Grade 6 Mathematics Family Support Materials
Major Focus of 6th-grade Mathematics
Students focus on a variety of topics in 6th grade. Here are the big ideas we want all 6th-grade students to understand:
Understand ratios and rates, and solve problems involving proportional relationships (e.g., if it took 7 hours to mow 4 lawns, then at that rate, how many lawns could be mowed in 35 hours?)
Divide fractions and solve related word problems (e.g., how wide is a rectangular strip of land with length 3⁄4 mile and area 1⁄2 square mile?)
Use positive and negative numbers together to describe quantities; understanding the ordering and absolute values of positive and negative numbers
Work with variables and expressions by generalizing the way numbers work (e.g., when adding numbers, the order doesn’t matter, so x + y = y + x; likewise, properties of addition and multiplication can be used to rewrite 24x + 18y as 6(4x + 3y), or y + y + y as 3y)
Write equations to solve word problems and describe relationships between quantities (e.g., the distance D traveled by a train in time T might be expressed by an equation D = 85T, where D is in miles and T is in hours)
Reason about relationships between shapes to determine area, surface area, and volume and solve problems
General Resources for Supporting Math at Home
Good Games using simple materials from around the house - click on the link for a document containing 40+ games for fluency practice using simple materials - pencils, paper, paper clips, a deck or cards and dice.
Pre-made Games
Chess
Tangoes
Set
Muggins Math games (http://www.mugginsmath.com/store.asp) including Muggins, Fudge, Opps, Over and Under, Down and Around, Pirate and Plunder, and Sink the Ship
Five Crowns
Quiddler
Blokus
Iota
Math Twister
7 Ate 9
Krypto
24 Game
On the Dot game
Websites to Visit
http://nrich.maths.org/students - Cambridge University’s puzzle website
http://wild.maths.org/ - new website from Cambridge University to explore math
http://solveme.edc.org/ - Waltham’s Educational Development Center’s mobile puzzles
www.mathmunch.org - fabulous website to explore the “mathematical internet”
http://gameaboutsquares.com/ - fabulous, simple, logic game
mathicalbooks.org - has lists of books with mathematics related themes for kids aged 2 to 18.
https://arbitrarilyclose.com/home/ - This challenge was started March 16, 2020, and has some wonderful activities that connect math and art.
Puzzle Books – listed from easiest to most challenging
The Amazing Mathematical Amusement Arcade by Brian Bolt
Mathematical Cavalcade by Brian Bolt
A Pandora’s Mathematical Box by Brian Bolt
A Mathematical Jamboree by Brian Bolt
This: Math Activities for Students and Clubs by James Tanton
What’s Your Game? By Michael Cornelius and Alan Parr
The Mathematician and Pied Puzzler: A collection in tribute to Martin Gardner. By Elwyn Berlekamp and Tom Rodgers
Riddles of the Sphinx: And other mathematical puzzle tales. By Martin Gardner
Mathematical puzzle tales. By Martin Gardner
The Colossal Book of Mathematics. By Martin Gardner
Family Support Materials for Illustrative Mathematics
Mathematics program used in the classroom
Unit 1 Family Support Materials in English or in Español
Unit 2 Family Support Materials in English or in Español
Unit 3 Family Support Materials in English or in Español
Unit 4 Family Support Materials in English or in Español
Unit 5 Family Support Materials in English or in Español
Unit 6 Family Support Materials in English or in Español