March 10 Learning Summary

In fractions the last few days, we learned that higher number are actually lower.  People think 1/16 is more than 1/8 because 16 is bigger than 8, but they're surprised when they learn it is the other way around. If you are comparing something has 16 equal pieces or something that has 8 equal pieces, one of the 16 pieces is smaller than one of the 8 pieces.

Here is an example using this cake. The number 4 is bigger than the number 2, but when it is a fraction, a larger number actually means a smaller piece. 1/2 of this cake is twice as big as 1/4 of this cake! What do you think 1/8 of the cake would look like?

In multiplication, we learned how to use repeated addition to help solve problems.
2 x 3 is the same thing as 3 + 3 and 4 x 5 is the same as 5 + 5 + 5 + 5. We also learned that you can break up one number in multiplication to help make problems easier to solve. Let's say you don't know 4 x 9 yet. You can break up the 4 and do 2 x 9 plus 2 x 9 to get the answer. We still need to learn our basic multiplication facts, but this is a strategy we can use when we get to bigger numbers or for basic facts we don't know yet.

During writing we found out about the PBS Kids Go! contest. Now we're all hoping to write a fabulous story that will help us win a laptop or camera or mp3 player.  "I'm so excited for itto come! My mom always does her book work on the computer and if I win the laptop, I can play Madden on my laptop while she does her work."