Xtra Math

Last night while I was perusing my list of 3rd Grade math and science blogs, I came upon a post from 3rd Grade Thoughts. She wrote about an online Math program that focuses on math facts! It's called Xtra Math and it's FREE! I set up a teacher account this evening and have played around in it a bit before setting up all of our kiddos. They each have their own PIN number (which I will send home either this week or next week) and are set up to start working on multiplication facts! If you would like to start working before I send everyone's paper home, send me an email and I will pass along your child's login info.



After logging in, a Placement Quiz opens for your child to be assessed and see what facts need to be practiced.

Throughout the placement quiz (and later during the practices), a timer at the bottom of the screen moves along to tell you if you are answering questions quickly, taking a little extra time, or letting time slip away.

If the answer is correct, a new fact pops up.

If the answer is incorrect or if too long is taken, the answer shows grayed out. A blue hour glass also comes onto the screen if too long has passed before the question is being answered.

To try and match the speed of our timed test, the smiley face on the timer is set to 3 seconds, which is very close to the average amount of time needed to spend on a problem to answer all questions on our timed tests.

If your child gets to school early enough in the mornings {by 7:30} on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday I can stop by the gym and grab them so they can work on Xtra Math on the computers in the room. 

Hopefully, this resource is one that you are able to use at home! 

Partial Product Finder

Last week, we started taking a more in depth look at multiplying by 2 digit numbers and what the distributive property looks like. We have been focusing on breaking our 2 digit numbers up by their place values and having a group for the tens place and a group for the ones place.

Jennie Kottmeier has some really good {and FREE} properties of multiplication posters that you can get {here}. This is what the distributive property looks like.

7 is broken up into 5 and 2. Then, 5 is multiplied by 4 and 2 is multiplied by 4. 5x4=20 and 2x4=8. 20 and 8 are the partial products that area added together to get 28.

Last night, as I was searching the web for math fact practices, I came across a web app through Math Learning Center. They have so many great {FREE} apps that can be used on the computer as a web app or on a tablet as a downloadable app!

Their newest app that they are still in the process of building is a {drum roll, please!} partial product app! You can change the factors in the problem and move the arrows at the side of the array to change the distribution of numbers in the problem.

It also tells you the new multiplication equation for each section of the array, what the partial products for each section are, and the total after all of the partial products are added together. This is EXACTLY on of the strategies we have been working on!

They have several other free math apps that can be used on the web or downloaded onto a tablet. Number Pieces and Number Line are some good apps for practicing different operations. Check out their other math apps {here}.

I hope you find this resource useful! :)

Snapshot 1-22-18

Here is this week's snapshot if  you are unable to get the e-mails. You can download the *.pdf file by clicking beneath the snapshot picture the below. All snapshots will be available in *.pdf form on the "Weekly Snapshots" page {here} once they are sent out and posted!

Beginning this upcoming {Friday, January 26}, Mrs. Castle and I are going to start implementing a new incentive plan! Students who complete all assignments that are due that week with high quality will be able to choose to visit Mrs. Castle's room for free reading time, or my room for math/science activity time. Mrs. Castle and I will switch off every other week and host Fun Fridays in our classrooms during lunch.

Click {here} to direct download this week's snapshot!

Week of: January 22, 2018

Dear Parents,

We have a lot coming up these next few weeks of school! Due to our mock STAAR testing days Monday, January 29 and Tuesday, January 30, we will not have lunch visitors. Lunch visitors will resume Wednesday, January 31. Please see the list of dates below for what we have going on at school over the next few weeks as well as dues dates for next week’s scheduled homework.

Upcoming Dates
Monday, January 22	Monday Tutorials begin (3:30 – 4:00)
Monday, January 22	Explorers begin (4:00 – 5:00)
Tuesday, January 23	9s Timed Test
Tuesday, January 23	Unit 7 & 8 Social Studies Curriculum Assessment
Tuesday, January 23	Tuesday Tutorials begin (3:30 – 4:00)
Wednesday, January 24	Class Group Pictures
Monday, January 29	3rd Grade Mock STAAR – math *no lunch visitors
Tuesday, January 30	3rd Grade Mock STAAR – reading *no lunch visitors

Upcoming Assignment due dates
Tuesday, January 23	Math Classwork: Exploring Multiplication with Base Ten Blocks
Wednesday, January 24	Math Classwork: Going Bananas for Multiplication
Friday, January 26	Science Investigations/Classwork: Sheep in a Jeep investigation tables and conclusions finished
HOMEWORK: Monday, January 22	Math homework: Countdown to the Math STAAR, Series 1 P5 and P6 {front and back} Science homework: Unit 6 Vocabulary/Unit 7 Guided Practice {front and back}
HOMEWORK: Monday, January 29	Math homework: Countdown to the Math STAAR, Series 1 P7 and subtraction with regrouping {front and back} Science homework: Unit 7 Guided Practice and Unit 7 Check for Understanding {front and back}

*number of classwork assignments may change throughout the week based on classroom needs

 

THIS WEEK IN MATH:

We are continuing one digit by two digit multiplication.  Your child has learned quite a few different methods for multiplying.  They are being encouraged to work the problem using two different methods because checking by doing the problem the same way twice often leads to making the same mistake twice.  Some of these methods are the traditional algorithm, using the distributive property and partial products, the partial products box, the traditional set up with partial products, and base 10 notation with partial products.  This week, we revisit rounding as we learn to estimate to multiply numbers.

**Showing Work: Please double check to make sure your child is showing their work on their math homework.

Students have gotten much better at showing work on classroom assignments, but a reminder from home will help to reinforce that justifying our answers is an expectation.

Math Resources to Help at Home

Division Math Practice – In this drag racing game, your child can practice division facts while racing against the computer or other players.

Students in third grade must master their multiplication facts with automaticity.  This means they are to recall these facts quickly.  Each Tuesday, we have a two minute test over the facts we have studied for the previous week. We will have our timed multiplication test Tuesday, January 23 over 9s through the twelfth multiple. Next Wednesday, February 1, we will test over 11s.

SKILL PRACTICE WEBSITES

Free Training Tutorial - Division - This link will take you to the division page. If you would like to practice other skills with your child, you can search through them on the website’s home page.

Regrouping is definitely a skill that needs to be reviewed often in addition and subtraction.  Many of our students are showing a need for this.  Under Subtraction, there is a two-digit with regrouping basketball game that would be a great practice if your child wants to strengthen this skill.

That Quiz  - Under Integers, click Arithmetic.  Adjust length, level, and time as needed.  Click the box for multiplication to let your child practice their facts.

Multiplication – Lots of free and entertaining games to practice multiplication facts.

Education Galaxy – Use the skills practice section for math to practice multiplication facts.

Turtle Diary Division Games - Use these games to practice division and multiplication facts. Change the topics or grade level to review different skills, or bump up to a more challenging level!

 

THIS WEEK IN SCIENCE:

In science this week, we will finish our unit on force and motion. We will continue looking at pulling, pushing and gravity, as well as magnetism as the types of forces we are studying.

We will start working on our STEAMposium balloon powered cars on Tuesday this week! We will be looking at the engineering design process, walking through the steps of the engineering design process, and coming up with design plans and ideas for creating a working balloon powered car.

We will be needing recyclable materials to make our balloon powered cars. Any materials that you have at home that could be sent would be greatly appreciated. As of now, we have enough materials for about half of one class.

PRACTICE AT HOME:

One of the activities we did in during our first week of force and motion was walking around the room and placing a sticky note on objects that we thought used a push or pull, then we discussed it as a group. This could be done as just a discussion on the way home from school, with different objects around the house, at the grocery store, etc. The kids notice several of our science topics at lunch and can’t wait to share their observations!

RESOURCES FOR PRACTICE

Science Kids - Force in Action– Using a car on a track, test out different slopes, weights and parachutes to see what it takes to get the truck to the end of the ramp. There is even a place to record your observations on a table! You can find the full list of science games on their homepage {here}.

Study Jams - Force and Motion – Play the video on force and motion, and test yourself over various force and motion questions. There are also other videos and slideshows that talk about other areas related to force and motion (Newton’s laws, simple machines, gravity and inertia) that you can find {here}.

Education Galaxy – On the top right, have your child go up one level on the drop down menu. Then go to My Study Plan and choose science.  Practice Force.

Discovery Education – There is a large supply of video, interactive learning, questions, and an interactive glossary for vocabulary that is always helpful for whatever we are learning in science.  All content in this resource is searchable.

Balloon Powered Car Game - This is a downloadable game from PBS Kids that lets kids create a virtual balloon powered car! The game walks you through creating your car with different materials of different sizes, then testing your car to see the distances your car traveled based on the materials and sizing of the materials used.

Thank you so much for your dedication to helping your child learn.

Sincerely,

2 Digit Multiplication

This week we started multiplying 1 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers. The method we have been focusing on this week is called Break Apart. We are using prior knowledge of place value, distributive property, addition (sometimes with regrouping) and 1 digit multiplication to solve our multiplication problems with this method.

When we are using the break apart model, we are breaking our 2 digit number apart into the tens place and the ones place. We are then multiplying the tens place by the first factor and finding that product, then multiplying the ones place by the first factor and finding that product. Once we have the product for both sets, we are taking those 2 numbers (our partial products) and adding them together to find our whole product. I promise it's not as confusing to work out as it is to read!

The answer, after adding the partial products 150 + 18 would be 168

{Here} is the link to a quick video of me working out one of the problems we did in class this week. It is also on the step-by-step page that was sent home with week along with the guided practice as extra practice as needed. {The video is an *.avi file, which may not play on some players. I am working on converting it to *.mp4 and compressing it so it will upload directly to this post.}

We have not talked about this in class yet, but it very similar to the break apart we have been doing (just without the blocks!)

In the area model, we are again breaking up our factors into their place value groups, multiplying each group in each factor by each other, then adding the totals together. This can be used with factors that go beyond 1 digit and 2 digits multiplication.

The answer after adding the partial products 150 +18 would be 168

The answer, after adding the partial products 45,000 + 900 + 180 and + 27 would be 46,737

This is a long one! The answer, after adding the partial products 70,000 + 8,000 + 0 + 60 + 14,000 + 1,600 + 0 + 12 would be 93,672

Multiplication Models

Below are some different models to help with multiplication practice at home. Most of these are  models that we have used with single digit multiplication in class or tutorials. These models can be used for double digit multiplication as well, but it tends to be a bit more difficult when there are so many numbers!

There is also a copy of this file linked through Google Drive if you would like to download it or print it out to use during at home practice time! Click {here} for the file with each picture per page and {here} for each model explanation and example per page.

GISD Techfest

This flyer will be coming home this week. The district will be hosting a Techfest at the Curtis Culwell Center in 2 weeks! There is bound to be a plethora of resources that would be perfect to use at home for all content areas! The will start serving pizza at 5:30 before beginning at 6:00. Don't miss out on this free event! :)

Steamposium Supply Donations

We will begin working on our 3^rd Grade STEAM Challenge for Steamposium after next week. There are some materials that we will need in order to complete our STEAM challenge. If you are able to donate any of these supplies it would be greatly appreciated! We can begin collecting these materials next Tuesday when we return to school.

Thank you for all of your help!