Grade 4, Winter Term, Long Division Block Week 2 ~ And We're Off!

Today we started long division. I used the examples in A Little Garden Flower's math book but didn't bring a story to it. I wanted to write one, but left it to the last minute and found myself struck with the flu yesterday (I still feel rather cruddy today).

I did, however, purchase a copy of Live Education Grade 4 yesterday, and it should be here Wednesday or Thursday. That will give me more guidance, and perhaps even a story. I was very impressed with what I saw in the LE G5 materials I bought last month that I decided to bite the bullet and get LE G4 to finish out our school year.

The boys aren't sure what to make of long division. They don't want to believe that it is hard, but it isn't exactly intuitive, either. I wish I could remember what I thought and felt when I learned long division myself; obviously I wasn't traumatized by it as I still like math and I don't even recall how old I was or in which grade I was taught. My own mathematics learning was rather all over the place because of the gifted label bestowed upon me and various schools' attempts to keep me from utter boredom (I'm glad that they tried), plus changing schools each grade until 4th. In 1st grade I did my math with 2nd graders in a combined 1st/2nd grade class. In 2nd grade I was sent to do math with a 3rd grade class. In 3rd grade I was in a combined 3rd/4th grade cluster class for gifted students and again worked well above "grade level". In 4th grade I took math with the 6th graders. After that my elementary school couldn't help me; I took 6th grade math again in 5th grade and 6th grade, and then finally I took pre-algebra in 7th grade and had a challenge again. All of that being a very wordy way to say that I may have been learning long division at age 8.

Our power was out all morning and for the first half of the afternoon, and it didn't affect our learning in the least. There is enough natural light in the family room that we rarely turn on the lights on sunny days anyway. We don't use the computer or anything else electronic for our learning.

We sang.

We wrote.

We discussed homonyms, contractions, and the differences between there/their/they're.

We said our multiplication tables.

We reviewed long multiplication and how to figure area.

We had our main lesson on long division.

The boys did their independent reading.