Dear Parents,

Welcome to a new year! Let´s make it a great year of learning at River Homelink.  We will be  dissecting math and discovering what makes it TICK! I love teaching math, and my goal every year is to get my students to say "Hey, this is FUN!"   Many students hate to admit it, but I usually get SOME  who say it.  Our students will strengthen foundational skills to unlock their inner mathematician and become  stronger math students. We will employ strategies to combat ingrained math phobias and take the sting out of learning math.

We are using HMH Go Math! this year as our BGSD math curriculum.  

Go Math! is designed using the proven 5E instructional model, guiding students toward proficiency by building on their previous understanding of mathematical concepts. Go Math! is an easy-to-implement core curriculum with an effective instructional approach that includes robust differentiation and assessment resources that engage all levels of learners and support all levels of teachers, from novice to master. 

Using HMH Go Math!  we will strive to complete 2 lessons per week, using a variety of online resources to keep it interesting. 

You will have online components through Google Classroom, Geogebra, or IXL, as well as a WORKBOOK. Here is what it will look like:

Part 1: Warm up - these will usually be some form of CLASS DISCUSSION - Padlet, Google Forms, Collaborative Slides, Flipgrid, MathFactLab, etc. 

     These open discussions at the beginning of class encourage thinking about how numbers work and engage students to develop their own conceptual understanding of mathematics and share their strategies for mental calculations. Warm up employ instructional routines to strengthen student´s skills in listening and speaking about mathematics and include Number Talks, Notice and Wonder, Which One Doesn´t Belong, or True or False.

Part 2:  Class activities - we will NOT be doing EVERY activity in the Workbooks, but I will select one or two that focus on the Learning Goal.

     Classroom activities provide experience with new concepts and provide an opportunity to apply mathematics to a modeling or other application, resolve common mistakes or misconceptions and work toward mastery of a concept or procedure.

Part 3: Lesson Synthesis - this may be a VIDEO or an entry in a Digital Notebook

     Lesson synthesis gives an opportunity for students to incorporate new insights gained during the activities into their big-picture understanding.

Part 4: Cool down - graded mini-assessments on each lesson - tell me how well you understood and can meet the Learning Goal.

     Cool downs serve as a brief formative assessment at the end of a lesson to determine whether students understood or we need to make adjustments for further inquiry. These will often happen at the beginning of the next class day to assess understanding of the previous at-home learning assignment. 

At home learning:

Students will do Student Workbook pages with support from aligned videos, or Practice Sets from IXL.  Additional resources, material, or support will be provided by the teacher. Parents are welcome to access additional teacher guides sent on Skyward from the teacher or on the corresponding page in this website.