Kevin's Personal Learning Path

Welcome to Week 9 of my blog entry! This week, my students became confident with learning how to multiply using the distributive property. I am please with their progress and how they have been able to recall the concept of place values to decompose a number, then multiple each party to arrive at a product.  Before each lesson, I have my students stand up behind their desks and run through their multiplication facts with them. They must be fluent with their facts if they are going to understand the distributive property. The students who struggle are the ones who are either not practicing their facts or are not receiving support they need. Once we finish drilling, I begin the lesson. I show the students how to decompose a number before multiplying it by a given factor. Then, In show them how to correct their work using standard algorithm multiplication. I am proud to see that the students are using this latter process so effectively. they recall "pickling," which is when you ...

Hello, welcome to Week 8 of my blog entry! This week, we are beginning Module 2 with a lesson on the distributive property . Students are taking their multiplication facts and applying them to multiplying two-digit numbers. For example, 3 x 32 = ?. In this equation, students must multiply 2 ones and 3 tens by 3. To do this, they are given a place value chart where they can plot how many tens and ones are in 32. They plot the points, then multiply the place values. I show the students how to multiply using standard algorithm format. Like with addition, they must multiply one place value at a time.  Using the place value chart, they should get 90 tens and 6 ones. Added together, 3 x 32 = 96. The distributive property is sure to be a challenging concept for my fourth graders. It unifies some key concepts and practices which we have been discussing during Module 1 including multiplication facts and expressing numbers and equations using standard form, unit form, and word form. I like e...

Hello! Welcome to Week 7 of my journal entry. This week, my students completed their first math test -- Module 1 is complete. Module 1 is the most challenging and important of all modules in the 4th Grade math curriculum. This is when students, previously third graders, are entering a new level of math rigor and gives teachers an idea of how they will fair for the rest of the school year.  The concepts covered are foundational and will be referred to continuously throughout the school year. If students don't understand them now, then they will have to spend time during the year learning to master them.  The multi-step word problem is a new format our 4th Graders must learn to master moving forward. I always tell my students that "reading and math are friends," and tell them to circle important numbers and underline important words. Below is a sample word problem which is identical to what students were asked to solve during their assessment. Students must understand that ...

Hello! Welcome to Week 6 of my blog entry!  This week in my class, we are working on subtracting multi-digit numbers. Students have learned to subtract 4, 5, and 6-digit numbers. My students know how to solve 456,788-34,207.  Today, we have pivoted to subtracting multi-digit numbers with multiple renaming. This is a big challenge for the students since it requires them to remember which numbers to rename and when to do it, in order to be correct.  So, students are given a problem: 114,436-75,787.  What is unique about this problem is that the digits in the ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, and ten thousands places are all greater in 75,787 than they are in 114,436. What this means is students must look next door until they find a value that can be subtracted. Unfortunately, that doesn't exist in this problem, so they must identify the number in each subsequent place value, then rename each number so that it can be subtracted. So, the 1 in the hundred thousands place b...

Hello, again! Welcome to Week 5 of my blog entry.  This week, we capped our unit on Rounding by including the number line. Using a number line is daunting for students. They must understand place values to do this correctly. So, I invented the Round O'Meter to help aid their understanding of using a number line.  Students often ask me if they will be incorrect if where they plot the number they are rounding to is not in the exactly correct position. I try to reinforce that in this case, being exact doesn't matter. They simply must understand that because 77, 129 has a 7 in the thousandth place, that means it will be rounded to the nearest ten thousand, 80,000.  Sometimes, I think using the number line clouds their understanding because I see most students getting the answers correct without using the number line. I think this is an example of a tool getting in the way of what students already know. I think moving forward, we will pivot to asking students to round numbers ...

Hello! Welcome to Week 4 of my blog entry. This week, we began discussing rounding to the nearest ten thousand. Rounding is very challenging concept for fourth grade students. This is because their knowledge of place value directly impacts their ability to round numbers correctly.  I use the rounding poem to help aid my students: Find your place, look RIGHT next door. 4 or less? Just ignore. 5 or more? Add 1 more! Even then, students struggle with the first step, finding their place value! I tell them to underline the place value they are rounding to. In this case, it is the nearest ten thousand. Then, I tell them to draw an arrow right next door. They need to know that that is the hundreds place value. They understand 4 or less, just ignore and that 5 or more means to add 1 more, but I find they struggle with how to plot this information on a number line.  So I invented the Round O'Meter  which is an enlarged number line with a slider for students to use to help guide ...