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!

Welcome to the 6th grade! Hopefully. you have already heard of the fun and engaging things we have done in math. As many of you know, from Open House, math will be completely different for you and your student this year. We are focusing on building a strong mathematical foundation that students can apply to many walks of life. A quote:

A man that knows HOW will get the job, but a man that knows WHY will be his boss. 
                                                                                    -Anonymous

Many of us learned the old fashioned way, learn these steps and you will learn math. Through much research and data, we have determined that this is not really the best way to learn math. Rote memorization does not call for thinking and cannot be applied to multiple situations. Therefore, this year your student may not learn the algorithms you know. They may go about math by drawing pictures, models, or using tools they make or find in the classroom. Please be open minded and DO NOT GIVE THE ANSWERS or the "easy way" that you know. From what I have seen and experienced, the "easy way" we all know is not all that easy!