Important Dates
- 10/25/23
- Do Now – Week 10 is due.
- Multiplication Drill – Week 10 (9 minutes)
- 10/26/23 – Parent-Teacher Conference Day
- 10/27/23 – No School for Students
- 11/03/23 – Topic 3 Test for 5th and 6th grades
Announcements
- Parent-Teacher Conferences – In order to accommodate as many parents as possible, appointments will be 5 minutes long. Here’s the link: Parent Teacher Conference Appointments.
- Multiplication Fluency – Being fluent in multiplication is necessary for 5th and 6th grades math calculations. I want students to be able to recall 100 multiplication facts in 5 minutes by the last week of the 2nd quarter. This is actually the fluency rate of a 2nd grade student. Although mastery is set at 70% accuracy, please know that some students who have at least 70% accurate are still counting on their fingers. Counting fast is not fluency. Fluency is recalling automatically. When we get down to 5 minutes, scores will change if students do not become fluent. Please see chart below, which comes from the following article: Math Fact Fluency Expectations by Grade Level – Rocket Math. Please read the article if you want to understand the need for fluency. Here is a link to a list of websites to help your child practice: Multiplication Fluency Resources – Dr. Crystal Brown (drcrystalbrown.com)
- Academic Center Test Prep – For years, I have been able to get students into Academic Centers and selective enrollment high schools. I believe test prep is essential for any admissions test. Students need to know what to expect and how to overcome challenges. Students should also learn strategies through test prep. Think of this as a sports game. Players are prepared for the game through practice, review film, and developing strategies for specific situations. So, when an athlete is faced with a challenge, they are not overwhelmed by them. It is important for students to stack the deck in their favor in anything that they want to accomplish. Therefore, they will need more and more practice. Since I cannot tutor your child for this test, I have compiled a list links to the resources that you might want to purchase along with a study schedule.
- Grades 7-12 Test Prep Bundle for CogAT® (criticalthinking.com) It’ll be difficult for you to complete everything in the bundle before your test, so I would purchase the following books:
- Monday – Mind Benders® Level 5
- Tuesday – Word Roots Level 3
- Wednesday – Think Analogies® B1
- Thursday – Building Thinking Skills® Level 3 Figural
- Friday – Building Thinking Skills® Level 3 Verbal
- Saturday – Balance Benders™ Level 2
- Sunday – Pattern Explorer Level 2
- Paper Folding – This is the part of the test that challenges most students who do not prep.
- I would do as much as I can in 30 minutes each day. I would also schedule my test as late as
possible. My children took the test the last week it was offered to give me time to tutor them. I hope this helps you. Good luck!
- Grades 7-12 Test Prep Bundle for CogAT® (criticalthinking.com) It’ll be difficult for you to complete everything in the bundle before your test, so I would purchase the following books:
- Topic 3 Test – Please use the learning objectives below to understand the content of the test. Students will have three questions per skill. In order to master the skill, students will need to get at least two out of the three questions per skill correct.
- Weekly Homework Calendar
Learning Objectives
5th Grade
- I can use mental math to multiply a whole number by a power of 10.
- I can estimate products.
- I can multiply multi-digit numbers by a 1-digit number.
- I can multiply a 2-digit number by a 2-digit number.
- I can multiply a 3-digit number by a 2-digit number.
- I can solve real world problems with multi-digit multiplication.
6th Grade
- I can write and evaluate numbers with exponents.
- I can write the prime factorization of a number.
- I can find the greatest common factor (GCF) of two numbers.
- I can find the least common multiple (LCM) of two numbers.
- I can write and evaluate numerical expressions.
- I can write algebraic expressions.
- I can evaluate algebraic expressions.