Science Projects are due TUESDAY!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and working hard putting the finishing touches on your science fair project! I sent home a reminder letter this past week that included all of the steps of the Scientific Method that must be included on the board. I just wanted to post them one more time on here!

Each step should be labeled on your tri-fold board.

STEPS:

1.    Purpose – This tells what question your experiment will answer (what you are trying to find out).

Ex. Which brand of batteries will last the longest?

2.  Hypothesis – An educated guess about what will happen in the experiment.

Ex. I think Duracell batteries will last the longest because my t.v. remote works well with them.

3.  Materials – List the materials you will use for your experiment.

4. .    Procedure – List the steps of your experiment.

Ex. 1. First, I got 3 brands of batteries – Duracell,

        Energizer, and Rayovac.

        2. Then, I put the Duracell batteries in my remote

        control car.

        3. Then, I played with it until the batteries ran out

 and recorded how long they lasted.

And so on…. (for the whole experiment)

5.  Results – This tells what happened in the experiment. If you can create a graph, chart, or table to show your results, that’s even better! J Pictures are also great!

Ex. The Energizer batteries lasted the longest. They lasted 4 hours. The other batteries only lasted 3.5 hours.

6.  Conclusion – This tells whether your hypothesis was correct or not. If you have done any research about WHY your hypothesis was wrong/right, you can include a summary of that here, too!

Ex. My hypothesis was wrong. The Energizer batteries actually lasted longer than the Duracell batteries. I think this happened because…

Remember that the students will present the projects to me. Please practice with your child at home so that he/she can explain the experiment clearly!

HAVE FUN! :)

MEASUREMENT!

We started measurement this past week. We'll be measuring with a ruler to the nearest 1/16th of an inch, nearest centimeter, and nearest millimeter. Any exposure you can give your child with using a ruler to measure would be great! We'll also be focusing on appropriate units of measure. This will be with the customary system and the metric system.

Here are some great websites with measurement games...
-http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm#measurement - play "Best Measure" and "Best Measure - Metric" to get ready for this week. The other measurement games are great too, and we'll get to those conversion skills in a couple weeks.
-http://www.funbrain.com/measure/ - The centimeters game is very good. The inches game is good too, but it doesn't go all the way to 1/16th of an inch like we do in class.
-http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/math/measurements.html - Good game for measuring weight and length, as well as practice with reading and interpreting a chart.
Please let me know if I can do anything to help you and your child with measurement. This is usually a difficult skill for students, so practice at home will be so important! Thank you for all of your help!!!

Fractions, fractions, fractions...

We have been working on fractions since around Thanksgiving, but some students are still struggling. Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions seem to very difficult for the students.


To help them think through the process, they wrote the steps of working a fraction problem. Parents, take a look at these instructions for multiplying and adding fractions written by the students! Check back soon for more writing from the students on dividing and subtracting fractions!

How to work a Multiplication Problem

By A'Shauna

                                               My Problem: 3 1/3 x 4 2/6

To solve this problem, first you change 3 1/3 and 4 2/6 to an improper fraction, and how you do that is to multiply the denominator (bottom number) to your whole number and then add your numerator (top number). You must do this to both mixed numbers. Now you have an improper fraction, which is when you have the biggest number on top and the lowest on the bottom. Now you multiply 10/3 by 26/6. When you are multiplying, you multiply the two numerators (top numbers), and then you multiply the two denominators (bottom numbers). Then you get an improper fraction, so you divide your denominator into your numerator. When you get your answer, you have a whole number and a remainder. How you write that is to keep your whole number, the remainder will be the top number of your fraction, and the number you divided by will be your denominator, which is the bottom number of the fraction. That is how you work a fraction multiplication problem.

Addition with Fractions and Mixed Numbers

By Keith

            Let me tell you how to add fractions with mixed numbers. The first rule with fraction as mixed numbers is the two mixed fractions have to have a common denominator, which is the bottom number. They both have to be the same. The closest multiple 5 and 6 have in common is 30. So 30 would be your denominator for both mixed fractions. 6x5=30 and 5x6=30.

                                    Example: 3  3/6   = 3  x/30 

                                                   +7  2/5      7  x/30

You still have to have a numerator. The numerator is the top number. The first fraction which is 3 3/6 would be 3 15/30, because you got 30 by multiplying 6x5. You have to multiply the numerator by what you multiplied your denominator by, and 3x5=15. You would do the same with 7 2/5. 7 2/5 would now become 7 12/30 because 2x6=12, and you can’t do 5x5 because that would be 25 and it has to be 30 because that is the closest denominator.

                                   

                                    Example: 3 15/30   =

                                                 +  7 12/30

            Then, you have to add your numerators and whole numbers, but keep your same denominator. You are still not done because you have to get your fraction to the lowest form. You don’t have to worry about your whole number.

                                   

Example: 10 27/30

Your new fraction would be 10 9/10 because 27 divided by 3 =9, and that would be your numerator because 3 can go into 27 and 30. Your denominator would now be 10 because 30 divided by 3 =10. Now your new fraction would be 10 9/10, and you don’t have to do anything to your whole number.

Example: 10 27/30 divide the denominators by 3 = 10 9/10

Those are the steps to adding fractions with whole numbers.

It is difficult to write out the steps of a math problem in words, and these students did a great job explaining each step. As your child is working math problems, have him/her explain the steps to you in words! Check back soon for more writing samples from the students! :)

SCIENCE FAIR IS COMING UP!

Remember - everyone must do a project, even if you are not entering the competition!
If you are stuck and can't think of anything to do, here are some great websites with tons of cool, creative ideas! Pick something that interests you!!

ALL PROJECTS ARE DUE FEBRUARY 7! Please don't wait till the last minute! :)

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas.shtml

http://www.education.com/science-fair/fifth-grade/

http://www.sciencebob.com/sciencefair/ideas.php

http://www.sciencefairadventure.com/

Let me know if you have any questions!! :) HAVE FUN! :)

Great Online Math Practice!

Parents ask me all the time if there are any good websites that can be used to practice math skills, so I wanted to let you know about one that I recently found.

Go to...
http://www.ixl.com/math/grade-5

This website has practice problems on just about any math skill you can think of! Here is a list of some topics that you can have your child focus on right now:
- Number Theory - Prime and Composite Numbers
- Number Theory - Divisibility Rules Word Problems (Lots of students had trouble with this skill so it's a great one to review!)
- Fractions - Any of Lessons 1-4
- Of course, it's always a good idea to back and review topics that we have covered earlier in the year...especially if you remember your child struggling with something in particular.

You can see on the left side of the website that you can go up or down on the grade level. If your child is having trouble with the 5th grade material, you may want to go down a grade level for a little while and work your way back up. If 5th grade is too easy, challenge your child! They LOVE to know that they are working on "junior high stuff."  :)

If you have some time, sit with your child while they work a few problems and get them to explain their answer and how they came up with their answer. We have been working on justifying every answer to make sure that they are really THINKING about how to solve the problem.

Keep this website in mind throughout the year since it contains practice for SO many topics!

Thank you for all you do at home!!!

Welcome to the Blog!

Hi everyone! Welcome to our class blog!

I've never blogged before, but I wanted to give it a try for our class! I will try to post something at least once a week that relates to what we are studying in class. I will try to find online resources, games, or activities that you can use at home to help your child review the skills we are covering in class.

To start with, I want to give you a link to Study Island. This is a program that your child is very familiar with. It directly relates to the Mississippi Frameworks and is great for MCT2 prep! Your child should already know his/her username and password. If not, the username will be the first initial and last name and then ".h5g" - for example: John Smith would be jsmith.h5g. All passwords start off as "password," so if your child has not logged on yet this year, that is probably still the password. When you log in, it will prompt you to change the password. Please change the password to your child's initials and a 5 - for example, js5.

If you have any problems logging in, please let me know and I can look up your child's log-in information.

Go here to get started: studyisland.com

Your child will see assignments to start on as soon as he/she logs in.

Please feel free to comment on the blog at any time! Like I said, I will try to update often  to give you as many resources as possible to work with your child at home. If there are any specific skills that you would like for me to find resources on, please comment and let me know. I'm here to help!

Thank you for EVERYTHING that you do! This is a great group of students and parents, and I enjoy every day of working with your children! :)