Grouping Fractions According to Landmarks

After creating 40 fraction cards in class, we organized them into groups based on connections we made about them after analyzing relationships between numerators and their denominators. By doing this, we were able to make many generalizations about fractions.

#1- Fractions that have "0" as a numerator equal 0. (Zero parts are named, or shaded.)

#2- Fractions that have a numerator which is exactly one-half of its denominator equal 1/2. 2 is half of 4, so 2/4 = 1/2.

We also added to this observation by saying that since the numerator is half the denominator, IF WE DOUBLE THE NUMERATOR IT WILL EQUAL THE DENOMINATOR.

#3- Fractions that have a numerator equal to its denominator equal 1 whole. If 8 out of 8 parts are shaded, the whole is shaded, therefore, 8/8 = 1 whole.
Those first three groupings were easy to make, as you can imagine. When placing fractions BETWEEN LANDMARKS, though, our generalizations became more advanced!

Here we have two fractions that fall BETWEEN 0 and 1/2. In this case, the numerators are "less than half" of the denominators BUT "greater than zero".

For example, with 2/6, half of 6 is 3, but fewer than 3 parts (only 2) are shaded; therefore, the fraction is LESS than 1/2.

Here we have three fractions that fall BETWEEN 1/2 and 1 whole. In this case, the numerators are "more than half" but "less than equal to" to denominator.

For example, half of 8 is 4, therefor 4/8 = 1/2.

If I have the fraction 5/8, since 5 is more than 4 (half the denominator), then the fraction is greater than 1/2.

We are now beginning to explore decimal and percent equivalents for fractions in class- new, powerful strategies to add to our tool belts when we compare fractions! Math is FUN when there are multiple ways to solve problems and justify our reasonings!

What do you think about fractions, decimals, and percents? Leave a comment!

Love,

Mrs. Phillips

Hallway Exhibit

A Hallway Exhibit of Our Students’ Lives

Take a stroll down the hall of The 4-Corners Team, and you will find hanging 87 beautiful essays that the students wrote about themselves. Remember those three items that students brought to class in a paper bag that represented them in some way? Our students have been working diligently for several weeks on an elaborated and detailed five paragraph essay that depicts their lives. First, students shared their three items with the class, so we could get to know each other better. They told us why these items are important to them and what each represented. Then they got to work crafting their essays, spending weeks revising, editing, and finally publishing. Just today, they added their final touch by illustrating their head and body and attaching the head to the top of their writing and the body to the bottom of their writing. They composed truly interesting and engaging essays. See what I mean by the following few examples. Please leave us a comment and give us your feedback. Students write for an audience, and you are part of their audience!

Science Scoop: What Can Change a Marble's Speed?

Gravity is a force that pulls objects toward the center of the larger mass (which is always Earth since we are always on this planet). All matter (anything that has mass and takes up space) has gravity though- a pencil, a piece of bread, a paper clip...... We just don't feel the effects of gravity on these smaller objects around us (and our own gravitational pull) because the Earth's pull is SO much stronger than everything else.

In our lab on changing a marble's speed, we learned that gravity is one of the forces acting on the marble, which is why it rolled down our ruler ramps when we released it for each of our trials. We also learned that friction was another force acting on the marble, which helped the marble slow down and eventually come to a complete stop after it rolled down the ramp and across the floor.

In addition to learning about gravity and friction, we talked about unbalanced forces in this lab. Forces were UNBALANCED while the marble was rolling down the ramp and across the floor. Any time there is movement with an object, forces are not balanced.

In this Tug of War example, forces are NOT balanced. The group on the left is pulling with more force than the group on the right (the group is moving in the direction of the greater force).

When forces are BALANCED, on the other hand, there is NO movement. We can also say "The NET force is ZERO". Forces are ALWAYS acting on objects (gravity is one that we can never escape here on Earth), but when all are "balanced", there is no movement and the net force is zero. The computer in front of you has a net force of zero- the table (desk) is pushing up on the computer with a force equal to the force of gravity pulling the computer down toward the center of Earth. (Thank goodness, right?) :-)

In this Tug of War example, if both groups of people are pulling in opposite directions with the same amount of force, the rope will NOT move.

We also learned that if two force are working together in the same direction, we add them together. Person 1 + person 2 + person 3 (all on the left) are working together to pull back to the left. If we add their individual pulling forces together, we would get their combined total force.

If two forces are working in opposite directions (against each other), we subtract them. If we could measure the force that the left group is using to pull the rope in their direction and that the right group is using to pull the ropes in the opposite direction, we could subtract those forces to find the NET FORCE (like the "net change" we learned to find in 3rd Grade).

For Behavior Bucks, leave a comment offering two new examples- one for BALANCED forces and one for UNBALANCED forces.

Mrs. Phillips :-)

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin will always have a place in my heart, because he started the first public library (...and you know how much I LOVE to read!). But he is famous for many other things as well. He was an inventor, printer, author, and he played a part helping America become independent from Great Britain.

Ben has been a popular topic around the 4 Corners lately. Recently, a non-fiction article on one of our reading tests featured the famous man. Then, last week a very talented storyteller, Jim Weiss, came to our school and gave a riveting retelling of the events leading up to the writing of The Declaration of Independence. Mr.Franklin was a key player in Jim's retelling as well.

Watch part of the animated story of Ben below!

25 Book Campaign

25 Book Campaign

Students are required to read 25 books for the 4th grade school year. We break this down into the four 9- week grading periods and require each student to read 5 books on their own and write a 1-2 sentence main idea summary of each chapter of each book. This would give them 20 books for the year.

The remaining 5 books that are required will be read by their English Language Arts teacher throughout the year(Lopez-Sinclair and Launey) and each “read aloud” will be discussed and summarized together as a class. Writing a 1-2 sentence main idea summary for each paragraph is crucial in helping the reader comprehend what they read. It is a wonderful way to track their reading and go back and reread their previous summary to see where they left off before they begin to read again. When we model reading with our students, we stop after each paragraph and talk about what we just read. We do this again after each chapter. This is a beneficial strategy to build great comprehension! Happy Reading!

3 is a Magic Number

What a fun Schoolhouse Rock video- one of my personal favorites! If you need practice in saying your multiples of 3 quickly (and learning factor pairs which include 3 as a factor), this is a fun and easy way to learn! October is dedicated to mastering the "3's times tables" in our classroom! Make sure you meet that goal this month!

Enjoy!
Love, Mrs. Phillips

Ben's Dream by, Chris Van Allsburg

We are currently studying the author, Chris Van Allsburg, in our E.L.A. classes. We are really enjoying his mysterious, fantasy books. Last week, we read Mr. Allsburg's third book, Ben's Dream. In this book, the landmarks that Ben and Margaret have been studying in geography class come to life for them! By the end of the book we were wondering (just as we had in his first two books), was it real....or was it all just a dream?

THE Ben's Dream CHALLENGE

In the book, Ben visits 10 famous landmarks. Your task, if you choose to accept it (or would like to recieve 50 Behavior Bucks), is to answer the following three questions about each landmark:

1. Where is the landmark located?

2. What is special about this landmark?

3. Why was it built?

You have until next Monday, October 18th, to finish the challenge and turn in your answers. Click below for a list of the landmarks and websites to help you with your research.

Ben's Dream WEB Sites

Good luck on this Site Seeing Adventure!

Sunshine Math Kick-Off

Today was an exciting day for our students as we attended a special assembly to kick off Math Superstars and were met by two super-sweet Jaguars Cheerleaders, Lauren and Kaleigh. The purpose of the assembly was to inform students on how this math enrichment program will run this year. Permission slips with specific details went home today for students and parents to read together. There are two roles students can take in this program. They can either choose to be a "Mathlete" and complete the extra enrichment math homework during the 18-week program, or they can choose to be a "Cheerleader", like Lauren and Kaleigh, and continually encourage their Mathlete friends to continue participating and putting forth 100% effort. Incentives for Mathletes are invitations to eat outside at the school Pavilion every six weeks as long as they participated in at least of 5 of the 6 weeks. Drawings for prizes (such as autographed posters of The ROAR that Lauren and Kaleigh brought with them today) will be among the items given as prizes at these luncheons! Our awesome PTA will oversee this program again this year by offering various incentives and grading weekly papers. At the end of the 18-week program, every Mathlete who participated in at least 15 of the 18 weeks will be eligible to take a written test to determine a "Top 10" group of Mathletes for the grade level. These ten students will compete in a Math Brawl until the Top 3 Winners are determined. The First Place Winner will go on to compete at the Duval County district competition. We, the teachers at 4 Corners, certainly hope that many of our awesome mathematicians will sign up for this very cool enrichment math program, which starts next week!
Love, Mrs. Phillips