A Homely Philosopher

In math we found thousandths inside decimals.

How many thousands in 0.038?

We solved word problems with decimals.  The operations are exactly the same.

Example:

Three acrobats were each 1.8m tall.  When they all stood on each other’s heads, how tall were they?

In literacy we started reading a longer book about Confucius.  According to legend, he was physically strong, homely and charming.

In the afternoon we examined the scientific method.

Homework:

1.  Read for at least 30 min. every day.
2. Practice the spelling words (below).
3. Use Khan Academy math for at least 60 minutes over the week.
4. Finish publishing the pourquoi story.  Bring it to school to present on Friday.

Spelling List 1

field          brief          grief          shriek          piece

scene       them         eve           meme          Eugene

fern          germ         herb          herd            perch

speak      speech      bean          attempt       tradition

Spelling List 2

walk        walked      bake            baked

dance     danced     shop            shopped

sweep    swept        swim           swam

drink       drank        deal             dealt

tradition  attempt    operation     unique

The Wright Bros. Fly

In math we reviewed rounding  whole numbers then decimals.

Can you round these numbers to the underlined place?

0.84          0.337          0.3566

The answers are below.

We did the spelling test and finished reading about the Wright Bros.  What happened in the end?

Ethan also shared his uncle’s photo from the air force:

In the afternoon we continued publishing our pourquoi stories.

Next week we’ll have new table teams and monitors.

Answers:

0.8          0.34         0.4

Rounding Off

This morning’s warm up was to write a story with the words ‘billion’, ‘anchor’ and ‘discourage’.

In math we looked at rounding off.

For example, pi, to 11 decimal places, is 3.14159265359.

If we round it off to 4 decimal places it is 3.1416.

If we round it off to 2 decimal places it is 3.14.

What is pi rounded off to the nearest 1?

Tomorrow we will review rounding off with whole numbers then we will try rounding decimals again.

We continued reading about the Wright Brothers.  We drew a diagram of the modifications they made to their glider.

In the afternoon we worked on our pourquoi stories.  Everyone has now finished revising their draft and is up to publishing.

I think everyone can now use Khan Academy at home.  Let me know if it doesn’t work and we shall continue to fiddle.

The spelling test is tomorrow.

Round Numbers

In Math we multiplied and divided round numbers.

We played a board game to practice:

For example:

1,000 x 100 = 100,000.  We add two zeros.

0.01 ÷ 10 = 0.001.  We move the decimal place left.

Can you work these ones out?

0.0001 x 100 =

100 ÷ 1,000 =

We also learnt a new way of showing expanded form:

632.93 = 6 x 100 + 3 x 10 + 2 x 1 + 9 x 0.1 + 3 x 0.01

We could also write the decimals as fractions.  Why don’t we need any parenthesis in this expression?

Speaking of math, here’s the line chart that we looked at in class the other day:

In literacy we read about how the Wright Brothers were offered $10,000 to leave their bicycle shop and work on flight full-time.  Did they accept?

In the afternoon we continued working on the pourquoi stories.  Some people are now publishing.

There is one, pink notice today.

Please note, from today only the AST email logins will work on Khan Academy.  All the codes are in the back of planners.  Look for the Fifth Grade mission and work your way through that.  Let me know tomorrow if there are any problems.

Khan Academy

In the morning we studied place value after the decimal place.  We played a game of snap and made posters.

Can you say this number?

          0.9385

How many ten thousandths in the number?

We continued reading about the Wright Brothers.  They became discouraged because it was too hard to control their glider.  Who encouraged them to continue?

In the afternoon we went to the Computer Lab to (a) get our AST email addresses and (b) use them to log on to Khan Academy.  Please use your AST email address to log in from now on.  Remember, your address and password are in the back of your planner.  Mr. Connelly and your parents will also have your password.  Try out Khan Academy and tell me tomorrow if you’re still having trouble.

Good luck!

Answers: Point nine three eight five, there are 5 ten thousandths.

Millions and Billions

In math we are reviewing place value.

Can you read the number?

7,586,038,573

The answer is at the bottom of the page.

We raced to hit numbers on the board and we played a memory card game.

In the afternoon we read continued revising our pourquoi stories.  Most people are up to the teacher check.  Ensure that all sentences are in past tense.

Homework:

1. Read for at least 30 minutes every day.
2. Practice the spelling words (below).
3. Register with Khan Academy using the coach code I gave you.  Lost it?  It is 9BD76H.  Use the site for a total of one hour over the week.  If you use it Monday-Thursday, that would be 15 minutes per night.  Ask your parents for help setting it up.

Spelling Words List 1:

step          west          help          well

weed        speed        steep        week

mean        team         reach        beach

head         read (past tense)       bread

steak        break         pear

interpret   satisfied

Spelling Words List 2:

running          quitting          dragging          begging

riding             driving            blaming           wasting

floating          raining            sleeping          cheering

kneel             knelt                teach             taught

interpret        satisfied          stubborn         retrieve

Answer: Seven billion, five hundred eighty-six million, thirty-eight thousand, five hundred seventy-three.

Revising

This morning we review the week’s vocabulary.  Do you remember what an anemometer is?  How about a council?

In math we interpreted line graphs.

In literacy, we read about how Einstein narrowly escaped Germany with his life.  Meanwhile, the Wright Brothers’ new glider is flying well but hard to maneuver.

Wilbur making a test flight.

In the afternoon we practiced revising our writing.  Good writers are brutal with their own work – they take out sentences and put in new ones without mercy.  Don’t be afraid to totally change your writing when you are revising.

Remember to read for at least thirty minutes every day over the weekend.  You can often find your book’s Lexile level by entering the title and “lexile” into Google.

You can also find books at your level using these sites:

https://lexile.com/

http://bookalachi.com/

Have an enthusiastic weekend.

The Mosquito Plan

Today’s warm-up task was to write a true, funny story.  What did you write about?

In math we drew more line graphs.  This time, we assumed that we could sell 5 phones a week at $10 each, or sell 4 per week at $15 each.  Which plan is better?  How much difference does it make after 10 weeks?

In literacy we continued reading about Einstein.  What problems is he having now in Germany?

We also continued reading about the Wright Brothers, who were being eaten alive by mosquitoes as they tried to test their glider.  We made our own mosquito-stopping plans and presented them to the class.

The Water Cycle team’s presentation.

In the afternoon we continued our pourquoi stories.  How is writing like working with clay?

Thank you to all the mums and dads who came along to the information session.

Remember the reading log and spelling test tomorrow.

Line Graphs and Pourquoi Stories

In math we imagined that the Wright Bros. could sell airplanes for $10 or $20.  We graphed the projected earnings to compare:

Graphs by Angelina and Kylie.

Tomorrow we’ll factor in changed demand in order to make a more realistic graph.

In literacy we continued reading about Einstein.  The German government wanted to lock him up during WWI but they couldn’t because he was still a Swiss citizen.

In the afternoon we read another pourquoi story and continued reading our own.

We read these two pourquoi stories in class

What do these stories have in common?

Remember that tomorrow after school we have Parent Information Night.  Are you getting on the bus?  Are you waiting in the ES library?  MAKE SURE YOU KNOW!  I’m looking forward to seeing parents tomorrow night.  The presentation will be in English.

Number Patterns and ES Captain Speeches

In Math we learned how two number patterns can be related.

For example, a car can travel around 100km/h.  Some trains travel at around 300km/h.  Imagine a car and a train travelling across the USA.  How far will each of them have travelled, in total, after each hour?

Hours          1h                 2h                   3h                  4h                 5h

Car         100km              200km             300km            400km         500km

Train        300km             600km             900km          1200km     1500km

What is the relationship between the figures for the car and the figures for the train?  See answer at bottom of today’s post.

We wrote our journals and went to the ES library.

In the afternoon our nominees for the ES Captain positions gave their speech.  Thank you Lily, Jun, Catherine and Kylie for having a go.  Students voted.  Teachers will vote tomorrow and I should have the results on Wednesday.  We will then choose HR and Library Officers.

HOMEWORK

From now on, each week’s homework will be posted on Monday’s blog post.

1. Read for at least 30 mins. every day.  Write the books in your reading journal.
2. Practice the spelling words.  Write the list down in your planner.  Everybody should already know whether they should use List 1 or List 2.

Spelling Words List 1

1. was
2. pass
3. fast
4. airplane
5. weigh
6. eight
7. great
8. stay
9. prey
10. car
11. dark
12. care
13. scare
14. chair
15. hair
16. bear
17. where
18. their
19. equivalent
20. acronym

Spelling Words List 2:

1. stopped
2. trapped
3. boiled
4. treated
5. glasses
6. fences
7. taxes
8. dishes
9. busses
10. babies
11. ponies
12. monkeys
13. donkeys
14. bragging
15. batting
16. hopping
17. equivalent
18. acronym
19. Einstein
20. Confucius

Math answer:

Car km travelled x 3 = train km travelled.