Week of Inspirational Math

Every year I start the math period demolishing my students' stereotypes about being or not being a "math person" with the help of Jo Boaler's "Week of Inspirational Math". I find it is important to make my students understand that everybody can learn math, that math surrounds us, and that making mistakes is part of the process of learning. I want them to have a growth mindset about learning, and to understand how their brains work. I also want them to have fun, investigate, wonder, and find more than one way to get to the answer. I want them to use models, and think like mathematicians. That prepares the ground for successful growth of their math skills, and is a fantastic way to make my students feel confident to tackle any mathematical challenge. Check out the Youcubed website, and the resources for parents here:
www.youcubed.org/resource/parent-resources/

Bridges Curriculum

Grade 4Students focus intensively on the three critical areas specified by the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics in Grade Four:

• Developing understanding and fluency with multi-digit multiplication, and developing understanding of dividing to find quotients involving multi-digit dividends
• Developing an understanding of fraction equivalence, addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators, and multiplication of fractions by whole numbers
• Understanding that geometric figures can be analyzed and classified based on their properties, such as having parallel sides, perpendicular sides, particular angle measures, and symmetry

​The first two units focus on multiplication and multiplicative thinking. Unit 1 reviews and extends multiplication work from third grade and examines factors and products, as well as prime and composite numbers. Unit 2 delves deeper as students explore and extend strategies, concepts, and models related to multi-digit multiplication. Unit 3 utilizes a variety of tools to model, read, write, compare, order, compose and decompose fractions and decimals.
Units 4, 6 and 7 focus on fractions, decimals, division, and more multiplication. Various models help students understand more about operations with fractions and fraction equivalence, as well as the relationship between fractions and decimals. Students also discover the relationships between multiplication and division as they see that many multiplication strategies also apply to division problems. They solve division problems with and without remainders and begin exploring multiplication and division of simple fractions.
Unit 5 focuses on geometry and extends students’ understandings of area, volume, and symmetry. Students investigate, draw, and build two-dimensional shapes and the properties of those shapes to classify and analyze them. They also learn to use protractors to measure and construct angles.
Unit 8 integrates many key skills and concepts in the context of science and engineering by giving students the opportunity to design playgrounds. In the process, they generate and analyze data, and use a line plot to represent that data.
​Check out this page for the Bridges Curriculum components.

Common Core Standards and Mathematical Practices (source: https://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/math/2017-06.pdf)

Operations and Algebraic Thinking
A. Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems.
B. Gain familiarity with factors and multiples.
C. Generate and analyze patterns.
Number and Operations in Base Ten
A. Generalize place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers less than or equal to 1,000,000.
B. Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic on whole numbers less than or equal to 1,000,000.
Number and Operations—Fractions
A. Extend understanding of fraction equivalence and ordering for fractions ordering for fractions with denominators 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 100.
B. Build fractions from unit fractions by applying and extending previous understandings of operations on whole numbers for fractions with denominators 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 100.
C. Understand decimal notation for fractions, and compare decimal fractions.
Measurement and Data
A. Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit.
B. Represent and interpret data.
C. Geometric measurement: Understand concepts of angle and measure angles.
Geometry
A. Draw and identify lines and angles, and classify shapes by properties of their lines and angles.