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Ms. Lounsbury, Math, 6th

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Week of January 20th

Dear Family,
Have you ever had to plan a large party—perhaps a family reunion, a wedding, 
or a community fundraiser? Planning for a large event can be quite a challenge. 
Recruiting your student to help with the planning provides a great opportunity 
for your student to use math skills.
For example, you could ask your student to figure out the following.
 How much food is needed? Should you plan on just one portion per 
person, or multiple portions? Have your student write a rule (or 
equation) to determine the number of portions of food you need. Your 
student can write a rule even if you don’t know how many people will be 
attending when you first start planning.
 Is the number of invitations needed equal to the number of people being 
invited? Have your student write a rule for the number of invitations 
you need and another rule for the cost of the postage.
 Each table can probably seat 8 or 10 people. You’ll want to figure out how 
many tables you will need. Have your student write a math rule to 
determine this amount. 
 How many tablecloths and table decorations will you need? If there will 
be serving tables, don’t forget about decorating those as well.
Event planners often say that about two-thirds to three-quarters of invitees 
can be counted on to attend. Work with your student on a strategy to guess 
how many people you think will actually attend. Then have your student use the 
rules they wrote to estimate the number of portions, invitations, tables, and 
decorations that will be needed for the event. 
Is your event a fundraiser? If so, figure out how much you will charge per 
person. Figure out how much you will spend on the whole event. Have your 
student write a rule to determine if you will make money for your cause.
You and your student can take satisfaction from your good planning—enjoy 
the event!
 
Mrs. Lounsbury 

Week of January 13th

Hello!
 
Hope you had a great break. This week we will be reviewing units 1-5 and taking our 2nd benchmark assessment. 
 
Mrs. Lounsbury

Week of December 9th

Hello,
 
This week students will learn how to solve for different expressions based on different properties in math. Here is a video that talks about what each of the properties are. https://youtu.be/0bZ2GcCTtCA?feature=shared 
 
On Wednesday, December 11th, Students will be taking the Math MAPS to see their progress. 
 
Mrs. Lounsbury 

Week of December 2nd

Dear Family,
Many families enjoy exploring their own towns and cities instead of going far 
away on vacation. Some of those activities may include visiting a movie 
theater, a local museum, or community theater. Making sure you have enough 
money to take the outing is important.
Before you head out to watch your favorite movie on the Big Screen, you can 
use an expression to estimate the cost. For example, if one ticket costs you 
$7, you can use the expression, 7x, where x is the number of tickets you will 
need, to determine the amount of money you will need to take to the theater.
You and your student can discuss how to calculate the amount of money that 
will be needed to enjoy the following local family activity. For example, you 
might ask your student:
 “A family is going to visit the local art museum. The cost for children 
is $5.50. The cost for adults is $8. What is the expression used to 
determine how much money it costs for a child to visit the museum? 
What is the expression used to determine how much money it costs 
for an adult to visit the museum?” Your student may answer, “The 
expressions will be 5.5x, where x is the number of children attending, 
and 8y, where y is the number of adults attending.”
 “A family has 3 children and 2 adults visiting the museum. How much 
money will the family spend on each type of ticket?” Your student may 
answer "The cost for the children is 5.5 × 3, which is $16.50. The cost 
for the adults is 8 × 2, which is $16.”
You and your student can then talk about how to find the total cost of visiting 
the art museum. This process can be used to find the cost of visiting a 
number of other family activities. Have your student practice finding the 
cost of visiting other local attractions. Which attraction costs the least? 
Which attraction costs the most?
Enjoy exploring your city as a family

Week of November 11th

Dear Family,
I hope you had a great 4-day weekend! 

We often shop for groceries, clothing, school supplies, or even a car. When 
we are spending our money, we always try to get the best deal. This is where 
the use of percents can be valuable.
How often have we waited for a sale before making a purchase? Don’t we get 
excited when we receive a coupon discounting the price of something we want 
to buy? It is important to compare the prices when looking at two different 
brands of something. Which item gives us more for our money (a better 
value)?
Spend some time with your student looking at the sale prices or coupon 
discounts for things you want to buy, and talk about how they affect the 
price and the value of your purchases. For example, you and your student 
might talk about the following:
 This pair of shoes is regularly priced $45. It is on sale for 15% off 
the regular price. How much will we save if we buy the shoes while 
they are on sale?
 We have two different coupons to buy that box of cereal. One coupon 
is for $0.50 off the regular price. The other coupon is for 30% off 
the regular price. The regular price of the cereal is $3.99. Which 
coupon should we use to save the most money?
The next time you go shopping, ask your student how he or she can help you 
determine the best way to save money on the purchase and how much you will 
save. Have your student keep track of the total amount you save on the 
shopping trip.
Enjoy your savings

Week of October 28th

Hello,
 
This week in Math we are focusing on ratios. We will be learning how ratios, fractions, and rates are connected. We will also be learning how a tape diagram is used to solve for ratio word problems.  Here is a video explaining some of these concepts. https://youtu.be/suRIY3ULrQo?feature=shared 
 
Mrs. Lounsbury 

Week of October 21st

Dear Family,
Sports and games provide an opportunity to relax and have fun with our 
families and friends. The nature of competition gives us an opportunity to 
explore mathematics at the same time.
When we are competing, we are often thinking about how we are doing. Are we 
hitting the ball as well as we did last year? Are we running faster now than at 
the beginning of the season? Are we currently winning, or is our opponent 
winning? Even if we are only watching a game, many of us tend to obsess over 
our favorite player’s and team’s performances.
Spend some time with your student talking about your family’s favorite sport 
or game. What kinds of “stats” are kept about the players and events? How 
does that help you understand the game? For example, you and your student 
might talk about the following:
 How are batting averages figured out in baseball and softball? What 
does this tell you about the next time your favorite player is at bat?
 What does the ratio of red pieces to black pieces tell you about how a 
game of checkers is going? Who’s winning?
 How fast can you run a 100-meter sprint? Do you think you could run 
the same speed in the 200-meter or the 400-meter?
Next time your team is playing their big rival, ask your student how he or she 
could predict who will win. Do you think it matters more what each team’s 
average score is, or what the win-loss ratio is for the two teams? What kind 
of information could help you decide which team is better?
Enjoy the game!

Week of September 23rd

Hello,
 
Students will be taking their Unit two Math tests on multiplying and dividing fractions and decimals. Here is a helpful video to review multiplying and dividing.
 
https://youtu.be/Htt09rY9I_A?feature=shared

No Perfume or Cologne or Spray

Hello, 
 
We have had a recent uptake in students bringing sprayable smelling items like perfume, cologne, and other body spray items. This includes anything with a strong smell like hand sanitizer and lotion. Please keep these items at home. It is very hard to tell if the smells are allergen safe. The collections of spray are also starting to cause many students to have headaches. Please talk to your student about keeping these items home and not at school.   
 
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this nor policy for my room. 
 
Mrs. Lounsbury