Global Horizons: Fifth Grade- Foxworth & Bosch

Well, today is one of those days in the world of elementary schools where you know there will be things that interrupt the day, but you just don’t realize how much. Today, my Block 1 met for our normal block time, but Block 2 was completely taken up with a terrific guidance lesson (about hopes and anxieties students may have regarding middle school) and class pictures.

In Block 1 Math today we went over our homework on simplest form and most of the students did a terrific job with it. Then we introduced the concept of Mixed Numbers and Improper Fractions. The students looked at models of fractions using wholes and parts of a whole together. The students had opportunity to practice writing both Mixed Numbers and Improper Fractions. The students explored changing a Mixed Number into an Improper Fraction (Multiply the denominator times the whole number, add the numerator and put that number over the original denominator; Example 2 1/3 : Multiply 3 X 2, Add 1, total of 7, put that over the original denominator 3 and you have the Improper Fraction 7/3). We also looked at changing an Improper Fraction into a Mixed Number (Divide the numerator by the denominator; the whole number part of the quotient is your whole number; the remainder is the new numerator and the denominator stays the same; Example 7/4: Divide 7 by 4; 4 goes into 7 1 time with a remainder of 3; the Mixed Number is then 1 as the whole number; 3 as the numerator; and 4 stays the denominator 1 3/4). For homework tonight Block 1 is to do Practice Workbook page 87.

In Science for Block 1 we started looking at the concept of Energy being passed through Ecosystems by way of food chains and food webs. The students watched a video off UnitedStreaming about food chains and food webs and how the energy is passed along starting with plants (producers) who make their own food using sunlight and on to other organisms (consumers) who eat the plants or other organisms to get energy.

Mr. B.