We have begun our unit on, you guessed it...Fractions. I hope to instill a greater knowledge of fractions in the students that they have never been exposed to before. We will look at fractions as a number, instead of two numbers stacked on top of one another. Students will understand that you can actually count with a fractions just like you do with numbers.

Our first investigation allowed us to discuss what fraction of a goal a 6th grade class met during a fundraiser. Today, we will be splitting candy ropes to give each hiker in a hiking party an equal share. The challenge will come, when more and more people show up to join the party take part in the candy rope share.

I always find that students tend to become very scared and frightened with fractions. I have also found that this is because they do not fully understand the "art" of fractions. Please encourage discussion of fractions at home, and maybe even discuss equal shares at dinner time!

As many of you heard at open house, we had to start at square one to get the students used to thinking mathematically. I am very pleased with the results I am getting thus far. This group of students is very bright and show great drive. When they have a task they will not give up until they have completed. They are finding new ways to get to the same answer, which is HUGE!

I knew we would get there, but I did not realize it would happen this fast. However, we have a long way to go, especially since we have the rest of the school year! That to me is exciting, because I already see so much growth. I can't wait to see what the students will be able to do by the end of the year!

We finish up our Prime Time unit this week and we will be moving on to Bits and Pieces I, a unit about fractions, decimals, and percents...OH MY!