Austin has been working with his Jump Math workbook for Grade 6.
He prefers not to go through the workbook in page order, so he randomly flips to a page that looks interesting. In each session, he completes 2-3 pages.
Today, Austin learned about Prime and Composite numbers. He found the grid and instructions (Eratosthenes' Sieve) very helpful, and was able to correctly identify most of the prime numbers from 1-100. He learned that 1 is not a prime number, and we referred to this URL for further clarification and explanation.
I taught Austin how to determine if a number is divisible by 3 (a multiple of 3). If you add the digits together, and the total is a multiple of 3, then the number, itself, is a multiple of 3 (ie. Austin had identified 93 as a prime number, but I showed him that if you add 9+3 = 12, 12 is a multiple of 3 (3x4 = 12)).
Life of Fred:
We have completed the first Bridge quiz in the Life of Fred Fractions book. The Life of Fred series is an entertaining way to deliver math facts. Fred is a 5-year-old professor at Kittens University. He earns $500 per month and he sleeps under his desk. He really, really wants a bicycle.
In Chapter 1, Austin learned about the greater-than and less-than symbols, and was introduced to the saying, "the pen is mightier than the sword," expressed as Pen > Sword. Austin was easily able to relate to this, and remembered where it would have applied in some events in ancient history that he learned about at Academie Duello last year.
In Chapter 2, we were introduced to the concept of a billion (a thousand million), and onomatopoeia (these books are so much more than strictly math). Examples illustrated that it would take Fred over 31 years to list a billion reasons why he should own a bike, if he worked at it day and night.
In Chapter 3, Austin learned about cardinal and ordinal numbers. This concept has really stuck with him, as he continues to use it in his daily life - pointing out when he recognizes an ordinal number (ie. 1st, 2nd, 3rd ...) The Life of Fred books use imperial measures, so there are many opportunities for Austin to work with multiples of 12. One of the questions in this chapter was, "How many feet are in 48 inches?"
In Chapter 4, the book covered diameter and radius. Austin was already familiar with diameter, but hadn't learned about radius yet.
In Chapter 5, "Fred's Budget," Austin was introduced to financial budgeting and hyperbole. I've heard him use the word, "hyperbole," on a number of occasions since he learned its meaning. Fred is using a budget to find out if he can afford to buy a bike. Austin has learned the important distinction between how much Fred earns and how much he can save (because he has monthly expenses).
About every 5 chapters in the Life of Fred books, there is a Bridge quiz. Readers are given five attempts to get 9/10 or more on a 10-question quiz. Since Austin achieved a score of 9/10 on the first quiz, he is ready to proceed to chapter 6.
Math-U-See:
Austin has completed the first section of his Math-U-See textbook. Math-U-See uses manipulatives to teach math concepts. Austin is working on Epsilon (Fractions). The first section uses the green unit blocks to teach the concept of numerators and denominators. For instance, one question requires 10 unit blocks.
The student is instructed to divide the 10 units into 5 equal sets, then to count up two of the sets. Therefore, 2/5 of 10 = 4. These manipulatives help to illustrate the concepts of numerators and denominators.
No comments:
Post a Comment