Hello Walton Families,
It has been a
great start to the school year as the sixth grade students have transitioned
smoothly to middle school and have been very busy in all their classes.
In standard math the students are in the middle of their
first unit on number sense in which they are studying real number properties,
exponents, perfect squares & square roots, order of operations, and
patterns & sequences. Students have been learning how these math topics relate
to real life situations. For example, students were asked if they had to wash
the dishes every night for 2 weeks would they rather get paid $5,000 total or
get $2.00 on the first day and double the amount each day for 2 weeks? Ask your
child what option they would choose and why. After learning about exponents and
patterns, many students quickly changed their decision. It was neat to see the
surprised look on their faces once they used their new math skills to work
through the problem and find shortcuts. The honors math students are also
discovering numerous ways math is used in everyday life in their unit on fractions,
decimals, and percentages.
In math class the students are constantly exposed to real
life applications and I encourage parents to continue doing this at home. When
you go out to eat have your student calculate the amount of tip you should
leave, or have them figure out how much change you should get back when you go
shopping. I love hearing stories from
students about how they use math outside of school.
This Thursday is Back to School night. I look forward to
seeing many of you there!
~ Mrs. Deering
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