Students will be split between 5th and 6th grade math on Tuesday, August 23.  We use a body of evidence to determine the best math placement including the multiple math tests, CMAS data, and teacher recommendations.  I do not test the speed of math fact recall, but I do know that students who are not automatic with their multiplication facts need to hold more information in their working memory and sometimes get bogged down in the middle of complex math problems.  This is not to say that these students are not strong mathematical thinkers, they just need to work harder to find the correct solution.  For this reason, I encourage my students to practice their math facts if they have not yet mastered them.

We have extended math to be 70 minutes long to support the students who need extra help and to allow most of the 6th grade students to start their "homework" in school.  Homework should never take more than 45 minutes - if it does, please stop!  If the homework is regularly taking more than 45 minutes and students are needing a lot of support from parents, please have your child talk to Mrs. Ellis.   Homework should be a time to practice skills we learned in class.  When students have questions, I prefer that they bring them to school the next day.  Thanks!