Dear Parents,
We had a wonderfully productive week. We used IE time to share GRIPS projects and reflect on the process. Check out the GRIPS Projects page, GRIPS Expert page, and GRIPS Reflection page to learn more. I hope that you had time to have a “viewing party” with your student. We will not be having IE time this week. I will use that time to prepare all the paperwork for spring gifted eligibilities. We will begin to review for SOLs when we return from spring break. This will include note taking, quick check practice, and open ended independent projects that relate to their math content. I will not update my blog at the end of this week as I am sure we are all ready to enjoy spring break. I wish you all a restful and safe week off. Gemmill Time - 2nd Grade Update We used the Boom platform to explore fractions and equivalent fractions this week. Gemmill Time - 3rd Grade Update The highlight of their week was mustache measurement. Students took pictures of themselves and friends and added mustaches. They then measured those mustaches using inches and centimeters. How fun! This week we will be reviewing graphing and line plots in addition to introducing mean, median, and mode. Gemmill Time - 4th Grade Update Centimeter City was a way we could practice calculating area and perimeter and use higher level thinking skills in order to determine how to label the buildings. On Friday we discussed problem solving and the importance of showing mathematical thinking. They will be using area and perimeter and showing their thinking on Monday in order to solve the Puppy Problem. We continue to do review homework each day and record our work in our notebooks. I have already seen improvement in neatness and organization with this weekly check in. Gemmill Time - 5th Grade Update Circle Graphs and Mean as a Balance Point were on the agenda this week. Circle graphs rely on their knowledge of fractions, decimals, and percents so students felt comfortable quickly. Mean as a Balance Point, as opposed to the mathematical mean, was a new and different way to represent the mean. Ask them to show you the dance move! The students have done such a wonderful job of listening and following directions that I have prepared a Breakout Day for them. A physical breakout for in person learners and a virtual breakout for virtual learners. I hope that they enjoy it. Dear Parents,
This week I began meeting with 3rd, 4th, and 5th during IE time (formerly GRIPS). We were able to continue math instruction for 4th and 5th. This allowed extra time to discuss our daily review problems and finish up activities from the morning. In third grade, we focused on team problem solving and broke out of three digital breakouts about animals on Thursday and Friday. Next week, all students will be engaged in MAPS testing. They take these assessments in homerooms and it will disrupt math instruction. IE time this week will be spent reflecting on and sharing our GRIPS projects. Be on the lookout in the next few days for a follow up email regarding how your child can share their GRIPS projects with you. Gemmill Time - 2nd Grade Update We revisited our story and then followed up on a student request to play checkers and complete a digital breakout. Gemmill Time - 3rd Grade Update Measurement has been our focus all week. The students have learned an incredible number of new vocabulary words. They have notes in their most recent Seesaw Activities for Length, Capacity, and Time. We will continue to work on telling time to the minute and elapsed time. Please practice telling time using an analog clock as often as possible. Students still get confused about the hour as it moves closer to the next hour. Gemmill Time - 4th Grade Update Pi Day was the perfect time to discuss the parts of the circle. Tennis Ball data collection was awesome. The kids did such a nice job of working on teams to collect data in the gym. The virtual kids loved the field trip and seeing the hallways and school. Thanks to those virtual families who picked up materials so they could participate with us. Also thanks to those moms, dads, and siblings who helped collect and create data at home. Great work! Making graphs is something we will revisit after MAPS and SOLs. This week students will get a bit of exposure to and review of skills that they might see on the MAPs this week. Gemmill Time - 5th Grade Update Pi Day and data collection were a huge hit this week. Thanks to those virtual families who picked up materials so they could participate with us. Also thanks to those moms, dads, and siblings who helped collect and create data at home. Great work! On Friday, they completed their line graphs and I was able to expose them to Stem and Leaf Plots and Box and Whisker Plots. Students will not be assessed by me on these skills but they could see them in MAPS so I wanted them to get a glimpse into how they worked. Dear Parents,
Gifted samples and testing are complete at this time. All that is left is the paperwork to prepare for the eligibility meetings. I am thrilled to have my third graders back this week. There are a few Grips loose ends but I will handle those in after school time and work to post everything on the website as soon as possible. That means we can move on to using the IE block differently for the rest of the year. With that in mind, I have altered the schedule a bit in order to make the most of the time I have. Please see the changes in times for each grade level below. Their homeroom teachers and I will be reminding them of these times during school but it may help virtual learners if you set an alarm. Thanks for your support. Gemmill Time - 2nd Grade Update Have you ever heard of a Choose Your Own Adventure? Well, this week we began writing a story together and it went in two different directions. I thought I would take advantage of that. We will add to our story next week. They love chess so I allowed them some time on Wednesday for a game. This week we will try a new game. Gemmill Time - 3rd Grade Update I can’t wait to see the third graders. In math, we will begin measurement and review all skills before the spring MAPs testing. We will not need to have the transition group anymore. All third grade identified students will join me during IE time on Thursday and Friday at 12:30. Gemmill Time - 4th Grade Update I planned way too much last week. We completed the probability unit but I decided not to rush into mean, median, and mode. So this week we will celebrate Pi Day on Monday and talk about the parts of a circle. The remainder of the week we will gather data, graph it, and discuss the new statistics vocabulary. IE time (former GRIPS) for 4th grade will now be on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 12:30. This week during IE time we will double up on math and review as much as we can before MAPs testing. I have asked virtual learners to collect three circles for Pi Day and a tennis ball for an activity later in the week. The in person students only need one circle. Please come by the RES front door and look in the gray tub. Please pick up an ORANGE folder with your child’s name on it. I will throw some tennis balls in the plastic tub also. If you need one, take one. I will provide everything electronically also just in case you don’t get a chance to pick up. Gemmill Time - 5th Grade Update Measurement, Area, Perimeter, Volume, and Surface Area… We touched on a number of skills this week. Their weekly slides include practice for all of these skills. Hard copies of notes and review packets are made. In person students will receive them next week and virtual students can pick up the folders starting on Sunday afternoon from a tub outside of the RES main door. During IE time (former GRIPS), we will be reviewing math skills Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 12:00. I have asked virtual learners to collect three circles for Pi Day and a tennis ball for an activity later in the week. The in person students only need one circle. Please come by the RES front door and look in the gray tub. Pick up a GREEN folder with your child’s name on it. I will throw some tennis balls in the plastic tub also. If you need one, take one. I will provide everything electronically also just in case you don’t get a chance to pick up. Dear Parents, The last group of kids that need help with Grips will be staying after this coming week. That means two things. 1. We can plan to have some time together and work on enrichment activities. I will tell you more in the coming weeks but I am excited and the kids will be too! 2. As soon as the last few kids are done I will plan a virtual night where you can see not only your child’s project but other children’s projects too. Gemmill Time - 2nd Grade Update This week we played chess online. Boy we had some exciting matches! These students are really thinking and have a good understanding of the game. Gemmill Time - 3rd Grade Update I have missed seeing the third graders this week. I look forward to the schedule going back to normal on the 15th. Gemmill Time - 4th Grade Update It is never too late to make improvements. I have noticed the kids using scraps of paper and random notebooks in class. I would love your help at home reinforcing the use of one notebook for math. That way they can look back at our notes and practice problems. I will be reinforcing this with a notebook check on Friday. This past week we took two days to revisit some decimal and fraction skills; conversions with fractions and decimals and fractions as a division statement. On Thursday and Friday we began probability. We discussed all the vocabulary and played some games on Friday to highlight the likelihood of certain events. We will continue to work with probability as we touch on Tree Diagrams and Stem and Leaf Plots this week. I will be taking two days to go into mean, median, and mode. Then we will spend Friday celebrating Pi Day! Gemmill Time - 5th Grade Update It is never too late to make improvements. I have noticed the kids using scraps of paper and random notebooks in class. Over the next two weeks I will be covering lots of content with the 5 / 6 class in an effort to expose them to as much as I can before the MAPS assessment. We will circle back to much of it but in order to access study guides and notes we all need to get organized. I will be providing them with pocket folders for paper study guides and require that they use the same math notebook everyday. I plan on doing a notebook check on Friday to see who has been consistent throughout the week. This past week we practiced multiplying and dividing decimals. We have spent quite a bit of time each day going over the homework review problems. Some of them are really challenging and lead to great discussions. Thanks to those of you who have helped out at home. We go over those in class everyday so if they are confused they can always put a question mark and wait for the discussion. This week we will touch on Measurement Conversions, Area, Perimeter, Surface Area, the area of triangles and Pi! They will also have review BOOMs that should help them recall 4th grade skills as we move forward. Dear Parents,
It was so nice to have a whole week of instruction. We made amazing progress. There are only a few GRIPS groups left that need to complete their presentations. YAY… So close. Gemmill Time - 2nd Grade Update We used the Pattern Shape App to explore and help solve this week’s problem. I also challenged the kids to try and solve it a different way before Tuesday. And if they really want to stretch their brains.. Can it be solved for 45 seats? If so, how? Gemmill Time - 3rd Grade Update Last week we reviewed Area and Perimeter. We practiced on Seesaw each day. In addition, they worked on solving 2 and 3 digit times 1 digit multiplication. Many even worked on the Magic Digits Challenge. Some are still struggling because they have not mastered their multiplication facts. Please keep practicing at home. This week third graders will be joining their homerooms for the Probability Unit. Thank you for your support and flexibility as we make this temporary adjustment. Please refer to the Third Grade email sent earlier today for more information. Gemmill Time - 4th Grade Update What a wonderful job completing assignments and homework this week! As we prepare for the SOLs they will have a bit of homework every day. Decimal review was our focus all week and Friday students made Fraction test corrections that will help improve their score. The grades that will be recorded today will reflect the corrections. Tomorrow, they will have a quick decimal check in before beginning our new unit, Probability. Thanks to those parents who have been helping out at home with GRIPS Presentations. I appreciate the support. Gemmill Time - 5th Grade Multiplying with decimals was our goal this week. Students are encouraged to estimate and check to see if their answers are reasonable in addition to using the mathematical algorithm. This week we tried Quizizz in addition to the Booms. The kids loved it. It was the first time I had tried using it. Remember that students can retake both Booms and Quizizz to improve their scores. I have encouraged individuals to revisit assignments throughout the week and checked in to see if they needed help. We will be completing some problem solving on Monday and moving onto decimal division. Students who have completed their GRIPS projects will be encouraged to contribute to the RES Book Review Website that has been created by a fellow student. I will be giving them instructions and a rubric to use as they write reviews for books they are reading. This is an optional activity. Dear Parents,
Weather is really taking its toll on our instructional time. The two day week this week allowed me to follow up on last Thursday’s lessons and bring closure to a few concepts. GRIPS projects are really coming along. I am so grateful that some took some of the time off to work on tying up loose ends. Most are ready to complete their final presentation. As they come to an end, they are more and more excited about presenting their research. This will be done virtually. All presentations will be posted on this website and we may have a virtual parent night to celebrate and share. Please find information attached about the William and Mary Summer Enrichment Program. Gemmill Time - 2nd Grade Update Last week we worked on problem solving and explaining our mathematical thinking. The students practiced organizing their information and writing sentences about their solutions. This week we talked about analogies and looked for relationships between words and pictures. Gemmill Time - 3rd Grade Update Last week we continued to work on Area and Perimeter and I introduced 2 digit times 1 digit multiplication. I modeled the “Break Apart” Strategy, the Lattice method, and the Traditional strategy. First students must be able to explain their thinking using the “Break Apart” strategy before moving on. Some struggled with this but the root of the problem is math facts. As they were working independently, I noticed some using their fingers and some actually drawing groups of dots and arrays. In order for them to solve more complex problems students must know their multiplication facts. I will be giving some timed fluency checks over the coming weeks to help drive home the importance of daily practice. Please pull out those flash cards and have them work on timestables.com everyday. Transition Group- The Bookcreator fractured fairy tales are looking great. We were getting ready to record their voices and make it a movie on Wednesday. Encourage them to use storybook fonts and add details to their illustrations before we publish. Gemmill Time - 4th Grade Update After reviewing on Tuesday and Wednesday at the beginning of class, students began the Fractions test on Wednesday. Several needed more time to finish and I asked that they do that at home knowing we would be out. I have started to post an update daily in schoology to help make sure students are following up at home. It seems to be really helping some. Homework will be a regular occurrence for the rest of the year. Please check with your students and remind them to look at the updates every night. Or even better have them show you the update and you can double check that they have actually followed through. Gemmill Time - 5th Grade Thursday’s assignments in Schoology were not submitted by the vast majority of students. Tuesday I allowed them to complete the graded work and submit it. Those who had finished and just not submitted were able to work on a few fraction challenges. Wednesday, we reviewed decimals. The first unit at the beginning of the year was Fractions, Decimals, and Percents. As we revisit decimals and work to conquer decimals computation, it is important that the basics are fresh in their brains. Students converted fractions to decimals and compared decimals. Thinking deeply about mathematical concepts is such a struggle for them. I do ask weird questions that force them to think differently and not simply learn an algorithm. As we reviewed, I asked the question, “If we are representing a fraction as a decimal, what should the denominators of those fractions be?” (It could be tenths, hundredths, thousandths…and yes the fraction could have any denominator but we would need to make an equivalent fraction using multiples of ten to see the relationship.) Ask it again at home. We talked about it but I am curious if they really were able to internalize it. I hope to see students tomorrow. Dear Parents,
I hope that this note finds you all warm and well with electricity. I am so lucky that my electricity came back last night and my internet was just restored. I will not post a blog post this week. I will be working on checking work from last week. Tomorrow I will be checking in with all grade levels to see what they were able to accomplish on Thursday. The teachers reported that things went well but I did get a couple of messages from kids and I will follow up with them tomorrow. Take Care. Dear Parents,
I hope that you were able to enjoy the snow days. I am working to reschedule the GRIPS after school time from last week. There is no due date for GRIPS projects. We will just keep working until everyone has completed their presentations. A few groups are in a holding pattern and waiting to record. Thanks for your patience. I will begin incorporating some SOL spiral review for homework a couple of times a week. Please touch base with your kids about homework. It should only take them about 15-20 minutes. If it takes longer than that, please let me know so that I can support them. This week my husband is having outpatient surgery. I need to be out on Thursday and Friday. I will be leaving independent work for all of my math classes. They will be staying with their homeroom teachers and completing the assignments asynchronously. I will do my best to prepare them for this on Wednesday. Thank you for your support. Gemmill Time - 2nd Grade Update I missed them this week. Gemmill Time - 3rd Grade Update Last week we completed our geometry unit and added combining, subdividing, congruent, and similar to our new vocabulary. This week we will be moving on to perimeter and multiplying two digit times one digit. Transition Group- Peer editing and revising is complete and students have begun to put their stories into Bookcreator. We will only meet Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Gemmill Time - 4th Grade Update Last week we practiced simplifying fractions, making equivalent fractions, and adding and subtracting with unlike denominators. This week we will add and subtract mixed numbers with unlike denominators. We will also look at finding a fraction of a whole number which is multiplying fractions by a whole number. Gemmill Time - 5th Grade Update Last week we worked on multiplying fractions. Students had to model the multiplication problems using the area model. We also completed several fractions word problems as a class. Right now they are working to complete the “Is Dan Losing his Marbles?” problem. For this assignment they are required to write a paragraph about their thinking using mathematical language. This week we will move on to dividing fractions. Dear Parents,
My schedule is packed with one on one GRIPS time. Last week and this coming week, I have been and will continue to meet in the mornings and all afternoon with students one on one or in their GRIPS teams. As opposed to the very short amount of time we spend together in our weekly GRIPS time, this time is extremely productive and the students can get the attention and focus from me that they deserve. Most groups are working on their final presentation and need to record and edit their final product. As students finish up fewer and fewer should be joining me during GRIPS time. I anticipate that by the third week in February I will be helping the last teams and individuals. My tentative plan is to include each presentation on my website. Once everyone is done we will have a virtual sharing event one evening in March. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Gemmill Time - 2nd Grade Update We almost won Place Value Pathways this week! As an extension of the second grade math unit, we compared numbers and practiced reading numbers through the millions place. Gemmill Time - 3rd Grade Update New geometry vocabulary has filled our instructional time. Students have practiced using hand motions and playing Simon Says. We also used Number Rock songs to help us remember all of the new terms. By the end of the week we began combining and subdividing polygons. Next week, we will continue that skill and discuss similar and congruent shapes. Transition Group- This week students completed their own fractured fairytale. Next week we will work on finding ways to improve their writing. We will do some peer editing and begin putting our final draft in book form. Gemmill Time - 4th Grade Update Converting mixed numbers and improper fractions started us off last week. There are two questions that I ask constantly in our fractions unit. “What are we counting?” refers to the fractional part in the denominator. The second question relates to the Multiplication Property of One. Students use an equivalent fraction to “1” like 2/2, 5/5, or 9/9 to help them simplify fractions and make equivalent fractions. This understanding that anything times one equals itself or in the case of a fraction something that is equivalent or the same value. It is necessary to make equivalent fractions to compare fractions and to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators. We have been using the GCF and LCM to help them decide “Which ‘1’ will you use?” I call this using the POWER of 1. This unit has clearly revealed who does not know their multiplication facts. Some are struggling listing multiples and factors. Please continue to encourage them to work on timestables.com every day! Gemmill Time - 5th Grade Update I am finishing up scoring the practice SOL from Monday and Tuesday of last week. I collected some great data about mastery of skills and math fluency. I plan on calling parents this week in order to touch base about math. Given the content that was missed in the spring of last year and the fact that we have limited instructional time this year, it has become clear that next year may not be the time to accelerate students. Fortunately, GMS is already planning how they can provide opportunity and flexibility for students to accelerate during their middle school years. A good example of the situation occurred this week. It was my intention to introduce multiplying fractions, but as I reviewed fourth grade SOLs it was obvious that they were missing some of the foundational skills. I spent the remainder of the week reviewing and practicing. I have assigned them a ton of BOOMs that are simply there for them to review fourth grade skills. We will move on to fifth and sixth grade content this week. The kids are incredible and pick up things so quickly. I am confident that they will be successful in honors courses in middle school. I just want to make sure that they have a strong foundation and are confident mathematicians entering high school. If we are on a snow day on Monday, I may start making phone calls. I hope that is okay. Dear Parents,
I have enjoyed meeting after school with so many 4th grade students this past week. This trend will continue over the next two weeks with 3rd and 5th grade as we bring GRIPS projects to a close. Thank you for accommodating me in the afternoon. I will give you as much notice as possible as I schedule afternoon help sessions. Gemmill Time - 2nd Grade Update We played a new game this week called Place Value Pathways. We lost every time. Argh! We will try again next week. The game asks students to make decisions about creating numbers using digits they roll on a die. They must use strategy to place the numbers they create in the right place on the pathway so we can complete our journey. We will make it this week I am sure! Gemmill Time - 3rd Grade Update Word Problems Galore! Division word problems and mixed operations problems were on the agenda for the week. Some students need to finish up the Multi-step problems BOOM this weekend. At the end of class on Friday I introduced the class to division with remainders and I used the format for long or wide division so we can ease into that as they are ready. Wide division is a game changer so please resist the urge to move forward by teaching your child long division. I will introduce both and let them choose which one they prefer. Next week, we begin geometry. We will start with rays, lines, and angles. Transition Group- The students performed their fractured fairy tale reader’s theatre and began brainstorming for their own story. They should have the graphic organizer completed by Tuesday. Gemmill Time - 4th Grade Update We hit long and wide division hard this week. Lots of practice has really built confidence and accuracy. I notice that some are still slowed by their lack of fact fluency. PLEASE have them practice multiplication facts every day. This week we begin fractions. We will review quickly and I will provide notes in Schoology. I will remind students to go back and access the notes when they need support. Gemmill Time - 5th Grade Update Whew! This week was challenging. I struggled at first to help the students discover the why surrounding the rules for solving inequalities. I got some good advice and took a new approach and it worked! They were able to determine the rules on their own and by Friday they were able to solve inequalities independently. Integers sometimes trip them up but there were lots of ah-ha moments. I have assigned several booms. The students have completed some but not all. Please encourage them to revisit those for extra practice and to build confidence. None of these will be graded. I wanted to give you a heads up that I will be working on recommendations for math next year in middle school. The two choices are Honors Math 7 and Honors PreAlgebra. This decision is tied to whether they are given the Math 5 or Math 6 SOL this year. I plan on having them take a Math 6 practice SOL on Monday and Tuesday in order to see where they stand individually. This will also focus my instruction as I try to squeeze in as much content as I can before the end of the year. I will make sure to share the results with you and touch base if there is any question or concern about my recommendation. I am always happy to chat so please reach out if you have any concerns. Thank you to all those parents who have touched base with me over the past couple of weeks. This learning environment is tough and your support is appreciated! |