Here are some examples of acceptable written responses to homework questions this week.

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11.  Is 65 closer to 59 or 68?
65 is closer to 68 because it's only 3 away from 68 and 6 away from 59 on the number line.

13.  Is 361 in the range of numbers from 348 to 378?
361 is in the range of 348 to 378 because it's between those 2 numbers.

15.  Maury has 325 stamps in his collection and Jan has 352.   Who has more stamps?   Use place-value words to explain how you know.
I know Jan has more stamps than Maury because Jan has 5 quick tens which is more than Maury's 2 quick tens.

16.  El Paso is 1,483 miles from Chicago and 1,280 miles from Nashville.  Which city is closer to El Paso?  Use place-value words to explain how you know.
Nashville is closer to El Paso.  It is 1 thousand 2 hundreds 8 tens away.  Chicago is 1 thounsand 4 hundreds 8 tens 3 ones away.  4 hundreds is more than 2 hundreds.

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14.  The population of France is about 48,109,000 people.  The population of Italy is about 58,262,000 people.  Which country has a larger population?  Use place-value words to explain how you know.
Italy has a larger population because they have 58 million 2 hundred 62 thousand people which is more than 58 million 1 hundred thousand 9 thousand people.

Students be sure that you are reading ALL directions and including your explanations/justification/evidence when answering questions.

Homework

I have begun posting the math homework on the blog.  Students will receive a paper copy of homework on Fridays.  If you need another copy at any time, I have scanned and linked the homework under the Student tab at the top of the blog.

If your child is absent, it is his/her responsibility to come to me and ask what they missed and for the copy of the homework and any other assignments.  This is beginning to prepare them for middle school.

MATH homework is due on Friday mornings.  See Reading Response Homework packet for reading homework due dates -- the first 3 reading response journal entries are due next Friday, September 20th. Reading Response homework information is also posted under the student tab.

Happenings in Mrs. Foster's Class

We have been in school for about a week and we learned something new today.  We learned that Giovanni da Verrazano explored the Cape Fear River in March 1524, Hernando de Soto explored the Great Smoky Mountains, and Arthur Barlowe plus Philip Amadas explored Roanoke Island.  In the late 1500s, Queen Elizabeth I of England gave Sir Walter Raleigh permission to start a colony in North America.  Yesterday and today we learned a lot of social studies because we had a social studies text.

I had a wonderful weekend and I hope everybody else had a wonderful weekend.  I hope everybody else had a wonderful week at school because if I didn't I wouldn't want to go to school if I were you.  I like school do you?  I love school because I met new people and became friends with them.  I learned about stuff I never knew about.

By Evelyn Nguyen

Classroom Responsibilities

I am organizing our classroom around the concept of a School Family, where each member learns the skills needed to successfully manage life tasks such as learning, handling frustration, communicating effectively, being sensitive to peoples’ needs and getting along with others. Within our School Family students have jobs to which make our classroom a better place for everyone, help classmates be successful by making decisions that keep one another safe, and working hard & completing work.

Every child has a job -- ask your child what their job is this week.  Jobs will change every other week.  This way our "family" will share the responsibilities of of running our classroom.

One job is Classroom Blogger -- check this blog weekly (Saturday mornings, hopefully) for a student prospective of what was learned during the week.

Standards Based Grading

Ever wonder what Standards Based Grading really means?  Here's a great explanation.