This week, both grades will be focusing on solving word problems, while still adding and subtracting whole numbers (4th) or decimals (5th). I wanted to share our in-class problem solving strategy. Any and all word problems should be answered in a complete sentence. To help students in doing this, we use what I call T.T.Q.A. (Turn The Question Around), where students take the question in the word problem and use the words to turn it into a statement, leaving a blank for the question. Below is an example.
Word Problem: Joe picked 17 apples. Cindy picked 20 apples. How many apples did they pick?
T.T.Q.A: They picked ______ apples.
After students T.T.Q.A., they identify the correct operation to solve the problem, the values they need, and then do the appropriate computation. The solution then gets filled into the blank in the T.T.Q.A., which becomes their complete sentence answer. Please encourage your child to use this strategy at home.
4th grade will be wrapping up our unit on food chains and ecosystems over the next two weeks. 5th grade just began learning how the ear works, including the 3 regions of the ear (outer, middle, and inner).
As a reminder, each Fridays are for assessments. Students take a 5-mintute a fact fluency assessment every week. Thursday nights (or every night!) students should take some time to practice their facts to beat their score from the previous week. In addition to this assessment, students are going to start to take a vocabulary assessment. Vocabulary words will include words from the week's objectives, concepts, and topics. All words are pulled from the current curriculum. The goal is that students understand, build, use a proper academic vocabulary. I will post this week's words and definitions tomorrow.
As always, thank you for supporting your child! If you have any questions, please contact me (HALLB003@hartfordschools.org or cell phone). Have a wonderful week!
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