Math

Third graders solidify their understanding of addition and subtraction strategies and place value, and jump into multiplication and division operations. We learn complex patterns, shapes (including quadrilaterals), measurement (area and perimeter), and fractions. All the third grade teachers meet weekly to be sure we're working around the same pacing in our lessons and summative assessments.

Fourth graders complete some review at the beginning of the year and move on to polygons and angles, division strategies, fractions, and metric and customary measurement. Ms. Velander teaches all the other fourth graders Math, so she and I work closely to help each other improve our teaching strategies based on student data.

You can always check your student's planner to see what kind of Math we're studying. Assessments will be marked there and on our class calendar (linked above).

One way to help your child with math understanding is through daily Math Talks. The North Kansas City Schools published these parenting tips for Math Talks.

Grades K-5 Number Talks – What Are They & Why Do We Do Them? During number talks [at school], students are asked to communicate their thinking when presenting and justifying solutions to problems they solve mentally. These exchanges lead to the development of more accurate, efficient and flexible mathematics strategies.

So, what is a number talk and why do we spend daily time on this instructional strategy in each one of our 21 elementary schools at all grade levels? A number talk is a 10-15 minute daily classroom conversation and discussion centered on a purposefully designed computation problem that students solve mentally. Number talks focus on three important elements:

1. Accuracy – the ability of our students to produce an accurate answer

2. Efficiency – the ability to choose an appropriate, quick strategy to solve the computation problem

3. Flexibility – the ability to use number relationships with ease in computation

Why do a daily number talk?

1. When students have mental pictures of the size and value of numbers, this prepares them for learning addition and multiplication facts, and for solving simple problems involving computation. As students develop the mental ability to see numbers as being made up of other numbers (for example, seeing 125 as 100 + 20 + 5), their understanding of the number system expands.

2. When a student has strong mental math skills, he or she can quickly test different approaches to a problem and determine whether the resulting path will lead toward a viable solution. Estimation skills require both a sense of numbers and facility with mental computation, and can provide a ballpark answer to a problem before the student attempts to solve it. They also offer a comparison point by which to judge whether a result is reasonable for the given situation. Estimation is an important skill for inclusion in students’ tool kits, whether they perform calculations with a pencil and paper or on a calculator.

So, as you continue to work with your children at home, a great way to support the learning in our K-5 classrooms would be to have your child practice mentally solving computation problems that are appropriate for his or her grade level. Additionally, this support will pay off down the road!