Math and Science the Week of April 28th

Parents,

Well we made it past STAAR week and I must say it wasn't easy!  The kids worked really hard and were exhausted.  The STAAR party on Friday was just what we needed to give our brains a break.

On Monday and Tuesday, we will dedicate to catching up on our Living and Non living/ Ecosystems Science Unit.

This week in Math we will be gearing up for 4th grade!  The kids will learn multiple strategies on multiplying 2 digit numbers by a 1 digit number.  On Wednesday, we will be drawing out the multiplication problems on a tens and ones T-chart.   On Thursday, I will teach them how to multiply a two digit number with another number that has many zeros.  They will find this trick simple and fun!  On Friday, we will use our past knowledge of expanded notation to solve the problems using something called The Expanded Notation Method.   We are teaching them many different ways for two main reasons.  The first is that they understand the true meaning of 57 x 3 and the second is that we want to give them several strategies so that they find one they are most comfortable with.   It should be a fun and challenging week in Math.  The kids love two digit by one digit multiplication because they feel like big kids learning "hard stuff."

For fast facts, I will give each child a verbal reminder on Monday what they specifically need to study.  They have had the last two weeks off from Fast facts, so this week WILL BE GRADED AND INPUTTED.

In Science, we are trekking along and having a good time learning about Ecosystems and Food Chains/Webs.  This week we will further our learning about Food Chains, producers, consumers, decomposers, predators, prey, and all the things an Ecosystem entails with some fun games.  Flash cards to study will be in your future.  The students will be required to draw and label a Food Chain on their Test.  It should be a fun week. I am glad to be back to learning and having a good time with these kiddos.

Love,
Ms. S