Practice, Practice, Practice!

They kids were busy, busy, busy today practicing adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing integers. They finished the packet that they needed to work on for 20 minutes at home and then got another packet! (Good grief, Matthew! What were you thinking!)

I'll tell you what. The kids have tomorrow off, and then a weekend! We talked about how doing adding today, subtracting tomorrow, multiplying Saturday, and dividing Sunday might be a good plan.

They've also got their Mathematicians Are People, Too Quiz on Monday! They should be studying and memorizing their mathematicians!!

Subtracting Integers

We saved subtracting until the very end! The kids have mastered multiplying and dividing, are getting there on adding, and today we completed the puzzle with subtracting integers. We worked through the four different kinds of subtracting integer problems (listed below) and talked through how to solve them. The two tricky things involved imagining a number line in our heads for normal subtracting, and then when we got into the minus a negative (ie. 3 - -9) that really means we're adding. I know! So confusing! Here's the four kinds:

-1 - 4 = -5
1 - 4 = -3
-1 - -4 = 3
1 - -4 = 5

Got it? Ha!

Tonight I did ask them to complete #s 1-11 on a Subtracting Integers Sheet... but here are the problems with the answers...

1. 5 - (-10) = 15
2. -4 - (-10) = 6
3. -4 - 1 = -5
4. 3 - (3) = 0
5. -7 - (-7) = 0
6. -5 - (-8) = 3
7. -7 - (-6) = -1
8. 7 - (-15) = 22
9. 8 - (-9) = 17
10. -6 - (-8) = 2
11. -1 - 8 = -9

If they don't seem to be getting it just yet, no worries. This is hard! And abstract! Tell them we'll figure it out. :)

Srinivasa Ramanujan

Today was our final mathematician! That means that next Monday (5/4) will be our mathematicians quiz! :) Today the kids got a list of all of the mathematicians we have read about and they were to make sure that they had notes for all of them. Those that are missing notes will get copies of the stories that they are missing tomorrow.

Back to integers tomorrow!

Integers!

Yesterday the kiddos got back their Decimals & Percents Tests after reading about Emmy Noether. Corrections can be made as we continue to move forward in our next unit... Integers! Today we started talking about those pesky signed numbers and how to compare them. And they even have a spot of homework on that -- a sheet, in fact. They'll know they have it for homework.

Emmy Noether

Review for test!

Tomorrow is our decimals & percents test! Whoohoo! Today we checked our homework answers and played a mini-review game in preparation for tomorrow's test. Onward!

Nearing the end of decimals and percents

It seems as if we've been working with percents and decimals for such a long, long time! I guess we have, if you consider that before Christmas is when we started. :) They are such an important topic though, and worthy of the time spent on them.

This week, however, we draw to a close these two large units. After reading our story yesterday on Evariste Galois, today we began reviewing our decimal and percent skills using two practice tests -- one on decimals and the other on percents. The kids worked hard in our longer period today to finish the decimals practice test (for which they will earn stickers!) - and I'd like them to finish this work and have that done for Thursday's class (no class tomorrow). They also got a percent practice test that we started working on together in class. On that, I'd like them to finish solving #s 8-13 (the percent equation problems).

On Thursday, we'll have our review day and then Friday... test time! Check out the class docs for copies of both the decimals and percents practice tests.

Answers for Saturday, April 4 to Wednesday, April 8

Saturday, April 4
504,686

Sunday, April 5
4.6 or 4 3/5 or 4 R27

Monday, April 6
92/15 or 6 2/15

Tuesday, April 7
111/20

Wednesday, April 8
11/24

Math Brain Munching Bugs!! AHH!

Hello all! It has been over a week since I posted last. The week before Spring Break, well, you could tell that there wasn't a lot of time to blog about what was going on in First Year Math.

Anyways, I am enjoying my Spring Break immensely and I must not pander any longer -- there is serious work to be done. Your children may have mentioned the MBMB's, and now you must hear about them too. The note your children received prior to Spring Break:

Dear First Year Math Students & Parents—

To keep the Math Brain Munching Bugs away, one problem and one problem only must be done a day.

Think of a doctor’s orders to take a certain amount of medicine at certain times of the day. The Munching Bugs are just as severe.

Children have been known to return from Spring Break with only an empty frame of what their minds used to be!

These problems, done once a day, with their work and steps totally and completely shown and written down should significantly diminish the Munching Bugs’ effect.

Yours in the fight against MBMB ( or MB2 ) – matthew

Just in case (I know that nothing has happened to the MBMB sheet at your house), I have posted the sheets for First Year Math on our Class Docs here.

Look later this evening for answers up until today!

Happy de-bugging! :)