Dear Third and Fourth-grade parents,
We are looking back on a week of telling time and looking at place value. The students estimated the length of time it would take to complete specific tasks. They also talked about the individual experience of time: Sometimes, time flies. At other times, a minute seems to last forever. The students practiced telling time to the hour, the quarter hour, five minutes, and the minute and translating from an analog clock to a digital clock. The fourth-grade students took their knowledge further and figured out how to answer questions about elapsed time. Throughout the school year, we will continue telling time and answering similar time-related math questions with all students.
As an introduction to place value, the students listened to the book How much is a Million? by David M. Schwartz to get an idea of the exponential growth of numbers when you add more zeros to a number. Here is a comparison from the book:
If you wanted to count from one to one million, it would take about 23 days.
If you sat down to count from one to one billion, you would be counting for 95 years.
If you wanted to count from one to one trillion, it would take you almost 200.000 years.
The class also enjoyed talking about numbers like quadrillions or googols. Although we will not use such large numbers this school year, the students will be comfortable reading numbers into the millions and understand that a 2 in the tens place has a different value than a 2 in the thousands place.
We continued the Hebrew creation stories with the descendants of Adam and Eve. The students heard stories about three men who all were blessed with different talents. One domesticated wild animals, another brought music to the world, and the third became a talented smith. With combined forces, they built the first houses for humanity. These stories reflect the students who are now entering an age where they are beginning to see the differences between each other’s abilities and talents and learn how to work together.
This week will be the last week of our math block before we move into language arts. I look forward to seeing you all at our Parent-Curriculum night tomorrow at 6:00 pm for an overview of the school year. We will meet at the picnic tables at 6:00 p.m. and head to our outdoor classroom.
Reminders:
9/7: Parent Night at 6:00 PM
9/23: Half day - pick-up at 12:30, and Day of Courage festival for students
9/26-30: Fall Break - School is Closed.
Warm regards,
Gaby Farrokhi
