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Mr. Longo's 3rd grade math class will be using new technology to learn about rational numbers like fractions, decimals, ratios, and proportions. They will use the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives website and the Fraction Manipulatives app. The NLVM website has interactive applets for naming, adding, and multiplying fractions. The Fraction Manipulatives app allows students to easily convert between fractions, decimals, ratios, and percentages. Mr. Longo encourages parents to explore these resources at home with their children to support their learning.

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81 views3 pages

Tech Newsletter

Mr. Longo's 3rd grade math class will be using new technology to learn about rational numbers like fractions, decimals, ratios, and proportions. They will use the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives website and the Fraction Manipulatives app. The NLVM website has interactive applets for naming, adding, and multiplying fractions. The Fraction Manipulatives app allows students to easily convert between fractions, decimals, ratios, and percentages. Mr. Longo encourages parents to explore these resources at home with their children to support their learning.

Uploaded by

api-377883105
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Math Classroom Update!

Mr. Longos 3rd Grade Class


Little Eagles Elementary School
Chestnut Hill, MA

Dear Parents,
I am very excited to announce that as we
move into our next unit of rational numbers, your
children will get the opportunity to not only
improve their knowledge of fractions, decimals,
ratios, and proportions, but they will get to do so
while getting to work hands on with some new
technology! We are going to be integrating two
different software programs in the classroom.

The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives


(NLVM) has a variety of resources for practicing
with multiple applications of fractions taking us
all the way from simply naming different fractions
to more advanced procedures such as adding and
multiplying fractions.

On the classroom set of iPads we are lucky National Library of Virtual Manipulatives Homepage
enough to get to use Brainingcamps app, Fraction
Manipulatives. This is going to be so helpful in
showing students the relationship between
fractions, decimals, ratios, proportions, and all the
different ways we can manipulate them. Besides
classroom time, your students could really benefit
from practicing with the online software at home.
If possible, I strongly encourage you to explore
and practice with both websites with your student
at home so you see for yourself just how
beneficial technology can be!

Sincerely,

Mr. Longo Fraction Manipulatives (Available on the App Store)


National Library of Virtual
Manipulatives
The NLVM is a collection of different online
applets (also known as apps) that covers math
topics ranging from basic arithmetic to the division
of fractions. For our purposes, this year it is going
to be really helpful for practicing with fractions in
a variety of ways. By using this link, you can
explore the full selection of apps that we will use,
just press the square under 3-5 that is across
from Number and Operations:
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html (Links to
an external site.)

As you can see, there are a variety of


activities to keep students engaged in their
learning. The difficulty of the applets ranges from
what we will be covering at the beginning of the
year when simply introducing fractions, like in the
circular diagram at the top from the app
Fractions Parts of a Whole, where the student
will just be identifying what fraction of the circle
is shaded in. Then, the apps get progressively more
difficult as students start to work with equivalent
fractions like 7/11 and 14/22, until they even
move on to the addition of fractions with different
denominators in the app called Fractions Adding
where they are walked through step-by-step how
to add and 3/11 by first finding a common
denominator and then adding up the new
numerators (in the form of equally sized pieces of
the wholes).

While it may seem confusing at first glance,


the best part about NLVM is the scaffolding
aspect that allows you to customize each app and
select the difficulty of Easy, Harder, and
Hardest. Combined with the variety of apps to
choose from and the instructions conveniently
written in the blue box underneath each activity,
students will be able to master their fractions in
no time at all! This also allows me to easily
challenge all students while working with the same
software and providing the same instruction to all
students.
Fraction Manipulatives
Similar to the NLVM web resource, this applet
gives students the chance to work their way up
from getting a basic understanding of fractions to
understanding mixed numbers, percentages, ratios,
and even the addition of various fractions. Since it
is only available for purchase through the Apple
Store and to be used on an iPad, I understand if
you dont get the chance to practice at home but
I still wanted to share with you some of its great
features here!

One really helpful feature of this applet is


how easy it is to switch between fractions, ratios,
and decimals. With just the click of a button
students can see how the wall feature
transforms from a decimal to a fraction and then
to a percent, all while still showing equal parts of
a whole.

Also, this app allows for the student to write


in their own answers, as seen in the picture of a
pie chart where I was able to handwrite that .25
= 25% next to the piece of the pie chart. This
will be extremely beneficial because while
students have the option to see all forms of the
rational numbers, I can also challenge them to
come up with some answers on their own. This
interaction using the marker feature also simulates
writing on the whiteboard and will surely help keep
students engaged in the lesson as they get to
pretend to be the teacher and can show off their
answers to the rest of the class.

While this app is intended for students to have


more freedom to experiment with different forms
of rational numbers, by pressing the Help button
in the bottom left corner students can receive
clear instructions on how to use each feature!

If you have ANY questions, comments, or


concerns about the implementation of technology
in the classroom PLEASE do not hesitate to
contact me!

Phone: 860-918-5641

Email: [email protected]

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