MATH NEWS

DEAR PARENTS,

WELCOME TO 3C! AS TECHNOLOGY IN OUR SOCIETY CONTINUES TO

ADVANCE, IT IS ALSO ADVANCING IN OUR CLASSROOMS! TECHNOLOGY IN
OUR MATH CLASSROOM IS USED TO HELP STUDENTS PRACTICE THEIR
LEARNING WHILE ALSO GIVING THEM A CHANCE TO REVISIT CONCEPTS THAT
THEY MAY BE STRUGGLING WITH. BEGINNING NEXT WEEK, WE WILL BEGIN
OUR UNIT ON RATIONAL NUMBERS(FRACTIONS, DECIMALS, RATIOS, AND
PROPORTIONS) AND INCORPORATE TWO NEW MATH PROGRAMS INTO OUR
CURRICULUM. THESE TWO PROGRAMS ARE IXL.COM AND KHAN
ACADEMY.COM. BOTH OF THESE INTERACTIVE PROGRAMS CAN BE
ACCESSED THROUGH YOUR WEB BROWSER ON ANY COMPUTER OR
THROUGH YOUR MOBILE OR IPAD DEVICE. WHILE STUDENTS WILL HAVE
ACCESS TO THESE PROGRAMS ON THEIR IN-SCHOOL CHROMEBOOK, WE
ALSO ENCOURAGE THEM TO PRACTICE AT HOME AS WELL! THE USE OF IXL IS
A GREAT TOOL FOR ME TO USE AS A WAY TO TRACK EACH INDIVIDUAL
STUDENT’S PROGRESS, SO I CAN IDENTIFY WHO MAY NEED EXTRA SUPPORT.
WE WILL DEDICATE TIME IN CLASS NEXT WEEK TO PRACTICE USING THESE
PROGRAMS, AND AFTER STUDENTS BECOME MORE FAMILIAR WITH HOW TO
NAVIGATE THEM, WE WILL BEGIN ASSIGNING HOMEWORK ON THE WEBSITES
AS WELL. IF POSSIBLE, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO WORK WITH YOUR CHILD AT
HOME ON FAMILIARIZING THEMSELVES WITH THESE PROGRAMS AS THEY ARE
A GREAT PRACTICE TOOL FOR LEARNING AND CAN BE USED ANYWHERE!
BOTH OF THESE PROGRAMS SUPPORT INDIVIDUALIZED LEARNING AS WELL AS
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING. ADDITIONALLY, THEY BOTH INCLUDE INTERACTIVE
GAMES AND DYNAMIC VISUALS THAT WILL APPEAL TO ALL KINDS OF
LEARNERS AND HOPEFULLY MAKE LEARNING FUN FOR YOUR CHILD!

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT

ME AT KC@GMAIL.COM. HAPPY MATH LEARNING!

~MRS.C

IXL is a great mathematics learning tool to use as a way to practice the

concepts that are learned in class. Within the website, students have free
access to thousands of mathematical learning concepts that they can
explore arranged by grade and topic. For this unit, after they select third
grade, students will focus on the "understand fractions" applet where they
will be provided with an unlimited amount of problems to solve. IXL provides
students with a smart score that goes up or down based on how many
problems the student answers correctly, and a timer to keep track of how
long the student is working. As their score increases, they are awarded
points and ribbons to demonstrate progress. IXL is a great place to practice
specific math topics and a great way for students to practice math drills. As
students solve more problems, they are awarded points and ribbons to
demonstrate progress. Additionally, I will have access to each student's
performance which can help me determine who is grasping the material well
and who i need to work with more. As a parent, you can also use this feature
to track your child's progress as well!

An example of the many applets that are going to be useful over the course of the unit is
the "Fractions Bar" tab. Within this concept, students will be presented with problems such
as the one to the left which helps them practice modeling fractions and understanding how
the fraction bars are broken up into equal parts. For this problem, the student would bar to
count how many equal parts it is divided into. They will then determine the value of each
equal part in relation to the whole. So, for this if the student correctly answered that there
are 8 equal parts and each part is 1/8 of the whole, their smart score will go up and they
will be presented with a new problem. If they get the question wrong, they will be shown
the correct way to solve it, their score will decrease, and they will move on to a new, but
similar problem.
 Khan Academy is a website designed to help students mostly outside of the classroom, although
they will be utilizing it in the classroom as well. It is an easily accessible and free website that
offers students a variety of mathematical instructional videos, practice exercises, and a
personalized dashboard. I will give the students an access code that they will use to access a ton
of resources that i will choose to help them with different mathematical concepts. Khan Academy
is a place where students can go if they are struggling with a concept they are learning about in
school to get extra help. Khan Academy encourages students to be able to learn at their own
pace, and helps them not fall behind in school. It is also a great place for students to practice their
understanding of math concepts, refresh their brains on past learning, or get extra assistance on
current mathematical learning. Khan academy's focus is on mastery learning, which encourages
students to learn at their own pace. Mastery learning supports the idea that students should
focus on the specific skills needed to be successful and to deeply understand concepts, rather
than just moving through the motions without deep understanding. The teacher dashboard
provides me with a summary of class performance as a whole, but also an in depth representation
of individual student profiles. There is also a parent profile that gives adults access to how their
child is doing and it also provides you with ways to help your child!

For the beginning of this unit, the "Fractions Intro" applet will be a very useful tool for students! You can
locate this by clicking on third grade and then selecting "Understanding Fractions." I will teach all of these
concepts in the classroom, and afterwards students will have time to use Khan Academy to practice
problems, or to watch videos to further understand the concept. As you can see, for this particular
section, there are three videos students can access and then there is a practice section for afterward.
Students will need a 5/7 to move on. An example problem is shown above. for that problem, the student
will need to understand that fraction bars are broken up into equal sized parts and that the denominator
represents how many equal parts there are, and the numerator represents how many parts are shaded.
So, for the fraction 1/2, we are looking for a model that is broken up into 2 equal pieces, with one of those
pieces shaded.