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Balloon HW

1-6

1-6 with answers

HW

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The New Secret!!

BINGO and Warm up

BINGO 2!

After our All-School Meeting for Worship, we actually only ended up having about 20 minutes of class time so our fun-filled game of BINGO was cut short!  :(

Highlights for when we return: adding, subtracting and multiplying mixed fractions... oh my!  

Have a great break!

BINGO!

Back by popular demand... today we played BINGO! (Adding/Subtracting Fractions style!)

Can you find the stars?

Today we began by using our homework problem from last night as our warm up.

Then, we did this incredibly fun activity where you have to connect the dots to make stars once you've found equivalent fractions.  That sounds WAY more confusing than it actually was!! :)  Ask your child to let you have a peek.  (Plus, I do believe that there are a few kiddos who need to finish it up over the weekend, so checking on that would be a good idea.)

Next week we'll be working on adding, subtracting and now, multiplying fractions! :)

Multiplying Fractions!

First I must apologize for not posting yesterday. (And not just not on-time... not at all!) So this post will cover yesterday and today.

I cannot tell you how pumped I am about these past two days in math.  This is not even to start to mention how excited your children are!  We've been multiplying fractions!  Yesterday we talked through just the basics (multiply the tops, then multiply the bottoms, then reduce if needed). 

But today?????  I revealed the great secret of pre-reducing when multiplying (or cross-canceling, as you may know it).  You should have seen them!  They were on the edge of their seats!

Tonight they have just one problem... because we ran out of time during class!  You'll see it as example 3 below.  One or two may have stayed a bit late to finish the problem, but I promised I would not reveal the answer until tomorrow morning. :)  Ah... the art of discovery and learning!

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The secret to multiplying fractions! (Sh!!)

The HW Problem

Starting notes...

Multiplying a whole number by a fraction

Multiplying two fractions

Examples

Dangerous Fractions!

Today we processed the work that the kids did yesterday while I was away... a sheet called Dangerous Fractions!  Ask your kids about some of that math! :)

BINGO!

Today we play Reducing Fractions BINGO!  The same old game you love, just with reducing fractions. :)

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The SECRET... Revealed!

So, I had to reveal the secret of borrowing when subtracting fractions today.  The kids were just great. :)

We explained it, did examples, talked about metaphors, and they have ONE (just one!) problem for homework (we worked right up until the end of class!).  Ask them to show it to you... and take a look at my ambigram! ;)

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The Great Reveal (Ex 4 from Friday)

Ex 3

Exs 5-6

HW Problem

Aw, come on, Matthew!

Today we took more notes and had more in-depth conversations about adding/subtracting mixed numbers/fractions.  We got up right to the last example (Ex 4 below) and ran into a road block!  What to do when you can't take away? How do you borrow from the whole number?

And, we ran out of time before I could share the secret!!  So, if you know the answer, please keep the secret with me... at least until Monday! :)

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Ex 2

Exs 3-4

Operations with Mixed Numbers

Today we took some much needed notes on adding and subtracting mixed numbers (whole numbers and fractions) and got to practice some problems as well!

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Practice with add/subtract mixed numbers

Electoral Math!

Many of you may not know that while I am trained as a math teacher, I am also trained as a social studies and language arts teacher -- and I could not pass up the opportunity to use today's election to talk about the electoral college and the math behind the elections.

The highlights of today were talking about the ins and outs of the electoral college and playing with the electoral map of the United States. Here are some websites that we used:

• 2008 Electoral College Ball... Go Team! (a blog by a dad!)

Tonight's homework is to pay attention to one of the most important events in your child's life thus far!

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Just some more adding and subtracting!

Today's big deal?  Nothing really... just some more adding and subtracting fractions.  We'll be engaged in this process for awhile. :)

Their homework is varied depending on the child--some kids are working on one sheet while others have chosen different routes.  Check with your child. :)

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What's Up with Matthew not posting??

Well, I'm typing this post from the eighth floor of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Denver, Colorado where I'm busy preparing for two presentations that I will be leading with Toni at the National Middle School Association's Annual Conference. And, as you can imagine, it took quite a bit to pull everything together to leave this morning!

So, for the last few days, you've seen tons of pictures pop up on here without any explanation as to what we've been doing! Ha!

Well, overall, the kids and I have been engaged in a conversation about adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators--in fact, that's what they'll be working on while I'm gone. When I return, obviously, expect much more detailed blogs updating you on all I've learned and what's on the horizon for First Year Math.

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Equality Man!!!

More practice with common denominators

After a warm up on like fractions, we spent our entire time working together on some adding unlike fractions problems.  We'll likely be spending a great deal of time together on this in the coming weeks!

No homework!

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The steps for common denominators... Again ;)

What do these problems have to do with each other??

The promised land!

We reached a bit of the promised land today!  Finding common denominators.  It looked like taking a lot of notes with tons of examples and butterfly metaphors. :)

There's no homework, as I'm not 100% ready for them to tackle them on their own just yet. :)

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Notes on common denominators

What we did yesterday

Adding unlike

Steps, math speak

Another example

On like denominators...

We spent our time today starting the conversation of what it's like to work with fractions that have the same denominator.  We did a bit of individual practice, but still, no homework. :)

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Notes and examples on like denominators

Work Day!

Today we spent some time engage in reducing fractions and equivalent fractions practice... which the kiddos will need to finish if they didn't finish today in class. (No worries, these go REALLY fast. :))

Monday it will be time to Add and Subtract some fractions!

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Reducing!

Today we practiced some more reducing, checked our homework, and watched a video explaining more about reducing fractions.

Tonight's homework is a sheet, front and back, on reducing and equivalent fractions.

Equal Fractions!

Today we talked about equivalent fractions and how they relate to reducing fractions. :)

It was quite a full day!

We completed our warm up, took notes, did some practice problems, ran a lap around the building, did a worksheet, and then started work on a sheet of HUGE fractions to reduce that the kids themselves created yesterday!  They will need to finish these for homework... which is due THURSDAY.  (Due to block schedule, they will not see me tomorrow.)

Onward!

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Ex 1 & 2

Ex 3 & 4

Practice Equivalent Fractions

Making our own fractions

Our warm up today was created by Benjamin... and it was a HUGE fraction that the kids had to reduce.  SO, we spent the rest of the period creating our own huge fractions to reduce.  We'll work on those tomorrow during our block. :) NO HW

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Reducing Fractions

Today we talked about reducing fractions... or "fractions shedding their skin"!

Our main rule for reducing fractions to their lowest terms is to divide the top and bottom of the fraction by the biggest number that will go into both of them evenly.

To practice?  The kids are to complete the 8 problems in the middle of the sheet I gave them.  A few kiddos have a handful to complete tonight. :)

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