Friday, April 25, 2008

Message from Classmate

Feel free to respond:

I think that both Math chapters in each of Rafe Esquith’s books are very helpful! Chapter 5 of his 2007 book “Teach Like your Hair’s On Fire” is awesome and lists websites/TOOLS to assist teachers along with explaining simple and educational math games/warm-ups. He mentions Marcy Cook’s website as one that he uses for materials!
Great stuff!!!!!!!!!!!
Trina Palosaari

CH 6, 7, & 8 Test Review

You should be able to:

  1. Provide a pictorial representation of fractions, whether using a discrete whole or a continuous whole.
  2. Write a decimal number as a fraction in the form: i.e 2.25 = 225/100 = 9/4, or 2.2525252525... = 223/99
  3. Demonstrate understanding of decimal numbers by finding numbers that would be between consecutive decimal numbers. i.e. what decimal numbers are between 0.2 and 0.3
  4. Use approximation to find an estimate of the answer when doing addition, subtraction, multiplication or division involving mixed numbers.
  5. Find a fraction between fractions with unlike denominators without converting to decimal numbers or using common denominators. This means understanding how “neighbor numbers” work.
  6. Illustrate multiplication and division of fractions
  7. Explain additive and multiplicative comparison and be able to write word problems that illustrate this knowledge
  8. Illustrate multiplicative relationships (similar to the chocolate bar activity in ch.8) and use that knowledge to solve problems

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Converting Decimals to Fractions

TERMINATING DECIMALS:
Put the decimal’s digits in the numerator.
In the denominator, the number of zeros equals the number of decimal digits.
Example: (a) 0.079 = 79/1000 (b) 2.13 = 213/100

SIMPLE REPEATING DECIMALS:
Put the decimal’s repeating digits in the numerator.
In the denominator, the number of nines equals the number of repeating decimal digits.
Example: (a) 0.7979797979… = 79/99

COMPLEX REPEATING DECIMALS:
Subtract the non-repeating digits from the combination of non-repeating digits and one set of the repeating digits. Put this number in the numerator.
In the denominator, the number of nines equals the number of repeating decimal digits and the number of zeros equals the number of non-repeating decimal digits.
Example: (a) 0.12379797979… = (12379 - 123) / 99000 = 12256/99000 (which can then be simplified) (b) 12.3797979797... = (12379-123)/990 = 12256/990 (which can then be simplified)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

CH 3, 4, & 5 Test Review

You should be able to:

  1. Write word problems that use (a) comparison subtraction, (b) take-away model of subtraction, and (c) missing addend.
  2. Analyze students' methods for adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing. (Analyze means be able to explain the child's procedure or solution method, whether their procedure is reasonable, and if they got the answer correct or not. )
  3. Make a sketch that models the multiplication of two numbers (repeated addition, array, area, Fundamental Counting Principle), whether using whole numbers or fractions.
  4. Write division word problems that use equal share or repeated subtraction models.
  5. Estimate and explain your thinking when dividing very large numbers to determine an approximate percent.
  6. Use scientific notation to solve problems with really big numbers or really small numbers and be able to convert those numbers into other units that provide a better understanding of what those numbers represent.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

CH.1 & 2 Test

You should be able to:

  1. Use quantitative anaylsis to solve problems (i.e. the trains approaching each other)
  2. Take a number and use place value to think about the number in different ways. (Similar to our discussion about money--$235 can be thought of as 235 ones, 23 1/2 tens or 2.35 hundreds, etc.)
  3. Work with bases other than ten: (a) take a base ten number and convert it to another base, (b) take a number from another base and convert to base ten, and (c) add and (d) subtract numbers that are in other bases.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Welcome to Math for Elementary School Teachers

Here is where we will post your test review topics and other important news. You can also use this Blog to share resources with your classmates.