It's our principal's birthday and we're planning a flash mob at lunch. A flash mob is when a group of people plans a surprise performance in public. Today in the cafeteria, we're going to trick our principal into giving us her microphone. We are going to sing and dance to "Happy Birthday" when we get the microphone. It's going to be so funny and nice. Hopefully she will be shocked and never see it coming!
In Mrs. Terrill's Social Studies class we are connecting with students in Rwanda, Africa. We will be Skyping with them and sending them letters. in class, we have made friendship bracelets to mail with the letters. They have recently gotten computers and they love to watch movies on them. So we will also be collecting DVDs to mail to them. We are really excited to make some new friends from another continent!
Something that we're doing in math is practicing making our own multiplication charts from scratch. We get a piece of graph paper, number 1-12 horizontally and vertically, then fill in our facts! Multiplication charts can be used for all sorts of things, like finding equivalent fractions. When we get really good at making these, we will be able to make our own from scratch to use as a reference before any big test! It's super helpful! Sometimes they can be hard, but with practice, multiplication charts can be a breeze. You have to know all of your multiplication facts to make one. To get better and faster at completing multiplication charts, you need to practice, practice, practice! In our class, we have to make a multiplication chart once a week. Every time we make them, we try to make them quicker than we did the time before. You shouldn't be afraid of making a multiplication chart from scratch, as long as you practice! Stay tuned to our blog as we'll share more test-taking and multiplication chart strategies!
This week in math, we also learned how to do some really cool mental math tricks. For example, did you know that you can easily multiply and divide by 10, 100, or 1,000? If you wanted to figure out $5.00 x 10, all you have to do is move the decimal in $5.00 one place to the right. So the answer to $5.00 x 10 is $50.00. The decimal is moving to the right because the number is getting bigger (we're multiplying), and it's moving once because of the one zero in 10. If we wanted to calculate $5.00/10, all we would do is move the decimal point one place to the left. The decimal is moving to the left because the number is getting smaller (we're dividing), and it's moving once because of the one zero in 10. So the answer to $5.00/10 is $.50. The same pattern works for 100-- the decimal would move twice-- and 1,000- but the decimal would move three times. Who needs calculators when our brains can do such amazing mental math?
Another great tip we learned in math this week is how to divide without a remainder. Why is dividing without a remainder important and cool? If you divide without a remainder, you can get an exact number. You can keep dividing, get a more exact answer, and it's not that hard! Imagine you wanted to figure out how many pizzas to buy for 25 people. You want each person to have a slice and each pizza has eight slices. So, if we divide 25 by 8, we can find out how many pizzas we will need. However, we know that 25 does not go in to 8 evenly. Let's look at the picture below to show our traditional strategy:
Normally, this is where we would stop. Now, we challenge you to call your local pizza shop and order "3 with a remainder of 1" pizzas. 3 R1 has no real numerical value!
Now, check out the strategy we learned this week:
So again, this is normally where we would stop, because there is nothing left to bring down!
However, we can add a decimal to our dividend (25) without changing its value. We must also remember to carry that decimal up into our answer. Imagine it's a balloon, floating straight up-- and through-- the ceiling!
Now, we can add zeros to the decimal places of 25. 25 is the same as 25.0, or 25.000, or even 25.000000! We can add as many zeros as we need without changing the value of our dividend! Now, we have something to bring down! We can continue to divide!
We can add as many zeros as we need to keep dividing. In this case, we only need to add three before we get no remainder. Sometimes, you will see a repeating decimal occurring in your answer. If this is the case, once you recognize a repeating pattern, you can stop dividing and draw a line over the repeating numbers in the decimal.
Now, with this number, we can see that we need a little more than three pizzas. 3.125 has much more meaning than 3 remainder one! This means we need three pizzas, and one-tenth of another pizza. We should order 4 pizzas to be safe. Try using this helpful technique next time you divide!
Today, in Science class, we're working on an experiment with Orbeez! Orbeez are a really fun toy. They are small , squishy balls of gel that absorb lots of liquid and grow when they're put in water. We put Orbeez in salt, vinegar, baking soda, and more. On Monday, we will see how they've changed and grown based on what we put them in. It will be fun!
On Monday, our class is going to Scorton Creek. Five nature guides are going with us to teach us about the salt marsh. We will be learning about the plants and animals that live there. We will hopefully see a lot of animals like fish and gulls. We're going to have a great time!
Here is a picture from Miss Smith's field trip to Scorton Creek last year. Isn't it beautiful?
As you can see, we've had a really exciting first few weeks of school. We hope you've enjoyed reading our first blog post. Follow our posts to learn more about our fabulous adventures in 6th grade!
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