Read What We Did This Week

Weekly Update

Hi All-

We made it through our Fractions Unit! Students finished their Unit 3 Test this week, and while we have made progress over the past several weeks, fractions are still proving to be a challenge for many students.

Rather than simply moving on and leaving those skills behind, we are going to continue practicing them throughout the year. Fractions are such an important part of math, and I want to make sure students have plenty of opportunities to build their confidence and improve.

What We Did This Week

We started the week by finishing our Unit 3 Test Review before taking our Fractions Test on Tuesday.

The test covered everything we've been working on, including simplifying fractions, finding common denominators, performing the four basic operations, and solving application problems.

The results showed that fractions are still an area where we need more practice. While we are moving on to our next unit, we will continue revisiting these skills through our fluency drills and weekly reviews. My goal is to keep reinforcing the material so students can gradually become more comfortable and confident with fractions.

Coming Up Next

Next week, we will be moving into our Integers Unit! After spending quite a bit of time working through fractions, we're going to switch gears and focus on number lines, comparing numbers, and the coordinate plane.

Throughout the week, we will cover:

• Integers and Opposites
• Rational Numbers on the Number Line
• Absolute Value
• Comparing Numbers
• Graphing Inequalities

These topics should be a nice change of pace from fractions, and I'm looking forward to getting started!

Fluency Practice and Weekly Reviews

We will be returning to our daily 5-minute fluency drills, with a continued focus on strengthening basic arithmetic and fraction skills.

As always, the five-minute limit is a hard cutoff. Students should stop when time is up, even if they have not finished the page.

Our Weekly Reviews will also continue to include fraction practice, giving students regular opportunities to revisit the skills that caused difficulty on the test. The goal is to keep building on what we've learned rather than expecting everyone to master everything after a single unit.

The Fluency Trainer on the Class Page is also available for additional practice.

Extra Help

I will be available for extra help on Tuesday and Thursday. If your child is still struggling with fractions or needs help with our new material, I encourage them to come in.

As always, feel free to email me if your child would like additional practice at home, and I can send some extra problems along with an answer key.

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update

Hi All-

We are almost finished with our Fractions Unit! Over the past few weeks, we've been working through all four fraction operations, and last week we started putting everything together with mixed practice and application problems.

What We Did This Week

Last week, we spent most of our time practicing the different fraction operations and working through word problems.

We started with mixed fraction practice, where students had to switch between adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions. We then moved into application problems, where the challenge was figuring out which operations to use rather than simply being told what to do.

We also began our Unit 3 Test Review on Friday. This is a chance for students to see how everything we've learned fits together and figure out which skills they might still need to practice.

Coming Up Next

Next week, we will finish reviewing and take our Unit 3 Fractions Test!

• Monday, November 2: Unit 3 Test Review
• Tuesday, November 3: Fractions Test

Students have received a test review to help them prepare. I strongly encourage everyone to spend some time looking over the problems, especially anything they found tricky during class.

We've spent a lot of time building up these skills, and I'm hoping students are feeling more comfortable with fractions than they were a few weeks ago!

I want to wish everyone the best of luck on the test! I'm looking forward to seeing how much progress they've made throughout the unit.

Fluency Practice

There will be NO fluency drills this week. With the test coming up, I'd rather students spend their time preparing for it than worrying about another assignment.

Extra Help

As always, I will be available for extra help on Tuesday and Thursday. If students have questions about anything from the unit

Weekly Update

Hi All-

We had a busy week in Math as we continued working through our Fractions Unit. After spending last week reviewing the basics of fractions, we finally began putting those skills to work with the four basic operations.

What We Did This Week

This week, we focused on adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions.

We started with adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, where students had to use their understanding of equivalent fractions to find common denominators. We then moved into multiplying fractions, cross-canceling, and dividing fractions.

One of the biggest things I have been emphasizing is simplifying before calculating. When multiplying fractions, for example, recognizing opportunities to cross-cancel can make a problem much easier and help avoid unnecessary arithmetic.

Coming Up Next

Next week, we will begin wrapping up our Fractions Unit and preparing for our Unit 3 Test.

We will start the week with two days of mixed fraction practice before moving into application problems. These problems will require students to decide which fraction operations to use rather than simply being told what to calculate.

Unit 3 Test Information:

• Test Date: Tuesday, November 3
• In-Class Review: Friday, October 30 and Monday, November 2
• Topics: Fraction forms, simplifying, equivalent fractions, all four fraction operations, and application problems

Students will have two full class periods dedicated to reviewing before the test. I strongly encourage them to use this time to ask questions and make sure they are comfortable with the different types of problems we have covered.

Weekly Fluency Practice

Students will continue their daily 5-minute fluency drills. As always, the five-minute limit is a hard cutoff. Students should stop when time is up, even if they have not finished the page.

The Fluency Trainer on the Class Page is also available for additional practice.

Extra Help

I will be available for extra help on Tuesday and Thursday. With our test approaching, I encourage students to come in if they are having trouble with any of the fraction operations.

As always, feel free to email me if your child needs additional practice, and I can send some extra problems along with an answer key.

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update

Hi All-

We had a productive week in Math as we began laying the groundwork for our Fractions Unit. Rather than jumping straight into fraction operations, we spent the week reviewing the basics of fractions, including simplifying fractions, equivalent forms, and understanding how fractions can be represented in different ways.

These are skills students have seen before, but they are also skills that we will be relying on constantly throughout the rest of the unit. My goal was to make sure everyone had a solid foundation before we started adding more complicated procedures on top of it.

What We Did This Week

This week, we focused on strengthening students' understanding of fractions and the relationships between them. We worked on finding simplest form, generating equivalent fractions, and recognizing how the same value can be written in different ways.

We also spent time practicing these skills and making sure students were comfortable using them. While this material may seem fairly basic, being able to recognize equivalent fractions and simplify efficiently will make a big difference as we move into fraction operations.

Coming Up Next

Next week, we will officially begin working with the four basic operations involving fractions. We will start with addition and subtraction before moving into multiplication and division later in the week.

Throughout the week, we will cover:

• Adding and Subtracting Fractions with Unlike Denominators
• Finding Common Denominators
• Multiplying Fractions
• Cross-Canceling
• Dividing Fractions

Much of what we practiced last week will come directly into play here. Finding common denominators requires students to recognize equivalent fractions, while simplifying and cross-canceling rely on the factor skills we have been reviewing.

I want students to begin seeing these topics as connected ideas rather than a collection of separate rules to memorize. The better they understand how fractions work, the easier it becomes to make sense of the operations we are learning.

Weekly Fluency Practice

Students will continue receiving their weekly fluency packets, which include a 5-minute arithmetic drill each day. These short sprints are designed to build speed and accuracy with foundational arithmetic.

As a reminder, the 5-minute limit is a hard cutoff. Students should stop when time is up, even if they have not finished the page. The goal is not to complete every problem, but to gradually increase the number of problems they can solve correctly within those five minutes.

The Fluency Trainer on the Class Page is also available for students who would like additional practice.

Strong arithmetic fluency is especially important as we move into fraction operations. The more comfortable students are with their multiplication and division facts, the easier it becomes to find common denominators, simplify fractions, and focus on understanding the problems rather than getting stuck on the calculations.

Extra Help

As always, I will be available for extra help on Tuesday and Thursday. If your child is still struggling with any of the fraction skills we reviewed last week, I strongly encourage them to come in before we get too far into the new material.

If your child needs or would like additional practice at home, feel free to email me and I can send additional problems along with an answer key.

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update

Hi All-

We had a busy week in Math as we wrapped up our Decimals Unit! We spent the beginning of the week working through multi-step word problems before dedicating two class periods to our Unit 2 Test Review. We finished the week with our Unit 2 Test on Friday.

Now that we have finished our work with decimals, we are ready to move into our next major unit on Fractions. Before we jump into fraction operations, however, we are going to spend some time reviewing a few important skills that will make working with fractions much easier.

What We Did This Week

This week, we focused on bringing together the computation and problem-solving skills we have been practicing throughout the Decimals Unit.

We spent Monday and Tuesday working through multi-step word problems that required students to decide which operations to use and how to organize their work. On Wednesday and Thursday, we completed our Unit 2 Test Review, giving students time to practice and ask questions before Friday's assessment.

We finished the week with our Unit 2 Test. I am looking forward to seeing how students performed, especially after all the time we spent strengthening their arithmetic and problem-solving skills over the past few weeks.

Coming Up Next

Next week, we will begin laying the groundwork for our Fractions Unit. Before we start working with fraction operations, we are going to focus on Greatest Common Factor (GCF), Least Common Multiple (LCM), and equivalent fractions.

Throughout the week, we will cover:

• Fraction Forms and Simplest Form
• Equivalent Fractions
• Comparing Fractions
• Adding Fractions

These skills are going to be especially important as we begin adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions. My goal is to make sure students have a solid understanding of how fractions work before we start asking them to perform more complicated operations.

Weekly Fluency Practice

We will also continue our weekly fluency packets, which include a 5-minute arithmetic drill for each day. These short, daily sprints are designed to help students build speed and accuracy with their basic arithmetic facts.

As a reminder, the 5-minute limit is a hard cutoff. Once five minutes are up, students should stop working, even if they have not finished the page. The goal is not to complete every problem, but rather to gradually increase the number of problems they can solve correctly within the time limit.

I have also added a Fluency Trainer to the Class Page for students who would like additional practice.

As we move into fractions, strong arithmetic fluency is going to become even more important. Students will regularly need to use multiplication and division facts when simplifying fractions, finding common denominators, and performing fraction operations. The more automatic those basic facts become, the easier it will be for students to focus on understanding the new material.

Extra Help

As always, I will be available for extra help on Tuesday and Thursday. If your child is struggling with any of the computation skills from our Decimals Unit or would like additional support as we move into fractions, I strongly encourage them to come in.

If your child needs or would like additional practice at home, feel free to email me and I can send additional problems along with an answer key.

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update

Hi All-

Last week was what I called our ``Long Division Week.'' We spent a lot of time working through long division with remainders, dividing to get decimal answers, and dividing by decimals. The goal was to spend a full week really focusing on the computation before we loop back into using those skills in more complicated problems.

Coming Up Next

This week, we are going to shift our focus back to application and problem solving. We will start the week with multi-step word problems that bring together the decimal skills we have been practicing throughout the unit.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we will work through our Unit 2 Test Review in class. This will give students two full class periods to work through the review, ask questions, and figure out anything they are still unsure about before our Unit 2 Test on Friday.

I will also be available for extra help on Tuesday and Thursday. If students are struggling with anything from the unit, this is a great week to come in and get some extra practice before the test.

My Unit 2 Bet

After our first test, I made the students a little bet. If the class average on the Unit 2 Test is above 75%, I will drop the Unit 1 Test grade for any student whose score is currently hurting their overall grade.

We have spent a lot of time since that first test working on the skills that gave us trouble, so I want to give students a chance to show how much progress they have made. If the class can show me that growth on Unit 2, I am more than happy to let the newer test replace a grade that is no longer an accurate picture of what they can do.

Fluency Practice

Starting this week, I am also adding 5 minutes of daily fluency practice at home. These are short sprints designed to help students build speed and accuracy with their basic arithmetic.

The 5-minute limit is a hard cutoff. When five minutes is up, students should stop, even if they have not finished the page. I do not want anyone spending 20 or 30 minutes trying to finish every problem. The goal is simply to see how many problems they can complete accurately in five minutes and gradually improve that number over time.

I have also added a Fluency Trainer to the Class Page. Students can use this whenever they would like some additional practice. As our math gets more complicated, the more automatic the basic arithmetic becomes, the more students can focus on actually solving the problem in front of them.

No Weekly Review This Week

There will be NO Weekly Review this week. Since students will already be working on their daily fluency drills and preparing for Friday's test, I want their focus to be on the Unit 2 Test Review rather than adding another assignment on top of it.

As always, if your child needs or wants additional practice before the test, feel free to email me and I can send some additional problems along with an answer key.

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update

Hi All-

We had a busy week in Math as we wrapped up our Introduction to Problem Solving Unit and began our next unit on Decimals. Students spent the beginning of the week reviewing for and completing our first unit test before transitioning into decimal operations.

What We Did This Week

This week, we covered the following topics:

• Unit 1 Test
• Adding and Subtracting Decimals
• Multiplying Decimals

I still have a few students who need to take the Unit 1 Test. Once those students have had an opportunity to complete the assessment, I hope to return the tests to students as soon as possible.

Coming Up Next

Next week, we will continue our Decimals Unit with a major focus on division. We will cover the following topics:

• Long Division and Remainders
• Dividing by Multiple-Digit Numbers
• Dividing to Get Decimals
• Dividing by Decimals

This unit is designed to strengthen students' fluency with the four basic operations. Once we finish reviewing the computation skills, we will loop back to application problems and begin applying these operations to increasingly complex problem-solving situations. This will allow students to combine the problem-solving strategies from Unit 1 with the computation skills we are developing in Unit 2.

If your child needs or would like additional practice, feel free to email me and I can send additional problems along with an answer key.

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update

Hi All-

It was great meeting so many of you at Back to School Night this week! I enjoyed getting the chance to walk everyone through the class and answer questions about what to expect this year.

What We Did This Week

This week, we continued our Introduction to Problem Solving Unit. We focused on:

• Solving Two-Step Problems
• Solving Three-Step Problems
• Choosing the Correct Order of Operations
• Working Backward
• Interpreting Remainders

Throughout this unit, our focus has been on building the problem-solving skills students will use throughout the year. Rather than simply looking for key words, students have been practicing how to break a problem into smaller pieces, determine what needs to be found first, and organize their work.

Coming Up Next

Our Unit 1 Test is Tuesday, September 22. On Monday, we will spend class reviewing for the test. Students also have been provided with a test review that contains problems similar to those on the test. After the test, we will begin our Decimals Unit. We will start with:

• Adding and Subtracting Decimals
• Decimal Word Problems
• Multiplying Decimals

As we begin Unit 2, students will continue using the problem-solving strategies we developed during Unit 1. The arithmetic will change, but the expectation of carefully reading, planning, and showing organized work will stay the same.

As always, if your child would like additional practice on any of these topics, please feel free to email me. I am happy to send additional problems along with an answer key.

Weekly Update

Hi All-

It was great meeting everyone this week! We officially began our 6th grade math journey with our Introduction to Problem Solving Unit. This unit is focused on strengthening the fundamental skills and strategies students will need to solve the more complex problem-solving situations we will encounter throughout the year.

What We Did This Week

This week, we covered the following topics:

• Identifying Extra and Needed Information
• Planning and Using Intermediate Questions
• Drawing Models

Coming Up Next

Next week, we will continue our Introduction to Problem Solving Unit with the following topics:

• Two-Step Problems
• Three-Step Problems
• Interpreting Remainders

We will also have our Grade 5 Skills Test on Friday, September 18. The extra credit assignment students received is designed as a review for this assessment and gives them an opportunity to practice the key Grade 5 skills that will appear on the test.

Our Unit 1 Test will be on Tuesday, September 22. Weekly Review 2 will serve as the review for this test. In general, students will receive a full-length review before each unit test; however, this first unit will be the exception.

If your child needs or would like additional practice, feel free to email me and I can send home extra problems along with an answer key. Students can also complete the even-numbered problems from our classwork, which we typically skip during class, for additional practice.

Please make sure your child brings their math binder to class on Monday. We will be setting up and organizing our binders together in class.

I am also looking forward to seeing everyone at Back to School Night on Thursday, September 17!

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update

I’m excited to get started and have a great year of learning, problem-solving, and building strong math skills together.

As we begin the year, please make sure you are keeping up with our first important assignments and dates:

Throughout the year, I’ll use these weekly posts to share important reminders, upcoming assignments, class updates, and helpful resources. Make sure you check them regularly so you always know what is happening in class.

I’m looking forward to a great year of learning and growth. Let’s get started!

Mr. Hascup

📌 Syllabus & Class Page Tour Assignment

Due: Thursday, September 10th Students should complete the syllabus/class page tour assignment to make sure they know where to find important resources, assignments, and class information throughout the year.

📚 Summer Homework

Due: Friday, September 11th Please make sure all summer homework is completed and submitted by the deadline. This will help us start the year ready to go.

📝 Grade 5 Skills Assessment

Date: Friday, September 18th We will begin the year with a Grade 5 skills assessment. It helps me see what skills everyone remembers, what we need to review, and how I can best support everyone this year. Completing the review adds 5% to your grade.