Math At Recess???
We are fourth graders. Mariana is 9, and Anna is 10. Last week in math class we had to solve a problem about an alien named Bleepo who was traveling the galaxy. He had to stop to buy supplies because he was running low, but Mork, another alien who ran the rocket supply shop on that planet, only read and wrote in decimals. Unfortunately, Bleepo could only read and write in fractions. We had to help Bleepo and Mork understand each other. That’s where our work began.
We started to make a number line out of string, post-its and little cards. It was actually a very hard problem because some of the numbers were decimals and some were fractions. Some were even negative fractions. We needed to make the fractions into decimals and the decimals into fractions so that we could put all the numbers on the number line in the right. To switch a decimal into a fraction, you have to write its name as a fraction. The last digit tells you what the denominator is. Then after you write the fraction, you have to simplify it. For example, 0.85 is eighty-five hundredths. 0.85 = 85/100 = 17/20 in simplest form.To switch a fraction into a decimal, you have to change the denominator into either tenths or hundredths or thousandths and make an equivalent fraction. 1 7/8 was the last and hardest problem of all. To switch eighths into 1,000ths you have to multiply the denominator and the numerator times 125.
We never gave up even on the hardest part of the problem. We had perseverance. That means we kept on working
and wouldn't give up. We really wanted to finish this problem because we were fascinated by it -- that is called engagement. We even decided to stay in during recess to finish our number line. We asked Mrs. Sowa if we could stay in, and she said -- only if someone else could watch us because she had recess duty. We were not taking “no” for an answer. She sent us to Mrs. Gottling because she would understand. We never thought we would do math on recess, but we did. Anna said, grinning from ear to ear, “I am happy that I got to do this problem with my best friend. I feel like I am a bigger fan of math now!” Mariana said, laughing at first and then more seriously, “I feel different because I never thought I would stay in for recess to do math. I thought that I wasn’t good at math before. Now I know that I am better at it than I thought I was!”
We recommend that you always go at your own
speed, no matter what you are trying to achieve. It doesn’t matter if you are fast or slow, it matters what you accomplish.
We weren’t the first ones done, but we feel like we succeeded at something difficult and important for us. Now we have confidence!
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| As part of their study of immigration, 3rd graders participated in a simulation in which they had to quickly learn to live in a land where the language and culture was very different. |
and wouldn't give up. We really wanted to finish this problem because we were fascinated by it -- that is called engagement. We even decided to stay in during recess to finish our number line. We asked Mrs. Sowa if we could stay in, and she said -- only if someone else could watch us because she had recess duty. We were not taking “no” for an answer. She sent us to Mrs. Gottling because she would understand. We never thought we would do math on recess, but we did. Anna said, grinning from ear to ear, “I am happy that I got to do this problem with my best friend. I feel like I am a bigger fan of math now!” Mariana said, laughing at first and then more seriously, “I feel different because I never thought I would stay in for recess to do math. I thought that I wasn’t good at math before. Now I know that I am better at it than I thought I was!”
We recommend that you always go at your own
speed, no matter what you are trying to achieve. It doesn’t matter if you are fast or slow, it matters what you accomplish.
We weren’t the first ones done, but we feel like we succeeded at something difficult and important for us. Now we have confidence!
Avoiding "Summer Slide"
Even though none of our children probably do any work in anyone's fields, the vestiges of an agrarian calendar, with children free to work during the summer months, continue to shape our academic calendar, even our psyches.
No matter how great a school year has been, summer provides that irresistible pull for children. Whether it is camp, a family vacation or just hanging around, summer is a time to relax and rejuvenate. Just as predictably, by the time late August rolls around, most students begin to feel the pull toward the start of an exciting new school year.
In the interim, there can be significant academic "summer slide." This means that, without any reinforcement of the hard won academic skills, students can return to school in September significantly behind where they left off in the spring, most commonly in the areas of mathematics and language arts.
The antidote for summer slide does not have to include summer school or regular tutoring sessions, unless there are specific reasons and very clear objectives. A traditional recommendation is to encourage reading for pleasure. You can click here to get a list of recommended reading by grade level. Also the American Library Association has a great website with recommendations for young readers. In addition, several of our fourth grade students have been working hard on a book recommendation blog which you can view by clicking here. Students currently in grades 1-4 will soon be sharing with you a reading assessment that they have completed recently. This may also be helpful in selecting a "just right" book. A trip to the library or the book store can be an exciting way to begin the summer.
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4th graders dug a model of the Hudson
River in one of the garden beds.
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Recently there has been an explosion of engaging online options for children, options that you probably will not have to push them to visit. All it takes is an internet connection and a device with a full browser. Current kindergartners through second-graders have full year subscriptions to DreamBox, a wonderful on-line adaptive mathematics program that helps develop and reinforce their math skills in a game-like format, all while keeping track and displaying their progress. Third- through fifth graders have accounts in ALEKS, a similar program. These accounts run through the summer! Most students enjoy the time they spend advancing their skills. Similarly, current third graders have accounts in Raz-Kids, a language arts-based on line program that they can continue to use over the summer.
You may be surprised how easily children are engaged in learning activities if they are presented in a lively game format in which children are motivated to track their own growing mastery.
Below are some highly recommended websites that you might check out with your child to choose what he or she might like to get involved with during the summer.
Language arts recommendations:
Book Adventure: Read, Click, Win
"Book Adventure is a fun, free way to motivate your child to read! Kids in grades K-8 can find a book, take quizzes on what they've read, and earn prizes for their reading success."
Tumblebooks: eBooks for eKids!On Tumblebooks, you have the option of Tumblebook Library and Tumblereadables. Tumblebook Library offers talking and animated picture books online. Tumblebooks are books with added audio, animation, sound and narration that makes reading more fun for early readers. Tumblereadables offers students the chance to read along with a narrator, highlighting the sentences as they're being read. This helps build reading confidence and skills.
Starfall's Learn to Read with Phonics. Starfall offers 4 selections to help kids with reading in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL)
1. ABC's
2. Learn to Read
3. It's Fun to Read
4. I'm Reading
Each offers reading for different skill levels.
General K-8 recommendations:
"Book Adventure is a fun, free way to motivate your child to read! Kids in grades K-8 can find a book, take quizzes on what they've read, and earn prizes for their reading success."
Tumblebooks: eBooks for eKids!On Tumblebooks, you have the option of Tumblebook Library and Tumblereadables. Tumblebook Library offers talking and animated picture books online. Tumblebooks are books with added audio, animation, sound and narration that makes reading more fun for early readers. Tumblereadables offers students the chance to read along with a narrator, highlighting the sentences as they're being read. This helps build reading confidence and skills.
Starfall's Learn to Read with Phonics. Starfall offers 4 selections to help kids with reading in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL)
1. ABC's
2. Learn to Read
3. It's Fun to Read
4. I'm Reading
Each offers reading for different skill levels.
General K-8 recommendations:
Funbrain.com - Price: Free!
www.funbrain.com
Math Games - This part of the site will take you to a game board where you chose your gender and grade level. The challenge is to get through all 25 games. If you lose a game in the middle of the game board, it will give you a password to use when you return. This is key so that kids don't have to replay every single game, just be sure they write it down! In this game your kids will be able to practice their math skills while playing a game that is fun and engaging.
Reading - Click on the reading section and then on "mad libs". The game will prompt you to choose verbs, nouns or adjectives to create a hilarious mad lib. When you are finished choosing your words, it will pop out a printable mad lib. Print it out and ask your child to read it. Of course this promotes reading skills and helps kids recognize the difference between nouns, verbs and adjective. This part of the site is also very colorful and animated.
Educational Website for Kids in Grades 4-7:
Discovery Kids - Price: Free!
http://kids.discovery.com/
Chomp - This is an excellent game with a fun theme that requires you to make your way through a temple. This game helps kids with work recognition and patterns, spatial concepts, math & deduction skills.
Yucky - It is not a secret that kids like gross things. Well, click on this part of the site and you will be led to barfing, belching and blackheads. You can choose to play games in this area or you can simply read facts about all things yucky. Although disgusting, it does teach kids about science and that includes human biology.
www.funbrain.com
Math Games - This part of the site will take you to a game board where you chose your gender and grade level. The challenge is to get through all 25 games. If you lose a game in the middle of the game board, it will give you a password to use when you return. This is key so that kids don't have to replay every single game, just be sure they write it down! In this game your kids will be able to practice their math skills while playing a game that is fun and engaging.
Reading - Click on the reading section and then on "mad libs". The game will prompt you to choose verbs, nouns or adjectives to create a hilarious mad lib. When you are finished choosing your words, it will pop out a printable mad lib. Print it out and ask your child to read it. Of course this promotes reading skills and helps kids recognize the difference between nouns, verbs and adjective. This part of the site is also very colorful and animated.
Educational Website for Kids in Grades 4-7:
Discovery Kids - Price: Free!
http://kids.discovery.com/
Chomp - This is an excellent game with a fun theme that requires you to make your way through a temple. This game helps kids with work recognition and patterns, spatial concepts, math & deduction skills.
Yucky - It is not a secret that kids like gross things. Well, click on this part of the site and you will be led to barfing, belching and blackheads. You can choose to play games in this area or you can simply read facts about all things yucky. Although disgusting, it does teach kids about science and that includes human biology.
Math recommendations:
- Remember that current 3-5th graders' have subscriptions to ALEKS that go through the summer.
(Workbook Each book covers only one level,$20 per book)
(Singapore Math-aligned web-based tutoring subscription: monthly $9.95, year-long $79.95)
(Common Core State Standards-aligned, adapts the problems presented based on student responses given, multiple levels available. Has a free trial, then monthly $12.95 or 6 mos. $59.95) ( Current kindergarten through second-graders already have accounts through the summer.)
Of course there are lots of opportunities to reinforce math skills as you play traditional board or card games with your child. Uno, War, Yahtzee, Monopoly offer opportunities to reinforce counting, sequencing and calculation skills. Trips to the store offer all sorts of wonderful problem-solving and mathematical discussions. Road trips can be times for reading, playing counting and observations games. Parents just need to set up the opportunities and be involved.
But probably the most natural and probably the most important activity is for you to read with your child. Children can share their "just-right" books with you, and you can read books to them that you loved or you know will be of interest to them. This can lead wonderful discussion exploring the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary. The best of all is that it is something you can do together!
With a little bit of thought and advanced effort, summer slide can be avoided, and your children can have fun at the same time!
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Here is a link to an article in the NYMetroParents Newsletter about the Fifth-Grade Opera. The PR crew worked had to get media coverage.
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Fourth-grader Sunaya was awarded Honorable Mention for her story submission to the Cricket League story contest. Her name will be mentioned in the May/June issue of Cricket Magazine.
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PHOTOS FROM THE SPRING EVENT
PHOTOS FROM FIRST-THIRD GRADE GRANDPARENTS' DAY
