The Math Out There and Help on Speaker Phone; Fun for you to hear your student process and problem solve.
I thought it would be interesting to show you what the Trex collection boxes look like every couple of days.
Definitely we have a community that wants to keep this material
out of the landfill and water systems.
Today, as we reviewed the article about recycling plastics in the MP Daily News, it was the quantity of 500 pounds that is what is so important that applies to where we are in Math.
Since we are working in Chapter 4 with multiples of 10,100, and 1000 and estimating by rounding to the GREATEST value, and working on regrouping, it is really important for the kids to know that as they are working they can ask for help--even from home. Because we are moving into large number problem solving using math facts as the foundation, I had an idea today to support this. I have done this before and it is very reassuring to the kids to know they can call me. It is part of learning to ask for help. We reviewed that they have from 8:00- 8:25 each morning to get help. They can also come in for 15 minutes at lunch if necessary. Most don't since Recess beckons!! :)
Today, they wrote our home phone into their Planners, but a better way is to call the school phone number and leave a voicemail. Here is our phone number and my extension. It is 208-883-3195 ext.107 so that they can call and leave a message if they are really struggling.
Before they call, please make sure they have read the problem several times and applied the UPS (Understand, Plan, then Solve) method we do each day. I will only call back on a parent's mobile phone that is left in a message. Then working with the student on the speaker setting with a parent or guardian present, we all can go through the math. This is really a boost to their confidence!
I offered this solution because I wanted them to know that this content so foundational is real problem-solving. If you have any questions, call me ;)