Holiday Multiplication Practice...

Gooey gum drop buttons! Each time you get a multiplication fact correct, another piece of the holiday scene is revealed! When you complete the level, you get to build your own holiday picture! Now that we know our multiplication facts, this is easy as pie. Be sure to always click on 0-9!

Happy Holidays Multiplication Practice

The Secret of Saying Thanks...

A Maths Dictionary for Kids...

Yes, you read it right: m-a-t-h-s. The following site was made by an Australian school teacher, therefore the term “maths” as opposed to “math” is used. Really, “mathematics” is plural, so “maths” is probably the better term. I digress.

A Maths Dictionary for Kids is a wonderful site full of colorful and easily explained math definitions. For many of our trimester two standards (area and perimeter, radius and diameter, parallel/perpendicular/intersecting lines, etc.), these definitions are a great reference source. On several of the definition pages, there are also small interactive practices! It’s been listed on the Homework Help page for a while, but if you haven’t checked it out yet, head over there!

Bunnicula!...

“When the Monroe family brings home a small black-and-white bunny they find in the movie theater after seeing Dracula, Chester the cat and Harold the dog are instantly suspicious. After all the vegetables in the Monroe kitchen start turning white, Chester and Harold are certain that Bunnicula is a vegetarian vampire.” (Scholastic) Our homeroom language class is currently reading Bunnicula! If you’d like more information about the book or its authors, please use the links below. It’s great to listen to the podcasts as review! Remember, 100% on the ending quiz = 2.0 AR points free!

James Howe (Baltimore County Public Library)

Bunnicula Series (Good Reads)

Bunnicula (Vocabulary and Podcasts)

Trimester One Conferences...

Trimester One Conference Week will take place from November 28th to December 2nd. Each day during this week is a minimum day with student dismissal at 1:45 PM. Conference slips were sent home this week and your prompt reply is much appreciated. Some conference times will always need to be rescheduled, so the sooner the slips are returned, the easier it will be for all involved. If the original time does not work for you, please take care to offer more appropriate times for your schedule. See you soon!

Veterans Day...

Just a reminder: there is no school this Friday, November 11th due to Veterans Day. Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

One Week Left: Trimester One Testing ’11!...

Trimester One Testing (the results of which you find on the back of our report cards) will take place between November 7th and 10th. PLEASE look over the following essential standards and review each with your child! If you have any questions about the content of the test, send a note!

English/Language Arts – First Trimester

• I can show that I understand words that have several meanings. [Ex: trunk -- 1) an elephant's long nose, 2) the large stem of a tree, 3) the back area of a car used for storage]
• I can tell the difference between cause and effect, and fact and opinion. [Ex: Cause -- The action that happens first in chronological order which creates a reaction; Effect -- The action that happens as the result of a cause; Fact -- Something that can be proved; Opinion -- Personal thoughts and feelings]
• I can find information in my texts using its index, table of contents, glossary, maps and charts, etc. [Ex: The student understands the parts of a textbook and knows which to use in order to find the proper information. Some parts of other books include the preface, dedication/acknowledgments, and appendix.]
• I can speak and write in simple and compound sentences. [Ex: See here for the difference between simple, compound, and complex sentences. The most important piece is the students' understanding of how to use correct conjunctions in order to combine pieces of a sentence.]
• I can speak and write using all kinds of verbs, adverbs, prepositions, and the correct connecting words in my sentences. [See Grammar Gorillas for a practice of all necessary parts of speech.]
• I can capitalize names of magazines, newspapers, works of art and music, organizations, and the first word inside a quotation. [Ex: Little House on the Prairie, San Francisco Chronicle, "I'm a Little Teapot"]

Mathematics – First Trimester

• I can read and write numbers from 1 to 999,999,999. [Ex: three million, four hundred two thousand, fifty-one and thirty-three hundredths = 3,402,051.33]
• I can order and compare whole numbers and decimals. [Ex: 39.1; 82; 0.145 ordered from least to greatest is 0.145; 39.1; 82. Line your numbers up vertically by decimals, then begin with the numbers on the left. This is similar to finding words in a dictionary.]
• I can round numbers through the millions to the nearest ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, or hundred thousand. [Ex: In order to round, identify the place you are rounding to (underline it). Draw an arrow to the right and determine whether the arrowed number is four or less, or five or greater. If it is four or less, your underlined number stays the same. If it is five or greater, your underlined number will increase by one. All numbers to the left of the underline stay the same while all numbers to the right of the underline turn into zeros. 4,516,098 rounded to the nearest ten thousand would be 4,520,000; 32.978 rounded to the nearest tenth would be 33.]
• I can make a reasonable estimate and then add or subtract whole numbers and decimals. [Ex: Estimating is rounding before adding or subtracting. If the place to be rounded is not specified, you must round to the "greatest place of the smallest number". For example, 412 + 32 would require you to round to the tens place, since 32 is the smaller number and the tens place is the greatest place in that number. 412 + 32 would turn into 410 + 30, which equals 440.]
• I can show when and how to add and subtract numbers with many digits. [Ex: 45,610 + 1,984 = 47,594. 56,009 - 3,899 = 52,110. Be sure your child knows how to borrow in subtraction as well as when to add versus subtract when reading a word problem.]
• I can show that equals added to equals are equal. [Ex: If 9 + 3 + 5 = f + 5, then f = 12.]
• I can show that equals multiplied by equals are equal. [Ex: If 4 x h x 2 = 2 x 12, then h = 3. If 6s=30, then s=5.]