Welcome to my first blog! I hope this will help me to keep you informed about our work in math and science in fourth grade this year.
Math and science are my favorite subjects to teach! I am the math teacher leader for the Hartford School District at the elementary level so you know math is important to me. We finished our first unit in math which was all about developing a visual model to help understand multiplication and division. Did you know that the dimensions of a rectangle and the area of a rectangle are the same as the factors and product in a multiplication problem? We have also begun learning our multiplication facts. My goal is for everyone to memorize these facts by the December break. Our next math unit is about place value and multiplication of larger numbers. We just got started. Pretty soon your child will be able to show you how we use the area model to help us understand multiplication.
I love math but science is my other favorite! I especially love the unit we are currently working on. We began learning the inquiry process through activities using real animals. We asked the question, "Do crayfish prefer to be alone or together?", made predictions based on our observations of the crayfish, set up a "fair test", gathered evidence and wrote a conclusion. What do you think the answer is? You can ask your student what our evidence showed. Next we worked in small groups to ask a question about an animal that we found at the Dothan Brook. We followed the inquiry process again with support from our peers. We will be incorporating inquiry into science whenever possible. We are currently studying animal adaptations.
