Good afternoon everyone!
It’s Wednesday, which means our
week is already more than half over!
Inquiry into Language – Today, we
started off reviewing our chapter three comprehension questions for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The
Lightning Thief. We then broke into focus groups to answer a few more
questions we had.
After this, we read through chapter
four titled, “My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting”.
After this, we had our first
library session of the year with Ms. Hayward. You can read more about it on her
blog (link on the left).
In the afternoon, we had French,
which you can read about on Mme. Rawan’s blog (link on the left).
Inquiry into Math – We started to
work on our mental math today with some challenging questions. We have a few
strategies we use for mental math. The first is to remember that the order of
numbers is not important when you are adding OR multiplying. For example,
2 + 3 = 5 and 3 + 2 = 5 or 2 x 3 =
6 and 3 x 2 = 6.
Addition: You find compatible numbers (these are numbers
that are easier to calculate mentally).
If you have the question 40 + 36 +
60, you rearrange so you can use the compatible numbers.
40 + 36 + 60
= 40 + 60 + 36
= 100 + 36
= 136
The question is much easier to answer
when you add 40 and 60 to make 100, because 100 is an easy number to work with.
Subtraction: You use your knowledge
of place value and go column by column.
If you have the question 9578 –
8253:
First start your thousands column:
9 – 8 = 1
Then your hundreds column: 5 – 2 =
3
Then your tens column: 7 – 5 = 2
Then finally your ones column: 8 –
3 = 5
Then you place the numbers in the
correct place value order, which is 1325.
Multiplication: Rewrite numbers in
the question with easier numbers to use (compatible numbers) to help your
calculation. Break down the complex number and multiply with simpler numbers.
If you have the question 7 x 18:
7 x 18
= 7 x (10 + 8)
= 7 x 10 + 7 x 8
= 70 + 56
= 126
Inquiry into Matter – Today, we
built on our knowledge of reversible changes and non-reversible changes by
talking about physical changes and chemical changes. A physical change is a change that can be
reversed or changed back. An example of this is our Hot and Cold Chocolate experiment where we were able to melt and freeze
chocolate. A chemical change is a
change that cannot be reversed or is very hard to reverse. An example of this
is our Elephant Toothpaste experiment
where we mixed chemicals but could not ‘unmix’ them.
After this, we had some free time
to inquire into either matter, language, or math and ask for any needed help.
For homework:
Any incomplete homework will have
to be completed during recess time.
A couple of quick reminders:
- · Mr. Beresford and our athletic division have planned a trip to the golf range for our grade. This trip was included in the athletic fees for grade fives. A permission form was sent home to be signed – it is due back to me by September 24th.
- · Terry Fox forms were sent home today in the student agendas.
As always, please feel free to
reach out to me with any questions or concerns by email, and I will respond as
quickly as possible.
Mr. Conte
