Plan for Wednesday

Hello...

Tomorrow's class will continue the great work you did on non-rectangular fractional parts. I'd like to have a couple of people in each class volunteer to come up and show their strategy for breaking the grids into the fractional parts. I imagine each of you thinks about the process differently, so it will be interesting to hear your approach.

After that, I'll give you time to work on any missed homework assignments from this week. You should also be studying for the vocabulary/notes quiz that is coming up on Friday.

See you tomorrow...

Mr. Leitzell

Classwork and Homework for Tuesday

Good evening Blue 6-ers...

After some great work on Pi day, we're back to fraction concepts on Tuesday.

Classwork will be:

• Work on your vocabulary chart (vocab/notes quiz is scheduled for Friday)
• Complete the Make a Flag web game that you may not have completed last Friday
• Complete an activity about making non-rectangular fractional drawings
  (Remember that fractional parts must be the same size, but do not have to be the same shape)
• If time allows, work on analyzing some shapes to see if they are half-shaded or not

Homework:

Go to Mrs. Crocker's Portaportal and do the Learn Alberta - Mixed and Improper Fractions activity (here's a link). Watch the introduction and lesson, and then complete the exercises.

Thanks!

Mr. Leitzell

Fraction Unit Continues!...

Hello Everyone,

Our week commences tomorrow with Pi day, a celebration of the irrational number that plays such an important role in the geometry of circles. Rumor has it that there will be a special treat in class tomorrow (with chocolate chips)...

For the rest of the week, we will continue our exploration of fraction concepts. We'll begin by finishing up our practice modeling fractions on graph paper without using rectangular shapes. Remember, when you're dealing with fraction parts, the size of the fraction matters, but not the shape.

We'll then continue modeling fractions both concretely in class and virtually on the Internet. I've got a great class activity to do with pattern blocks, and a couple of nice websites to check out.

We'll also do some work on comparing the size of fractions, especially the crucial understanding that as the size of the unit fraction's denominator gets larger, the size of the fractional part of the whole gets smaller. By this logic, 1/2 is a larger piece than 1/3, 1/6 is a larger piece than 1/10, etc.

Homework will be posted here later in the week.

See you tomorrow...

Mr. Leitzell

Fraction Unit Starts This Week!

Hey Everyone,

I saw some great work on the Post-Test today! We'll have to see how the scores come out...

Now that the GCF, LCM, and Factorization unit is completed, we're heading into our unit on fractions and decimals. Starting tomorrow, I will be teaching a two-week unit on fraction concepts. After that, Mrs. Crocker will take over and continue with decimals.

The unit on fraction concepts will involve a lot of modeling activities, so I hope you're ready to work with pattern blocks, counters, and paper strips! It should be fun, and tomorrow we're going to start off with a whole-class activity involving a clothesline. Get ready to prove your knowledge!

See you tomorrow...
Mr. Leitzell