Math

Home Links are an important element of the Everyday Mathematics program. These daily activities help reinforce newly learned skills and concepts. They provide a means of involving you in your child's mathematics education. Home Links give your child an opportunity to demonstrate his or her understanding of our current classroom math topics. Home Links are to be completed and returned on the next school day, unless otherwise indicated. If your child ever has difficulty completing the Home Link, please write a note directly on the sheet.

As an accompaniment to the Home Links, the Everyday Mathematics program provides Family Letters. These letters keep you updated about the curriculum your child is learning in class. Each Family Letter includes important terminology, key concepts, and a summary of the current unit. Family Letters also provide short, simple, at home activities that you can complete with your child as review for class.

Daily Fact Practice

The importance of practicing the basic math facts on a daily basis cannot be emphasized enough. With regular practice, improvement in the quick recall of the basic math facts will occur naturally. The objective is not to give the students enough time to “figure out” the answers. The objective is for students to know the answers “by heart.” The goal is for each student to reach a level of automaticity for all the basic addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts.

Automaticity is the ability to effortlessly complete a task without thinking about it. When the brain recognizes a familiar task, such as computing a math fact, it automatically processes the information and applies what it has previously learned. This reduces the demand on memory and allows for higher order thinking. Automaticity of basic math facts is critical for success in mathematics.

Your involvement is critical to your child’s success. The basic math facts must be practiced at home. Each of the Everyday Mathematics parent letters offer many suggestions for math games that can be played at home. Also, you might consider creating or purchasing sets of flash cards. Another possible option is to explore websites that provide fact practice. Some suggested links can be found on the "Helpful Links" page of this site.