It's Super Moon!

For the first time in 78 years, we'll have an opportunity to see a supermoon that is traveling extremely close to the earth.

On Sunday or Monday, November 13 or 14, grab a friend and a telescope and enjoy  this rare treat.

You won't see another like this moon for decades!

Read more about this event at Nationalgeographic.com

For those of us in North America, the moon is closer to full on the night of November 13.

The moon turns precisely full on November 14, 2016 at 1352 UTC. This full moon instant will happen in the morning hours before sunrise in western North America and the Pacific islands (to the east of the International Date Line).

The moon will look full and bright all night long on both nights – November 13 and 14 – as it rises in the east around sunset, climbs highest up around midnight, and then sets in the west at or near sunset.

With Excel Math, students learn about astronomy, our solar system, and the world around them. They also learn math concepts for long-term retention.

Excel Math's unique spiraling system reinforces learning, builds proficiency, and develops student confidence in math.

Word problems are included in Excel Math Guided Practice as well as throughout the lessons and homework. Here's a word problem from Excel Math Grade 3:

The distance from the earth to the moon can be measured in_____________.

a. grams
b. pints
c. kilometers

Excel Math goes beyond these basic word problems to teach students how to solve more in-depth story problems, called Create A Problem. 

These Create A Problem exercises begin in Grade 2 to help students develop higher-level problem solving skills.

Students are challenged to read a larger section of text, write problems, and solve their own story problems, merging math with literacy.

Here's an example of a Create A Problem exercise from Grade 4. Since this page is from the Teacher Edition, the answers are show in bold. Click on the image for a larger view.

How do you help your student build success in math for the long term? Will some of them be watching the supermoon this week?

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