Our Chapter 18 Test will take place on Tuesday, 5/26. The study guide has been sent home. Please help your child prepare for this test. Note: Students will be permitted to use both their "Fractional part of a group" study guide paper and their Fractional Equivalents paper for the test.

    This week we will continue working on Chapter 18: Fraction Concepts.  For more information about topics covered in this chapter, please refer to EDUCATION PLACE at www.eduplace.com/map. This website can be helpful in helping your child understand key concepts in the chapter, as well as offer additional activities to help study for our chapter test. 

     We will have have our graded "DRILL" this Thursday. Please make sure that your child is continuing to practice with their flashcards each evening so that all that hard work they have done over the past several months is not lost. Students will have 5 minutes to complete as many Division problems as they can. The drill will be the same as the drill study guide that went home last Thursday. Please help your child prepare for the weekly drill by practicing with them for 5-10 minutes each evening. All students should be making flashcards for each fact family at home as we cover them in school. We will be writing each fact family in our notebooks on Thursdays or Fridays and flashcards should be made at home the following weekend. Please be aware that all multiplication fact families must be memorized for fourth grade. Thank you.

  A Website that can help with math and drills this year----- Check out:  www.mathisfun.com!

     Great News:  Math Shark Alert!! The Math Shark handheld electronic game is a tool that could help some students with memorization of math facts. Some families have mentioned that they have had trouble finding it. To find out more about the game, go to www.reallygoodstuff.com or call 1-800-366-1920. The item # is: 156024AB. There are also other math tools like the "Fact Families Banner Set", that may be helpful to students.

     Several parents have asked about how they can help their child with computational skills at home. Now that we have begun multiplication fact families, I would encourage you to help your child by doing the following:

• Purchase several packages of 3 X 5 or 4 X 6 index cards. As each fact family is introduced (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 fact families have already been introduced) sit down with your child and create a set of flash cards for that family. We are writing each family at the back of our black and white math notebook on Thursdays before the new drill study guide goes home. Help your child go through his/her stack of cards each evening for 10 minutes before going to bed each night. As a new family is introduced, integrate those cards in with the previous stack. Children must have their multiplication facts memorized for 4th grade. Your time is invaluable in helping your child be successful in both multiplication and division by memorizing facts now so he or she does not struggle later on.
• Repetition, repetition, repetition. Use every opportunity to "fire" a math fact at your child. Driving in the car, sitting in the dentist's office, stopping at a red light---give a 2 minute drill by quizzing your child with several "math minute" problems in addition, subtraction, or multiplication.
• Math computer games (see Math Shark info).
• Create your own quizzes/tests on the computer and challenge your child to get a better score each night that you study.

I hope these ideas help!