We are going to have a lot of fun this school year with our new Big Ideas program. With this program students will be learning about the following throughout the year:
-
Place Value Concepts
-
Numerical Expressions
-
Add and Subtract Decimals
-
Multiply Whole Numbers
-
Multiply Decimals
-
Divide Whole Numbers
-
Divide Decimals
-
Add and Subtract Fractions
-
Multiply Fractions
-
Divide Fractions
-
Convert and Display Units of Measure
-
Patterns in the Coordinate Plane
-
Understand Volume
-
Classify Two-Dimensional Shapes
Students will work on these skills here in the classroom and at home. Big Ideas has an online component. Some of our assignments will be online. Others will be in their journal or on paper. Some students will complete their assignments during the day and have no math homework. Others may get some of the assignment completed during the day and finish the rest of it at home. I ALWAYS suggest that students have their parents or older sibling check their assignments over before turning them in, to learn from their mistakes before it becomes a grade. Any paper assignment score below a 70% will have “FIX” written on it. Students should learn from their errors and make the necessary changes and their assignment score will improve. Students will have unit tests with study guides to work on before the test so they know and have examples of what is going to be covered on that test.
I ask that students use xtramath.org at least 4 times a week. This program helps student become solid on their basic facts and we can track their progress. Once the students achieve a score of 100 in multiplication and division, they will no longer have to participate in xtramath. Information on how to log into xtramath will be coming home soon.
Students will also have a Khan Academy account. This information will also be coming home soon. This will help students grow at their level. This is a great tool. We will use this during the week and students will also be able access it on the internet outside of school. We’d like all 5th graders to master 100% of the 117 5th grade common core skills and concepts by the end of the school year. As for pacing, if we are 20% through our school year, your child should have mastered 20% of the 117 5th grade common core skills. This is a good way to monitor your child’s progress. You can see their progress at any time by having them log into their Khan Academy account and have them show you their dashboard. We continually update of progress percentage on the whiteboard throughout the year. For instance, if we are on the 28th day of school the fraction would be 28/180 = 15.5% so the students should have mastered 15.5% of the 117 fifth grade math skills. Every Friday we will have a Khan Academy Dashboard Check. Any student with progress more the 4% below where they should be, will have the weekend to up their progress percentage. I will check their Khan Academy Dashboard again the following Monday. Hopefully the student will have upped their progress. If not, they may stay in at recess to up that progress.
|