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Excelling 2nd Grade Mathematicians

Dan Frobish from GVSU’s Statistics Department visited our math class today to hand out awards for a outstanding math thinkers. This winter, Mrs. Kuieck’s math class submitted posters to a state wide competition and some of our friends won awards for their hard work.

We are all so very proud of these bright students!  The school plaque will be displayed in the rotunda cases.

THIRD PLACE IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN: Mikayla, Olivia, Marissa ( not pictured)   Georgetown will proudly display the award these girls earned.

 

TOP FIVE FINALISTS IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN: Joanna, Isabel, Elise

 

AND……   A SURPRISE THAT WE DID NOT KNOW ABOUT….

AN HONORABLE MENTION AWARD :  Samantha and Paige

 

 

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2nd Grade Statisticians

Did you know that second graders from Georgetown work on statistics? Mrs. Kuieck’s second graders became so skilled that they entered the GVSU Michigan Statistics Poster competition.

To create the posters, they worked in groups focused on a  topic of interest. They created a survey, compiled their data on a poster complete with the results of their study and the steps they took in the process.

The posters were submitted earlier this month in the state wide competition and the children have been anxiously awaiting the results.

Mrs. Kuieck is proud to announce a top five finalist group…..  Joanna ( Mrs. Quigley’s class),  Isabel ( Mrs. Quigley’s class) and Elise ( Mr. Jurewicz’s class)

AND… drum roll please…..  The 3rd place winners of the Michigan Statistics Competition….. Mikayla ( Mrs. Greenlund’s class), Marissa (Mrs. Kuieck’s class) and Olivia ( Mrs. Greenlund’s class)!

Each groups’ poster will go on into the National Statistics Poster Competition later in the spring.

Our third place winner’s poster will be on display at the GVSU Fieldhouse on Saturday, March 24  (beginning approximately mid morning).

They also will be receiving a plaque acknowledging their success as well as a monetary award.   WE ARE SO VERY PROUD OF YOU!

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Math Parent Night

WHEN:  Tuesday, March 20, 2012 @ 7:00-8:05 PM at the

WHERE:  Hudsonville High School Auditorium.

A Math Expressions Parent Night will be held at the high school auditorium for parents of K-5 students in the district.

Parents will hear an overview of the Math Expressions Math Program in the auditorium, followed by 3 break-out sessions: K-1st, 2nd-3rd, and 4th-5th. Break-out sessions are designed to give specific grade level support to parents.

Each break-out session will run for 20 minutes and will run two times in a row, allowing parents to attend more than one session.

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Parent Math Night

Math Expressions Parent Night:  Thursday, March 20, 2012 @ 7:00 PM at the Hudsonville High School Auditorium


A Math Expressions Parent Night will be held at the high school auditorium for parents of K-5 students in the district.  Parents will hear an overview of the program in the auditorium, followed by 3 break-out sessions: K-1st, 2nd-3rd, and 4th-5th. Break-out sessions are designed to give specific grade level support to parents.  Each break-out session will run for 20 minutes and will run two times in a row, allowing parents to attend more than one session.

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Mr. Gort: Math Video Tutorials

Does your child’s math homework ever stump you?  Do you find yourself wondering how you passed math courses way back when if you can’t figureo out how to help your elementary child complete a math problem?

Can I tell you this?  As a parent, I UNDERSTAND!  Math is not what it used to be.  It is much more complex for elementary learners now than it was when we were in school.

To help support parents and our math learners, Mr. Gort is video taping lessons and posting these on his MATH BLOG.  Currently he has two videos posted:  Tips for long division and tips for finding area and perimeter.  Mr. Gort is a resource teacher at our school and teams with Mrs. Reifschneider, who is also a resource teacher.

If you have requests for certain math concepts that you would like him to video tape, please let him know by completing this survey.   Our goal is to create a video library that you can access at any time to provide support to your child and also prevent you from ripping your hair out!

 

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Learning Math in Today’s Classroom

arithmeticAre you confounded by your child’s math homework?  Do you sometimes wonder if the math your child is now learning in elementary school involves math concepts that you learned in secondary math classes? Do you ever question your own math ability when you can’t help your child complete a stem and leaf plot, a proof statement or a place value problem?

Over the past three years, our staff has fielded a variety of parent questions about the supposed  “new math” that is taught, grades K-5.  Our district math curriculum is set by the state of Michigan which follows the national mandates for math education.  This ensures that all schools throughout our nation are preparing all learners to know and understand math facts AND understand how to apply use math to create sophisticated algebraic equations.

Why?  Society demands this.  All of us now need to know how to develop macros equations for spreadsheets and for a variety of other work projects.

Keith Devlin, an NPR math expert explained it best:

“….Computers do arithmetic for us,  but making computers do the things we want them to do requires algebraic thinking. For instance, take a computer spreadsheet. The computer does all the calculations for you automatically. But you have to write the macros that tell it what calculations to do — and that is algebraic thinking.

You cannot become good at algebra without a mastery of arithmetic, AND arithmetic itself is no longer the ultimate goal.  Thus the emphasis in teaching mathematics today is on getting people to be sophisticated, algebraic thinkers.”

You can find the entire article by clicking on the link below:

The Way You Learned Math is So Old School

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Georgetown Surveyers

tape measureHave you seen these students in the hallway with measuring sticks?  I have watched them measure the length of hallways, the area of the rotunda and classrooms.  Their work in measuring was tied to an advanced math project they were doing for their fifth grade class.

One day I snapped a photo of them with a promise to get their project highlight on the school blog.  Here they are, the Georgetown Surveyers! I can picture each one of these girls pursuing a career that involves mathematical equations and precise detail.

IMAG0122

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Smarty Games: Reading and Math

Richard Byrne, author of the blog FREE TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHERS, shared a new website, SMARTY GAMES, designed to help elementary students develop basic math and reading skills.  After visiting the site, I decided that this would be helpful to many students during the summer months.

Free featured games for mathematics cover basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  Reading games include games that focus on alphabet recognition and story content, plus more.

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Math Facts: Cool Tips for Parents

If you are working on math facts with your child over the summer months, I have a helpful link that is worth checking out.  The authors of this blog provide strategies for learning addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.  MATH FACTS

If you are looking for a site that provides practice with facts, here are some additional links to check out!

Kids Numbers

Online Math

Math TV – Video Mathematics Lessons

Ghost Blasters, Math Blasters

Math A Tube
Who Wants Pizza?

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