Unit 7-  Partners, Teams, and Other Groups

In this unit, students investigate odd and even numbers and work with equal groups. This unit lays the foundation for future work with multiplication.

Activities to Try at Home 

Odd and Even Numbers Ask your child to determine whether or not there are an odd or even number of specific items around your home. For example, are there an odd or even number of stairs, number of pieces of silverware, number of toy cars or stuffed animals?

Drawing Buildings Using your home or a familiar building, your child can count the number of rooms on 1 floor. Draw this floor and label what the different rooms are. Then ask questions such as, “If there are 2 floors in this building that have the same number of rooms, how many rooms would

there be?” “How many rooms would there be on 3 floors?”

Making Buildings Use building blocks to make a building. Make the first floor of your building with each block representing one room. Discuss how many rooms there are and what the different rooms could be. Make a second floor that is exactly the same size and shape as the first. Use

additional blocks to make the building higher, with each floor having the same number of rooms. As you add each floor, count the total number of rooms. Write down the total number of rooms for 1 floor, 2 floors, 3 floors, and so on. Ask, “What do you notice about how the total number of

rooms changes?”

Animal Legs Choose an animal that your child likes (e.g., cats), and make a table about the number of cats and their legs (or paws, eyes, and so on). Start with 1 cat, and fill in how many legs 1 cat has. Then add another cat, and fill in the total number of legs that 2 cats have. Continue the table, and discuss the pattern that emerges. See whether your child can determine what comes next.