Common Core Info

The term Common Core State Standards has been very popular in Manchester lately, especially with teachers. The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. 

Here is what the students need to know in September for math. These are the standards written as "I Can" statements that are student and parent friendly so we can all work together. 

Math:

I can identify the place value of numbers.

Ican write numerals in standard and expanded form.

I can use place value to round multi-digit numbers.

I can change measurement units within a system.

I can use measurement information in various situations.

I can compare two multi-digit numbers using symbols to show comparisons.

I can solve word problem or equations using whole numbers.

Language Arts: 

Coming Soon!

Practice Makes Perfect

Next Friday students have a test on the seven continents and five oceans. Yes, FIVE oceans! The Southern Ocean which borders Antarctica has been added since most of us learned this basic lesson when we were in school. Here  are a couple of links to games students can play to help them practice.

Are you a beginner, intermediate or expert? There's also a tutorial to watch.

Oceans & Continents

Matching Oceans & Continents 

Practice those Skills

We have been working on place value in math. Students need to know up to the millions place.

We have not done anything to the right of the decimal point yet. So to really know the values, here are a few games to practice. Click on the links below to play! 

Place Value Fruit Shoot

Matching Math Place Value

Order Numbers Up to A Million

Ways to Say A Number

Compare Numbers Up to A Million

Look for some rounding games later this week. We are rounding numbers up to a million!

Off To An Amazing Start

We've only had three days of school so far, but I can already tell that this will be a great class! We started out with some basic team building and cooperative activities so that we could get to know one another. 

Our first activity was called "Save Fred." The students learned the scientific method by doing an activity in which they had to get a gummy life saver, on to a gummy worm, which was on top of a cup (which was also Fred's boat). So that sounds simple, but the students could only use a four paper clips. No hands! They had to develop a hypothesis and a procedure. It was a lot of fun to see them working together as they problem solved and got to know one another. 

Below is a slideshow from our Save Fred experiment and the puzzles we put together on the first day!