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Math Resources
Number TalksA Number Talk is a short, ongoing daily routine that provides students with meaningful ongoing practice with computation. A Number Talk is a powerful tool for helping students develop computational fluency because the expectation is that they will use number relationships and the structures of numbers to add, subtract, multiply and divide.
Benefits: The benefits of sharing and discussing computation strategies are highlighted below. Students have the opportunity to do the following: * Clarify thinking * Investigate and apply mathematical relationships * Build a repertoire of efficient strategies * Make decisions about choosing efficient strategies for specific problems * Consider and test other strategies to see if they are mathematically logical In our classroom: A number talk is a 10-15 minute daily classroom conversation and discussion centered on a purposefully designed computation problem that students solve mentally. Fourth grade Number Talks challenge students to think mentally with all four operations of whole numbers including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. With increasing difficulty, students will explore common errors, efficient methods for multi-digit computation, and estimating strategies. For more information: www.mathsolutions.com/documents/numbertalks_sparrish.pdf elemath.hallco.org/web/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Subtraction-Addition-Strategies-At-A-Glance2.pdf elemath.hallco.org/web/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Division-Multiplication-Strategies-At-A-Glance1.pdf Focus Areas of Grade 4
Illustrative Math
Math Tasks |
Tips for Parents for Each Math Module
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Literacy Resources
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Growing Complex Ideas for Complex Texts
When you were young, did you stand ever so still against the doorway of your kitchen while someone—your mom, your grandpa—carefully calibrated your height and made a new mark, complete with the new date, representing your growth? I think one of the ways that I felt cared for was that my parents watched over my growth, cheering for new inches. And of course I watched my growth as well because I was dying to be tall enough to ride the roller coaster at the state fair that came our way every summer.
It is, of course, even more important that we keep track of our sons’ and daughters’ growth as readers, and this letter will help you make a new mark on your measuring stick as we, at school, have made on ours. Specifically, we want to tell you that when we asked your child to read passages that are leveled according to increasing difficulty and asked your child questions about those passages, we learned the level of text difficulty that your child can handle with lots of success. We want you to know that our expectations for the level of difficulty that we hope a child can handle at a grade level are high. One reason we have high expectations is that we always think it is better to aim high. Also, we know that in the year ahead, the entire nation will be bringing in newer and higher standards for children. The most important thing I can tell you is that you can work with your child to alter these levels. These are the result of the amount of interested, engaged reading that a child does with books that are on the child’s level. So if you look at the information and think, “I wish the news were different,” then you and your son or daughter need to think about finding ways to support more reading. Limit television and video games, make trips to the library, make sure high-interest books and magazines are everywhere, talk about books together . . . All those things will make a magical difference. |
Word Study |
The Common Core State Standards place significant Academic Language demands on students as a whole. These language demands include: reasoning abstractly and quantitatively; constructing viable arguments and critiquing reasoning of others; constructing explanations and designing solutions; engaging in argument from evidence; and asking questions and defining problems.
“Academic language proficiency is knowing and being able to use general and content-specific vocabulary, specialized or complex grammatical structures — all for the purpose of acquiring new knowledge and skills, interacting about a topic, or imparting information to others,” (Bailey, 2007). - Children are likely to retain an advanced vocabulary and to incorporate these words into their daily lives as they enter adulthood. The roots of words need to be taught at an early age so that kids can identify with the word as they grow older. The earlier they learn words, the more the words will become part of their everyday vernacular. - Vocabulary is tested too infrequently at the middle school and high school levels, and then all of a sudden students are expected to know them for the all-important Critical Reading section of the SAT’s. To help avoid the stress of cramming for the SAT’s and many other critically timed tests, we start building our vocabulary now. For more information, please visit: www.mheonline.com/glencoemath/wp-content/themes/souffle/pdfs/Developing-Academic-Vocabulary.pdf |
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The Intersection of Literacy with Social Studies & Science:
Lenses to Carry When Reading Scientific Texts:
What-- Parts:
Ideas Numbers Animals
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Historical Reading Skills students should focus on when reading texts.
Lenses to Carry When Reading Texts: Who: people, relationships
Where: Geography
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Key Boarding Skills
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Keyboarding is an excellent skill to obtain and use for when we grow older. Learn to type with the following programs:
BBC Dance Mat Typing Program: www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3c6tfr • Once you've learned all of the key positions and the correct fingerings, practice your skills with these games: Typing Defense (Type the words on each asteroid before they can collide with Earth.) www.rapidtyping.com/online-typing-games/typing-defense.html Key Krusher (Type the incoming letters before they crush your keyboard.) www.wordgames.com/en/key-krusher.html Typing Arcanoid (Type the green letters as fast as possible to score lots of points.) typinggamesforkids.org/typing-arcanoid/ |
Summer Homework & Supply List
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