Each grade will only participate in Math CREATE for ONE cycle this year. In the past, Math CREATE ran for a full year, meaning that Grades 4-5-6 all had three full cycles of Math CREATE classes. ELA and Science only run one cycle for each grade and now Math CREATE will do the same, making it consistent with ELA and Science classes.
Grade 4 will re-learn counting! First, we will revisit Base 10, our number system and talk about place value and why we count the way we do. What numerals do we use to represent out numbers? We will travel back in time to the Romans and their number system. Then we will explore an alien planet whose inhabitants count very differently than we do. Can we learn how to count in different ways? We will have fun finding out!
During Cycle 2, we prepare for our favorite month of the year - March! The month of March contains all of our favorite mathematical events. Classes will develop and runs the weekly contest questions,the daily math fun facts and the Family Math Night! Stay tuned for our March Math fun!
As part of our month of math fun, March MATHness (yes the pun is intentional), the 6th grade students get to design, plan and host the Family Math Night for the school and their families. We brainstorm and design all the stations with a wide variety of math riddles, puzzles, ,brain teasers and multi-cultural games. We hope that families will be inspired and enjoy our activities and maybe even learn a new game.
The 6th graders also run the annual Pi Digits Contest, a nationally recognized event, where students around the world, challenge themselves to memorize and then recite as many digits of Pi as they can.
This year, the 6th graders will also be overseeing the Weekly Contest Questions like we did last year. This change is happening because Grade 5 won't meet until Cycle 3, which is long after March MATHness.
Grade 5 will be introduced to a student named Janna in this "Money Math Lessons for Life" unit and quickly learn about her Budget Woes. Janna is a college student who wants to move out of the dorm and into her own apartment, but her parents are not convinced this option will be cheaper. They tell Janna to create a budget with all of her expenses.
Grade 5 will make Janna's budget for her and in addition to learning about income, expense, taxes, fixed and variable expenses, they will become adept at spreadsheets, formatting and formulas, as they try to help Janna along her financial journey.