Grade 4, Lesson 6, Day 1 ~ Division With Remainders

Oh wow, does this ever take me back!

I don't think the boys have ever explored division in terms of having a "remainder". They understand the basic concept of fractions and to them the answer to 7 ÷ 2 is 3 1/2, not 3 remainder 1. I will give them credit though ~ they caught on fast! We will work the concept all week, along with the concepts from last week.

We spent the bulk of our main lesson time working with Miquon lab sheets on equalities/inequalities (greater/less than in OM terms). Working with the boys eliminated their frustration with the lab sheets; or at least when the frustration started I could remind them that I was right there to help. These sheets were great as they are reinforcing the idea that math is language, and the language of math is what the boys need right now as they have picked up most of their math knowledge through life learning.

We did a Draw Write Now lesson as art and copywork. J-Baby tried to give me guff about it (I don't want to learn to draw a hen, I want to learn to draw something else!) but he settled in and did the work. We still need to purchase black felt tip markers as we had to share the only one I had which was too fine. They are doing the copywork without lines, Waldorf-style, rather than using lined paper. I'm not sure if we will continue this way or not.

The boys drew two other pictures today; one of their research animal eating and the other of something "delicious". Drawing is a great way to ease into Monday as it reconnects the boys with the subjects of the previous week without being immediately difficult. They also did math practice on even/odd, wrote in their journals, and played outside with their wooden swords.

We're trying to get together with friends for a party/project based on The Search For Delicious. Not all of our friends have finished the book so we're stuck on scheduling for now.