimeters, or square miles. A square inch is a square with sides of one inch; a square centimeter is a square with sides of one centimeter, etc. We write square inches as in², square centimeters as cm², square feet as ft² and square miles as miles².

3.       The long side of a rectangle is called its length. The short side of a rectangle is called its width. All rectangles have two lengths which are equal to each other and two widths which are equal to each other.

4.       Finding the perimeter of a rectangle means finding how long the sides are all together. The formula for the area of a rectangle is 2(L + W).

5.       Finding the area of a rectangle means finding how much space is contained inside it. The formula for the area of a rectangle is L X W. The length of the rectangle tells us how many square units will fit on the length and the width tells us how many rows of square units are in the rectangle.

6.       A square has four sides which are all equal. The formula for the perimeter of a square with side S is 4S. (Since there are 4 equal sides, instead of adding the 4 sides to find the length around them, it is quicker to multiply by 4.)

7.       The formula for the perimeter of a square with sides S is S² which equals S X S. Basically a square has is a rectangle that has its length equal to its width, instead of multiplying length times width to find area, we just multiply S X S.

8.       Students should not just write numbers when giving the answers for area or perimeter. The must also write the proper unit or square unit.