Math for Elementary Teachers 201

Today was the last day of the 201 class which means no more blogging for awhile. Although I am taking the second part of this class so I may be back. Not to sure if she is going to have us do this blog again but we will see. Looking back this class has taught me a lot and has made me more aware of what I have to work on if I want to be a successful elementary teacher and also thought about going into psychology because of this class too. haha well here is a cute comic to end this course of blogging hope all did well on the exam today! :)

Calvin and Hobbes

Fun with Fractions and Percents!

A fraction can be showed as a percent by converting the fraction to a decimal number.Then multiplying the number by 100 to get the percentage. Percent means it is out of a hundred.
                                                                   1/4= .25=25%

                                             one fourth
Another trick to converting a decimal to percent is moving the decimal point behind the hundredths place to the right. Like shown in this video.

When at the end of teaching converting fractions to percentages you can try playing BINGO if you know your class can handle this type of activity in a disciplined manner. I remember playing this game in middle school, Just create different BINGO sheets of fractions and percents then make matching cards in the opposite form as fraction or percent). You will call out what is on the card and you may show it so they can have a visual also then they can mark their cards as you go along. I found a game like I explained with just decimals included at the following link. BINGO game.

Equality of fractions

The equality of fractions can be illustrated with sets of objects and compared.

an example of illustration in achieving a problem:
1/2 = 2/4

2/3 = 4/6

First draw out your fraction models draw out 3/3 and then right under that draw 6/6. Once you have drawn those models out color in 2 of the 1/3 pieces and 4 of the 1/6 pieces. Do those look equal to you? well that is because they are! You have completed an equaltiy problem. to check your illustration of the equation just check it with the drawing below.

for more practice on fraction equality you can go to the following website by clicking the on the word fraction.

fraction 

Greatest Common Factors

We learned how to find the Greatest Common Factor [GCF(a,b)] of a given set of number and also the different methods we can use to find them. Maybe one of them will help you out. They are :

           -Listing Factors

           -Linear(Cuisinaire Rods)

           -Prime Factorization

When listing factors it is easiest to use the curtain method to list out your factors. When using the curtain method you list the factors from outside to inside like shown below. It is highlighted in purple.

The next step you circle the like factors & identify the largest common factor.

Therefore the GCF(18,56)=2

The Linear also known as the Cuisenaire Method is where you use small block units that are called cars and create trains with them they are each different sizes and colors and each are assigned a number.

http://www.mathcats.com/mathtoolbox/index.html

When presented with a problem like find the GCF(5,10), you can take a orange(10) car and line it up with a yellow(5) car and continue lining them up side by side until they even out and in this case 2 yellow cars even out with 1 orange car .

Prime Factorization is where we use the factors of a number to find the greatest common factor.

I find it easiest to draw out a factor tree first and find the factors that way.

     42                                      30
    /   \                                      /  \
  2    21                                   2  15
        /  \                                        /\
       3   7                                     3  5

After doing the factor tree we can hilight the end factors. after writing out that the factors of 30= 2*3*5 and the factors of 42=2*3*7. When lined up with each you find the matching numbers like for instince in this problem  2 and 3 are the only two that match up with each other so you multiply the 2 and the 3 which equals to 6. The end result will be the Greatest Common Factor of the numbers and in this problem the GCF is 6.

30= 2 * 3 * 5

42= 2 * 3 *   7

       2 * 3       =6

GCF(30,42)=6

I hope one of these methods make it easier for you to find the Greatest Common Factors.