Learn Math with Understanding
"Just give them the basics when they are young. They will learn how to do things with them later." -FALSE!!!
Dear Parents,
In today's world, we have to realize that the above quote isn't realistic. We have to be preparing our students to be math thinkers, as they need math and sense of math to survive in their adult years to come. So what are we really focusing on in math today: UNDERSTANDING!!! To learn math with "understanding" means to connect new math learning with previous learning. This is the reason that our math program connects first grade learning from what was learned in kindergarten, and this continues with each grade level. Another necessity to show understanding is through communication. We want our students to show what they know through drawings and other representations with math tools, but also to be able to explain their thinking. The ability to explain actually allows more solid learning and connections to take place in our students' brains. Finally, understanding means that our students can be flexible in their thinking. They can solve problems in more than one way, they can think of different ways to approach a problem, they can take numbers apart and use them more efficiently and strategically.
So to revise the quote above:
"Give our children the basics, with deep understanding when they are young. They will learn how to soar with them now and later."
Please feel free to contact me or your child’s teacher about your math questions and concerns. We care about your child's math understanding, BUT ALSO about your math understanding as well!!!
Lisa Borowski (Mrs. B.:)) lisaborowski@hasd.org
How can we help our children with solving word problems?
Ask your children to think about these questions.
-
What do you already know?
-
What do you need to find out?
-
How can you retell the story problem in your own words?
-
How can you use math tools to solve the problem?
-
How could you draw a picture of the problem?
-
Does your solution make sense? Why or why not?
Word problems don’t have to be the “enemy” as long as our students are encouraged to approach them with careful thinking, confidence, and a persevering attitude.
Thank you for encouraging your child to be a math thinker and “go-getter”!!
Math Talk
Hey parents if you are looking for suggestions on how to “Talk Math” with your children, then go to this link. http://talkingmathwithkids.com
Great suggestions are provided for ages 1-9!!
Mrs. Borowski lisaborowski@hasd.org
Dots, Dots and More Dots!
What are all those dots I keep seeing in my child’s math?
You are likely seeing lots of things in your child’s work about dots these days. Five and ten frames, dot cards, dot plates, arrays, etc. These visual representations are quite simply a model for what a number sentence represents. The different ways you see them give them a structure, so that our brains can count them efficiently. Young children are very concrete and still need to touch things in order to calculate, count and think deeply about mathematics. We use dots and frames and all of those things to help bridge the gap from going from counting items to using pure number sentences. This is what the progression in thinking might look like if a student gets this problem:
Mr. Randy has six donuts. He wants to eat four more donuts because he is a very hungry janitor. If he gets his hands on four more donuts, how many donuts will he have eaten?
Concrete (I need to use actual donuts, or an item that might represent a donut, like a counter.):
Representational (I no longer need items! I can use symbols and put them in a structure, in this case a ten frame so that I can count them faster. Each color symbol in the ten frame matches a number in the problem):
Abstract (I don’t need symbols or drawings anymore because I have a way to connect the numbers to the problem. I can represent this problem with a number sentence and I have a strategy to solve it.):
6 + 4 = 10
|