"Our class is starting a new addition and subtraction unit, Large Numbers and Landmarks. During this unit, students study place value in large numbers, and complete a final study of addition and subtraction strategies. Students are expected to leave Grade 4 using a variety of strategies, including the U.S. standard algorithms, to fluently solve multidigit addition and subtraction problems.

You can use the activities to enrich your child’s mathematical learning experience.

With your child, look for large numbers in the newspaper, on packages, on signs, and around your home and neighborhood. Talk together and ask questions about the numbers. You might ask, “How much would the car cost if the salesperson offered a $2,500 discount?”

You might ask, “If 45,000 people went to the basketball game at Central Stadium last night, how many seats were empty?"

Throughout the unit, students will be working toward the goals as displayed towards the right:

"Our class is starting a new mathematics unit about multiplication. In this unit, students review multiplication facts and solve problems by using arrays. They also solve problems about factors of a number and number relationships, such as this one: If 25 is a factor of 100, will 25 also be a factor of 300? How do you know? Students are introduced to multiplicative comparison problems.

You can use these activities to enrich your child's mathematical learning experiences:

• Array Search: Look for items around your house or at the grocery store that are packaged or arranged in rectangular arrays: tiles on the floor, eggs in a carton, window panes, and so on. Talk with your child about the dimensions (number of rows and columns) and discuss ways to figure out the total number of items.

• Modeling Multiplication Situations: Encourage your child to help you solve multiplication situations that come up in your daily activities. While you shop, you might ask: How many juice boxes will we have if they come in packages of 3 and we buy 6 packages?"

Throughout the unit, students will be working toward the goals as displayed towards the right:

"Our class is starting a new unit about multiplication and division called Multiple Towers & Cluster Problems. During this unit, students will build on the work they did in Unit 1. Students will be solving multiplication problems with 2-digit numbers, division word problems, and problems about multiples and number relationships.

You can use these activities to enrich your child's mathematical learning experiences:

• Modeling Division Situations: At school, students are solving word problems that represent various types of division situations. Encourage your child to help you solve situations that come up in daily activities. Here are some examples: "I baked a batch of 48 cookies in the bake sale. I need to put them into bags of 5. How many bags of 5 can I make?" or "There are 180 players who will play baseball in teams of 9. How many teams can they make?"

Throughout the unit, students will be working toward the goals as displayed towards the right:

"Our class is starting a new mathematics unit about multiplication and division called How Many Packages and Groups? In this unit, students build on the work they did in Unit 3. Students solve multiplication and division problems with larger numbers and share a variety of solution strategies.

You can use the activities to enrich your child’s mathematical learning experience.

Think about when you use multiplication and division in your everyday life and enlist your child’s help in solving these problems. Here are some examples:

• When you plan a family reunion for 45 people, you may need forks that come in packages of 8. How many packages do you need?

• As the coach of the school soccer team, you need to order drinks. There are 18 children on the team and 12 games during the season. Each child has 1 drink at each game. How many drinks does the school need to buy for the season? Ask your child to explain the strategies used to solve such problems."

Throughout the unit, students will be working toward the goals as displayed towards the right:

"Our class is starting a new mathematics unit about geometry and measurement called Measuring and Classifying Shapes. During thus unit, students measure lengths using U.S. standard units (inches, feet, yards) and metric units (centimeters, meters), convert measurements from larger units to smaller units within the same measurement system (for example, from feet to inches), and measure perimeters. They classify quadrilaterals and triangles based on specific characteristics. They measure angles using other angles as references using a protractor. Students also solve problems about area, the two-dimensional measure of the size of a surface.

You and your child can use household materials to create 2-dimensional figures. You can use toothpicks or straws for the sides of your polygons, and small marshmallows, clay, or jelly beans as fasteners for the vertices. How many different kinds of quadrilaterals can you build? How many different kinds of triangles? What different-sized angles can you make?"

Throughout the unit, students will be working toward the goals as displayed towards the right:

"During this unit, students represent halves, fourths, eighths, thirds, sixths, twelfths, fifths, and tenths; find equivalent fractions; and compare fractions. Students are introduced to decimal notation, represent decimals, and compare decimals. They begin computation with fractions: adding and subtracting fractions and multiplying fractions by whole numbers."

Throughout the units, students will be working toward the goals as displayed towards the right:

"During this unit, students collect, represent, describe, and interpret data.

You and your child may also be interested in investigating a problem that you have noticed in your community. You might start by defining the problem and devising a plan to collect data about it. As a next step, you could collect the data and then organize and represent the results. As you work, you might think about who is an appropriate audience for your findings.

For example, one household collected data about the number of cars that passed by their house at rush hour compared with other times in the day. They made a series of recommendations to improve traffic safety in their neighborhood and circulated the recommendations to their neighbors and to the police department."

Throughout the unit, students will be working toward the goals as displayed towards the right: