Day 5: Multiplication Review

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.NS.3 Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm.

The Learning Objective: Identify the parts of a multiplication problem; multiply multi-digit factors to find a product

Quote of the Day: "Many people believe that a person is born either smart, average, or dumb - and stays that way for life. But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle - it changes and gets stronger when you use it." - Carol Dweck

Assessment: I collected all of the my favorite no problems at the beginning of class. In one class, 38% of the students answered the problem correctly. The numbers for the other two classes were also slightly under 50%. I have posted a couple pictures below of what students were doing. During the notes, I had students stand up if they finished problems early. I introduced the routine of once you've been checked off by me, you can go around the room and check off others. Students seemed to be doing very well. I circumvented the room as students worked on the estimation to see what they were writing for too low, too high, and their estimates. Finally, I went around the room during homework. Not surprisingly the more digits on a factor, the greater the likelihood that a student makes an error. Overall though I feel confident that we can start division tomorrow.

Agenda:

1. My Favorite No 98 x 76
2. Analyzing My Favorite No
3. 12 dozen donuts video from PBS 
4. Multiplication Notes (end of Class #1)
5. Estimation 180 Days 8-10
6. Finish notes (if necessary)
7. Let students start the homework
8. Time did not allow, but I would have had students work on Pascal's Triangle from Friday

Glass Half-Full Take: I loved Estimation 180 given the topic today of multiplication. We saw a practical use for the operation in which the students had to think in order to solve a problem. I never realized it until this year, but the tissue boxes on Day 10 of Estimation 180 definitely jumps into volume for students. The amount of reasoning that students do during this time makes it ok  to spend more time than is traditionally allotted to a warm up problem.

I also liked going around the room during the time students were doing homework and crossing out problems for students. For some students I gave a new problem of telling me how many people were in the school. Students initially looked at me cross-eyed but eventually started to think when I prompted them by saying, "What's too low?" Again though, estimation 180 was proving it's worth during this time of the lesson.

One Regret: Initially when we did My Favorite No, I gave a class an additional question to see if they knew the vocabulary for factor and product. I think there are many ways to teach vocabulary, but this is a very inefficient way to do it. In a different class, I had students get out of their seats and say it to each other after I felt like I had been lecturing for too long. That was a much better use of time.

Homework: Multiplication Review B

Link of the Day: Just a short way to get them thinking - could be a good one for anyone out there that has been called a witch.