Save the Date! K and 1 Math Morning

We hope to see you!   Please RSVP to your child's teacher if you haven't already done so.  Watch for these reminder flyers to come home via your child's backpack.

                                    Kindergarten Math Morning - Monday, December 5th  8:45 am

                                             Grade 1 Math Morning - Tuesday, December 13th  8:45 

Turkey Math

It is hard to believe that December is just around the corner but first let's talk Turkey, turkey math of course.  Think about all the math you have to do to put a meal together.  Involve your kids in these types of decisions.

1. How big of a turkey to get to serve all the guests, how many pounds of potatoes you need to make 8 servings of mash?   
2. For the younger ones, ask them to figure out how many place setting, spoons, forks and so forth are needed for all the guests.  
3. You can also estimate how many oz or gallons of beverages will be consumed and then see if you were close after the holiday. 

Here are some fun facts to impress your family and friends -

• According to the National Turkey Federation, 88 percent of Americans have turkey on Thanksgiving. So if our math is correct, that leaves 12 percent of people who don't eat turkey on the holiday.
• A lot of cranberries are needed to accompany all that turkey on Thanksgiving. In all, 768 million lbs. (350 million kilograms) of cranberries were produced in the United States last year. Two states — Wisconsin and Massachusetts — were responsible for most of the production, producing 450 million and 210 million lbs. (200 million and 95 million kg) of cranberries, respectively.
• Turkey was the first meal enjoyed by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin when they were on the moon. Now you can be the talk of your dinner table this holiday — a perfect turkey tidbit to impress holiday dinner guests.

                                                             -from http://www.livescience.com/41506-surprising-thanksgiving-facts.html

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jefferson Problem Solving Board is in full swing!

Jefferson Problem Solving Board

I am very excited to see so many students at my board every morning this week.  I already had to empty my basket twice because it was filled with returned work.  New problems will be posted Monday, November 14 (about every 2 weeks).

A notice was sent home last week via your child's backpack, in case you missed it below is a description of how this program works.  If you have any questions please call or email me: saldanav@

What is the Jefferson Problem Solving Board? - This program gives students extra practice with critical thinking skills in grades 1-5.  Who should participate? Everyone! Due to the fact that this program is leveled by grade level cluster and the problems themselves are leveled, students of all math abilities can participate.  This set up allows for remediation and enrichment.

How does this work?
1. Student selects a problem set from their grade cluster.
2.  The problems themselves are leveled.  Each problem has a star next to it.
     1 star is easy - 4 stars is difficult.
3.  The student completes these problems on their own time, no deadline.          
     He/she doesn't have to complete all the problems, if the 4 star problems are  
      too challenging for example, then they can be skipped.
4. Once the student completes the problems, then he/she can bring the  
     problems back to the math specialist to be corrected.

For every twenty five stars that the students earn (25, 50, 75 and 100) they get their name on the Math Super Star board, their name is announce in the morning announcement, and they get a special prize from the math specialist.

What kind of problems will the kids get to work on? The problems are a mixture of word problems, math puzzles, basic number operation reviews and most importantly they are fun to do.