New Unit

Our new unit is all about measuring area and perimeter!!

Here are the TEKS:

4.5 Algebraic reasoning. The student applies mathematical process standards to develop concepts of expressions and equations. The student is expected to:

4.5C use models to determine the formulas for the perimeter of a rectangle (l + w + l + w or 2l + 2w), including the special form for perimeter of a square (4s) and the area of a rectangle (l x w);

4.5D solve problems related to perimeter and area of rectangles where dimensions are whole numbers. R

Here are the essential questions:

Why can a mathematical formula work for determining perimeter and area for all rectangles?

How can you use formulas to find the perimeter of a rectangle?

How can you use formulas to find the area of a rectangle?

Here's the youtube video I'm showing the kiddos.

Thankful

In the spirit of thanksgiving, here is a list of things I am thankful for....

• the patience and kindness of my students. I had bronchitis and have been fighting allergies for over a month and my babies have been so patient with all the coughing and nose blowing. I've had kiddos offering to fill my water bottle, handing me tissues, and making me get well cards.

• my principal who tells me to believe in myself as a teacher.
• my dad, Dr. Dower, who takes the time to come in to do science experiments with us.
• the hilarious things my kiddos say. I am so lucky to spend so much of my time laughing. My favorite is from Halloween. We were having a "dress up as your favorite book character" day and in order to be in the parade, you had to have a book. One of my students said, "Well, I wish I had an autobiography so I could just go as myself."
• breakfast tacos.
• my assistant principal who is always ready to answer questions and isn't afraid to tell it like it is. 
  
• Mr, Davis, my favorite co-teacher who is so helpful and has helped me become a better teacher... and who sometimes brings me chocolate.
• The Easy Mac that I consume almost daily.
• my 4th grade team. We might not always see eye-to-eye but I think that's what makes us great. We all bring something different to the team. 
  
• the awesome parent volunteers who help out in the library, laminate things, and make our school a better place.
• Pinterest, where so many of my ideas come from. 

• the people who actually read this blog. 

Input/Output Tables

Input/Output tables are really all about patterns. 

Here's a fun website where you can play around with input/output tables.

http://www.mathplayground.com/functionmachine.html

Poem

The kiddos are doing poetry in Ms. Hart's class and Brianna wrote this one.

Puppies

This has nothing to do with math but this video is THE BEST.

Estimating

Estimating is a great way to see if your answer is reasonable.
Reasonable means it makes sense.

For example if I am multiplying

36 x 23

I can estimate that my answer will be close to 800 because 40 x 20 = 800.
36 rounds to 40.
23 rounds to 20.

Sure enough when I do the equation, my product is 828!

The same is true of division.

If I'm dividing 4,184 by 8 I could say...
4,000 / 8 = 500

Then when I divide, sure enough, my quotient is 523.

Grant

The American Chemical Society gave me a grant of $500!!!

Strip Diagrams

Today we focused on reading problems and figuring out which order of operation to use.

• Multiplication (product)
• Division (quotient)
• Subtraction (difference)
• Addition (sum)

We then created strip diagrams to match the problems.

Here is a fabulous game for strip diagrams!

Standard Algorithm for Division

Alright... it's the moment we've all been waiting for...
My kiddos are ready to learn the standard algorithm for division.
This means the "regular way" that us old folks learned.