January 2020

Welcome Back!

I hope you and your family had a fun and relaxing break. Thank you to the many families who spread the holiday spirit of kindness through cards, gifts and classroom treats last month. Merci beaucoup!

Lunch Check-In

Growing students need fuel! Please check that your child has enough to eat as appetites grow and change throughout the year.

Learning Multiplication and Division Facts

In the fall, we began investigating ways to visually show multiplication and division. We began by skip counting by 2's and 5's using number lines. We also drew arrangements using dots and objects. To divide objects, we evenly distributed a number of objects one at a time (like dealing cards) and then tried faster methods, such as two or five at a time. And, of course, we also used standard mathematical sentences (e.g., 5+5+5+5=20, 4x5=20). We will continue to play with multiplication and division throughout January and for the rest of the year. While students can test their knowledge of math facts using a set of flash cards, the idea of speed has been notably absent in our learning. It is an excellent goal to memorize basic math facts (up to 7x7 for grade 3), but equally important is strong "number sense". Stanford University professor Jo Boaler describes this well in her article "Fluency Without Fear: Research Evidence on the Best Way to Learn Math Facts" (available on her YouCubed website). In practical terms, this means lots of playing with math facts while noticing patterns and connections. For families, multiplication and division can be "noticed" in many areas (e.g., how to divide the 24 cookies fairly, how many Pokemon cards fit on a binder page, how many minutes of reading are done in a week if you read for 7 minutes each night,...). Games are also great. "How close to 100?" is an excellent example. Download it below and have fun!