Math in Our Classroom

Room 201 ~ 4 th Grade

Math Concepts:

Ms. Havenaar

My name is Brittani Havenaar and I am an MSU intern in Mrs.

Stantons 4th grade class. I am from Plainwell, Michigan-near
Kalamazoo. Ill be gaining teaching experience this year by working
with your student(s). I have enjoyed working with the students thus far.
I enjoy anything having to do with the great outdoors, from hiking to
traveling abroad.
Above is an image of me at a school in Dar Es Salaam,
Tanzania. I was able to participate in a Fulbright Hayes trip this past
summer for 33 days in Tanzania, to learn abut the culture and
integrate this into my teaching this year. I was able to learn not only
some Swahili but also types of food and cultural aspects I can teach
your students about from village structures to the true habitat of an
elephant or a baboon.

My Math Philosophy:
I believe that all students are capable of learning new
things by figuring them out for themselves, experiencing true
"AHA!" moments, questioning ideas and thoughts, making
mistakes, and then making sense of these new ideas.
Students should be able to understand how math is useful
in every day life. I want the students to understand that making
mistakes is a natural and perfectly normal thing to do, as long as
they are willing to keep trying and understand where they made a
mistake and ways use them to build understanding. I hope your
students make discoveries that matter to them and help them to
better understand the concepts of math. Let us see your students
potential and keep building upon it to help them question,
understand and challenge thoughts around them.

By the end of this unit your

student will be able to determine
and understand what makes a
number a prime number as well as
why a composite number is just
that, a composite.
Your student will also be able to
understand what factors make up
any given number under 100.
Vocabulary
Factor Pairs: two numbers that
can be multiplied together to
make a certain product.
Example: 2 and 3 are a factor
pairs of 6.
Prime number: a number with
ONLY two factors 1 and itself.
Examples: 13, 3,23, and 37.
Composite number: A number
with more than two factors.
Example: 4 has the factors of

Sample of Problems for Homework:

1. Write all of the factor pairs for each
number listed below:
a. 18 (18 and 1, 2 and 9, 6 and 3).
b. 14 (1and 14, 7 and 2).
2. Write all of the factors of 13? If this is a
prime number, explain why you believe
so.
3. On the 100s chart color all prime
numbers RED and all the composite
numbers BLUE.
(Similar to image to the left.)

Strategies they are working on

and why?

Strategies that we will be working on include being

fluent in math facts of 1-12. They can continue to
practice these on Reflexmath.com. We are also
using factor trees in order to help the students to
organize their thoughts while finding the numbers
factors and factor pairs. To help the students
express thoughts they have and compare them
to others around them, they will be engaging in a
number talk to see why people believe a number
may be a prime or composite number. These will allow
the students to develop their own understanding of
numbers through an active discussion with classmates.

At Home:

Challenge your students to explain their

thinking to you in order for them to rethink
their processes out loud to someone else,
and feel free to engage them in a
conversation on their thinking.

Have the students practice their math facts

regularly, though engagement of flash cards
or online resources such as reflexmath.com