Horray for the Open Array!

Today in class we worked on several student created multiplication and division story problems. One problem that we worked on was a multiplication story problem by Jacob. His story problem was: This year I recorded 12 hurricanes. Each hurricane dumped 8 inches of water. How many inches of water did the hurricanes dump in all? The students came up with many great strategies such a repeated addition, drawing pictures and using a ratio table.

During the closing meeting, I reminded the students that we can use arrays as models for solving small multiplication problems; but, we can also use them to solve larger multiplication problems. I drew a rectangluar array on the board with no columns or rows. I asked the students what numbers we could split the 12 into that are "easy to work with." Without hesitation, I got the answer "10 and 2." Perfect! Then I asked what we could split the 8 into that would be "easy to work with." Anna replied "4 and 4." Perfect again! I divided the rows into 4 and 4 (totaling 8) and I split the columns into 10 and 2 (totaling 12). We didn't draw all of the rows and columns because we decided that wouldn't be very efficient and we would probably get confused.

Now, we had four smaller arrays with dimensions that were very easy to solve. Once we were done finding the products of each small array we added them together and VIOLA! we had our answer!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Open Array strategy because it will create a better of understanding of the traditional multiplication algorithm when we are ready for that strategy. Today was the first day with this strategy. We will be using it a lot more in the future. Thanks for reading!

If you are interested in more information about this strategy please visit the math strategy videos, look under the Multiplication heading and click "Generic Rectangle." (Generic Rectangle and the Open Array are the same thing.)
-Miss Russell :)

New Month, New Calendar Math

Today is Wednesday, today is Wednesday, October 1st, October 1st. Yesterday was Tuesday, tomorrow will be Thursday, HIP-HIP HORRAY! What a day!
That is the sound of the beginning of our Calendar Math time. I love Calendar Math because I feel that it reinforces skills that students sometimes lack, plus IT'S FUN! I am so excited for the new month of October. In Calendar Math (CM), a new month = new components of our lesson. This month we have added many new components to our CM routine. We will be comparing the weather in Jacksonville, Florida (USA) to that of Cairo, Egypt (Africa). As a class, we will be graphing this information. Students will practice reading and answering the graph about weather. We will also be adding a decimeter (10 centimeters) each day of the month. This will provide the much needed skill of using metric measurement. Our calendar pattern this month introduces us to different types of triangles such as equilateral triangles and isoceles triangles. We will continue to add money for each school day. We will focus on the meaning of a.m. and p.m. in time. We will keep track of the different times that it is "light" (day) and "dark" (night) in relation to a.m. and p.m. We will also be finding different combinations of coins for a given total.
Some questions that you can ask your child about our CM lesson for October are:
Early in the month:
What is an equilateral triangle?
What is an isoceles triangle?
What is a vertice?
What is a decimeter?
How many groups of 10 equal 100?
Is today's number odd or even?
Is today's number a multiple of 3? 4? 5? 6? 7? etc. How do you know?
Mid-Month:
How many decimeters equal a meter?
What is the weather like in Cairo compared to Jacksonville at this time of the year?
What does it look like outside when it is 3 a.m.? 3 p.m.?
What are all the different combinations of coins to make 47 cents?

These are just a few questions that you could ask. You can even ask open ended questions such as "What did you learn today in CM?" Any conversation with your child about their work in class holds them accountable for paying attention during the lesson. Thanks for reading!!
-Miss Russell :)

Donors Choose x 2!

As you may know, my first proposal for Science Books through Donors Choose has been completely fulfilled and we received the materials on Friday. The 33 books included all different topics from energy, the sun, animals, the moon, volcanoes, force and motion, rocks, plants, and so much more! Students wrote very nice "thank you" notes to some of our donors yesterday. I am SO excited to announce that I have also gotten my second proposal for math books and games fulfilled. YAHH!!! We are so appreciative to all of our donors. I can't wait to receive the math materials. It feels like Christmas in September!
Your very excited teacher,
Miss Russell :)

Multiplication and Division Story Problems

For the past few days we have been working with multiplication and division story problems. The students have been coming up with some fantastic strategies for solving both types of problems. Some of the strategies that we have come up with are: skip counting, using a ratio table, drawing pictures, decomposing, and thinking of multiplication as repeated addition in order to solve. Take a look at the charts that we made in class. There were so many great ideas to share that we couldn't possibly chart them all. The following charts show awesome strategies from Knowlton, Johnna, Michela, Elias, Katelynn and JJ. Nice work boys and girls!!

Today students were introduced to several different notations for multiplication and division. I can't wait to start seeing these different types of notation in their work!

-Miss Russell :)

Open House

WOW!! Tonight we had our 3rd grade Open House and boy was it packed!! The students followed a flow chart to introduce many different aspects of our class to their adult visitor. Thank you, thank you, thank you to those families that joined us tonight. Miss Young and I had such an awesome time visiting and talking with everyone. The students did an amazing job leading their guest around. I could not be more proud of this class.
Your very proud teacher,
Miss Russell :)

Array Game: Count and Compare

Today students learned a new game using array cards. The game is called "Count and Compare." This game helps students practice estimating and comparing the size of arrays based on their dimensions. Ultimately, this type of practice will help students become familiar with multiplication and division. Take a look at the video below to see how the game is played. Students may play this game at home. They just need to take home their array cards, cut them out, and label them with totals and dimensions.

If you are interested in learning more about array cards and their purpose in multiplication and division, please visit the following links:
What Are Array Cards?
Teaching Multiplication and Division

Battle of the Books

Battle of the Books is a reading competition for third, fourth, and fifth grade students at Chets Creek Elementary. To participate in the competition, students read books from the Battle of the Books List. The fifteen titles used in this competition are the Sunshine State Young Readers’ Award nominees for this year. Battle of the Books culminates in three “battles” where teams buzz in to answer questions about the books. Last year Mr. Montisano and Mrs. Nash’s Third Grade “Bookaneers” won the Battle of the Books! These amazing third graders received gold medals and a pizza party for their class!
Here is the Battle of the Books List:

BATTLE OF THE BOOKS LIST

1) The Blue Ghost - by Marion Dane Bauer
2) No Talking - by Andrew Clement
3) Missing Manatee - by Cynthia DeFelice
4) The Sloppy Copy Slip-Up - by DyAnne DiSalvo
5) Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Erupts!: The First Experiment - by Frances O'Roark
6) Stumptown Kid - by Ron J. Findley & Carol Gorman
7) The Thing About Georgie – by Lisa Graff
8) The Homework Machine - by Dan Gutman
9) Dexter the Tough - by Margaret Peterson Haddix
10) The Ghosts Grave - by Peg Kehret
11) Rules - by Cynthia Lord
12) Roxy and the Hooligans - by Phyllis Naylor
13) Clementine - by Sara Pennypacker
14) The Stupendous Dodge ball Fiasco – by Janice Repka
15) Listen!- by Stephanie S. Tolan

In class we have already read No Talking and we are currently reading The Thing About Georgie. We love the battle books!!
A huge THANK YOU to Mr. Pieri for typing up the list of Battle Books.
-Miss Russell :)