Posts Tagged are you smarter than a sixth grader

We make our students memorize fraction decimal conversions for benchmark fractions (the most important and widely used ones). They make flashcards and have to study at home.

Then we do a series of three timed tests. The tests have all the fractions listed and they have to fill in the decimal it equals…all in two minutes. They cannot work it out, they have to have it actually memorized. You don’t know how much it comes in handy for them in the next few years of math classes in school to just know that 1/3 = .3 repeating and 1/8 = .125 and so on, without having to work it out.

So my sweet hubby found this site called Quizlet that helps you study for things like this and I made a flashcard set for my class.

Here is what the upper level students are required to learn.

Click here to take the test and see if you know them.

Comment with  your score and what you think of this.

Does anyone use these fraction decimal conversions in their real life job? My students would probably love to know if someone actually did!

Its back! Yayyyy!!!

So…I am currently teaching multiplying fractions and mixed numbers to my upper level sixth graders. We teach how to multiply fractions with a Hershey chocolate bar, and we teach how to multiply mixed numbers with a cookie recipe that we enlarge 2  1/2 times. They actually bring the ingredients and we mix it up and I bring them cookies the next day. (I do not deserve credit for thinking of this, the teachers at my school did this before I got there.) So here are some problems for you…

1.       3/4  x    5/6 =

Get the answer and also tell me if you remembered anything special you could do to make it easier.

2.     5     1/3     x         7      1/2   =

Get the answer and tell me how you did it.