Even with a shorter week, the students have been busy in both math and science. We are continuing to explore how to multiply double digits by a single digit more efficiently and trying to increase our accuracy. Students need to be practicing their times tables at home to support their learning at school. With effortless basic facts, students are able to focus on the computation process not the mental math equations. There are countless apps, links and games students can play on their own or with you to practice these. Such ideas as:
Students have played many different games in class with cards and dice and they can teach you at home.
New multiplication strategy
Students have learned a more efficient way to multiply. This strategy however, relies on their basic fact knowledge to help them. Students are using a times table chart to help them right now, however with practice, they should be able to do these equations without support. The images below show both a times table chart and the step to complete the multiplication strategy. Students should continue to practice this strategy to build their speed and accuracy.
More practice than you can handle can be found at this site:
Students continued to gain an understanding of wheels and axles, gears and drive trains. This week students had to put it all together and explain how a bike would gear up or gear down based on the terrain it faced. Students also needed to label the parts of a bike’s drivetrain. Can your child explain how to pedal up a hill? Do they use their scientific vocabulary?
Students also began working with a type of robot called Ozobot. They are to help our class understand the process of coding. This coding system runs on a colour scheme. The students were learning how to command their robot to do different tasks. The students will be working towards solving more complex problems with the Ozobots.
Even with lots of snow and cold weather, students were busy learning at NCS. This week the students worked to develop a strategy for multiplying two and three digit numbers by a single digit. For example:
The strategy they used was to draw the multiplication question and then solve the repeated addition equation. The students found this strategy very effective. The process looks like:
We were supposed to have a quiz this Thursday, however the snow hampered that. We will be having a quiz on Monday to go over the different multiplication strategies we have learned. I would suggest continuing working on the students’ computations and mental math at home. Reviewing how to add and subtract is important as the students turn their focus to multiplying. We cannot forget our previous work.
Links such as this are a great way to continue practicing:
In science the students spent a couple days learning about the importance of the wheel and axle system and why it is monumental throughout history. As they learned the students continued to refine their understanding of the scientific process. Continue to read about the wheel and axle system at these links:
Thursday and Friday students have been working on Design Challenges. They were presented with different scenarios where they needed to design a solution and then build a prototype to solve the problem. The Scenario they worked through on Friday is posted below. How would you solve the problem?
The Grade fours have continued to explore their new units in both math and science. In Math, the students have seen the benefits of how multiplying can help them solve complex questions. Students have learned that drawing pictures, using repeated addition and understanding how to make arrays are all strategies that can help solve multiplication questions. Next week the students will continue to use these ideas to build bigger multiplication equations and begin to understand the ins and outs of multiplying.
These are excellent links for support Multiplication skills:
In science, students had a building challenge to try and move a heavy object over a long distance. They only had cylinders to do so. Many of our groups began to learn the importance of rollers and how they make it easier to move objects that cannot be lifted. This sparked a lesson about friction and how friction fits into our simple machine unit.
If you want to see the article the students read about friction:
Next week we will continue to explore our simple machines. We will learn their names and how they make our lives easier.