"In this unit, students focus on gaining fluency with multiplication strategies. Students work on understanding division situations and developing strategies for division problems with 1-digit and 2-digit divisors.

It is most important that children accurately and efficiently solve math problems in ways that make sense to them. At home, when your child asks you for help in solving a problem, it may be helpful for you to ask questions, such as these:

• What do you need to figure out in this problem?

• What is a good place to start?

• What have you figured out so far?

• Would drawing a picture or diagram help?

• How can I help you (without telling you an answer)?"

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

"In this unit, students solve multiplication problems and learn and practice the U.S. standard algorithm for multiplication. Students focus on refining and efficiently using division strategies. They solve multi-step problems.

Look for familiar and interesting situations that you can use as a basis for exploring multistep real-world problems with your child. Here are some examples:

• This package contains 40 crackers. How many packages do you think are on the grocery shelf? How many crackers is that? How long would it take our family to eat them?

• If you usually read 35 pages each day, about how long will it take you to finish the book you are reading now? Will it take more than a week?"

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

"In this unit, students investigate the meaning of decimals. They develop an understanding of the relationships between fractions and decimals, and they use knowledge of number relationships and a variety of representations and models to compare and order decimals and to add and subtract decimals.

At home, you can build on your child’s work in this unit by looking for everyday examples of decimals and talking about what they mean. Discuss problem situations that involve decimals as they arise. Look in the newspaper or online at the weather statistics for your area.

• What is the average amount of precipitation for the month?

• How much rain or snow has there been so far this month?

• How close are you to the average?

  • • • • January average: 4.80 inches

        • So far this month: 3.94 inches"

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

"During this unit, students use their knowledge of fractions, fraction equivalents, and a variety of representations to compare fractions and to add and subtract fractions.

As you encounter fractions in everyday life (such as cooking or measurement), ask your child questions about sums or differences. For example, if you’re cooking, ask your child if you have enough (sugar, flour, milk) for the recipe; about how much more is needed; what the total number of (cups) of dry ingredients would be.

While traveling, ask your child questions about how far you’ve gone or how far you need to go. For example, if you are going to a park that is 4 blocks away, point out when you have gone 212 blocks and ask how many more blocks must you go to reach the park. When you see your child using a strategy that is not familiar to you, ask for an explanation. The conversation will be educational for both you and your child."

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

"In this unit, students solve multiplication and division problems that involve fractions and decimals. They also convert measurements within the metric and U.S. standard measurement systems.

At home, look for familiar and interesting situations that you can use as a basis for exploring multiplying and dividing with fractions with your child. For example, when you are cooking with your child, ask questions like these:

• This recipe calls for 3/4 cup of flour. We are going to triple the recipe. How much flour do we need?

• We have 3 cups of milk. This recipe for muffins calls for 1/4 cup of milk, how many batches of muffins can we make?

• This recipe calls for 2 cups of flour. We are going to make only 3/4 of a recipe. How much flour do we need?"

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

"During this unit, students study volume—the amount of space a 3-D object occupies. They use paper boxes and cubes to develop a strategy for finding the volume of any rectangular prism. Students also find the volume of solids composed of rectangular prisms. They also learn to apply the formulas for volume (V = l × w × h and V = b × h) to find volume.

In our math class, students spend time discussing problems in depth and are asked to share their reasoning and solutions. It is important that children solve math problems in ways that make sense to them. At home, encourage your child to explain his or her math thinking to you."

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

"During this unit, students investigate the classification of polygons by attributes such as length of sides and size of angles. They solve problems about perimeter, a linear measure, and area, a two-dimensional measure.

At home, you can play "I spy" to enrich your child's mathematical learning experience. To help your child continue to investigate the properties of polygons (especially triangles and quadrilaterals) and patterns involving their sides and angles, find figures around the house that fit a rule and play a guessing game. For example, you might describe a mirror by saying, “I’m thinking of something in this room that has two equal sides, at least two equal angles, and at least two parallel sides. What could it be?” Then have your child identify objects that fit that rule, while trying to guess which specific object you were describing."

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

"The focus of this unit is on using tables and coordinate graphs to analyze patterns and solve real-world and mathematical problems. In this unit, students learn about situations in which two quantities, such as temperature or height, are changing over time. They also study changes associated with geometric shapes, for example, how the area of a square changes as the length of its sides increases. Students use tables, graphs, and equations to represent how one quantity changes in relation to another quantity. They analyze patterns they can see in the tables or in the shapes of the graphs to solve problems and compare situations.

To enrich your child’s mathematical learning experience, look online or in newspapers and other print material for graphs and tables that show something changing over time. Work with your child to make sense of these:

• What does a steep rise in a graph represent?

• What does a less steep rise in the same graph represent?

• How does a graph represent no change?"

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