Marvelous Math with Mrs. Rose

On St. Patrick’s Day, students and staff at Ryerson School were treated to some traditional Irish Step Dancing, performed by current and former students.

Fourth-grader Meghan Lewis and third-grader Abigail Murphy were among the performers!  Student learned about the traditions of Step Dancing and even had the chance to learn a few steps from these talented girls!

Many thanks to our very own Irish steppers for sharing this exciting cultural event with us!

Congratulations to fourth-graders at Island Avenue School who presented their ExploraVision projects to fellow classmates and special guests (family and friends) at school today.

Four groups of students developed entries on the following topics:

• “Plumpy Plant” to solve world hunger
• “Team MSSC Breast Cancer Vaccine” to prevent breast cancer through a vaccine
• “Fission/Fusion Cycle” to rid the world of nuclear waste and to create unlimited energy
• “Transgenic Baseball Bat” to develop a superior wood for baseball bats that won’t fracture

Mr. Ginsburg and I are SO proud of our students, who worked afterschool developing their projects.  All students received award certificates from ExploraVision and the “Transgenic Baseball Bat” won an honorable mention for their project.  CONGRATULATIONS!

ExploraVision, sponsored by Toshiba and administered by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), encourages K-12 students of all interest, skill and ability levels to create and explore a vision of future technology by combining their imaginations with the tools of science.  All inventions and innovations result from creative thinking and problem solving.

We are so proud of our students’ accomplishments!  We’d also like to thank an incredible DHHS junior, Zach Glassman, who joined us after school to help mentor and coach our students through their projects.

Students at Island Avenue School have been enjoying reading to a very special visitor, Roxy the dog!

Mrs. Shirley, our Language Arts Coordinator, has made arrangements for this very special canine guest, who is specially trained and is an avid patient, listener of children’s stories!

Thanks so much to all the parents who recently attended Ryerson’s PTO Meeting and who were so interested in hearing the details of our Math program and our students’ accomplishments!

I hope that you find this blog a source of helpful information as you guide your child in learning.  Please don’t forget to check out the following pages and links on this site:

• Wonderful Websites
• Fact Fluency Strategies
• Problem Solving Strategies
• Math Riddles
• Math News
• Hot Topics

Thanks so much for all you do in supporting your child’s education!

Students celebrated Dr. Seuss’s Birthday at Ryerson by participating in a reading incentive which culminated in “Wacky Hat Day.” 

At lunchtime, students were treated to a reading from the Suess-all-time favorite, “Green Eggs and Ham,” by Dr. Sinicrope and a taste of green eggs and ham.

Thanks to the 3rd and 4th grade teachers who attended our  after-school E-Workshop yesterday on Mathematical Problem Solving!

Here’s what the research on Problem Solving tell us, according to National Council of Teachers Of Mathematics (NCTM):

1. Students must solve many problems in order to improve their problem solving ability.
2. Problem solving ability develops slowly over a prolonged period of time.
3. In order to benefit from instruction, students believe their teacher thinks that problem solving is important.
4. Most students benefit greatly from systematically planned problem-solving instruction.

Problem solving is a major emphasis in our mathematics program in Madison elementary schools and we value the opportunity and the ability to problem solve.  We problem solve not just for math, but for life!!!

To get your younger students thinking, pose the following problem:

I have quarters, dimes, and nickels in my pocket.  If I take three coins out of my pocket, how much could the three coins be worth?

The really nice aspect of this problem is that there are multiple answers.  To challenge students, ask them to find all possible combinations.  For older students, ask them how they know when they have found all combinations!

Have fun problem solving and please feel free to share your thoughts . . .

Students in our Madison schools witnessed history as they viewed selected portions of the inauguration ceremonies for our 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, on January 20th.  Excitement filled the air as many of our younger students witnessed a presidential inauguration for the first time.  Social studies lessons in the classrooms supported this historic moment as teachers took advantage of this “teachable moment.”

Today (January 20), our students will witness an historic day as the 44th U.S. President, Barack Obama, takes his oath of office.  Many of our students in elementary school have only known one U.S. President so far and probably weren’t old enough to remember much about previous inauguration days.  Today, as they witness history in the making, it will be interesting to see their reactions.  Stay tuned . . .