Addition and Subtraction Vocabulary

How do you determine when to add or when to subtract while solving story problems?  Look for these key vocabulary words:

Adding

• in all

• total

• altogether

Subtracting

• how many left

• how many less

• how many more

• how many fewer

• difference

Math at Home

At home, the best way to help your child learn to love math is to play with numbers, and to frequently point out the various ways in which math makes our lives easier. Try these activities:

• Challenge them to guess at things, and then find the answers. Example: How many bowls of cereal do you think we can get out of this box? How many M&Ms do you think are in your bag? How many minutes do you think it will take to clear off the table? Which of these cups do you think will hold more juice?

• Ask your child to measure things in non-traditional units. Example: How many footsteps it takes to get from here to the door. Why do you think it's more for you and fewer for me?

• Have your child compare things: Which do you think is heavier — a cookie or ten chocolate chips? Who do you think is taller, mom or dad? Which carrot is longer? Fatter? Crunchier?

• Play board games, dice games, and card games with your child. Encourage her to make up her own games.

• Talk about how you use math when: balancing your checkbook, paying cashiers, changing bills for coins, etc.

• Teach your child to budget his own money — by helping him save up for a special toy or activity.

• Involve your child in measuring ingredients for recipes.

• Most of all, try to be positive about math — even if it was your worst subject in school. If your child's having trouble in it, or starts complaining that it's too hard or too boring, act as though you know that if she keeps on trying, she'll improve

Ways to help your child with their reading and writing

Let your child see you write — and correct your own mistakes.

• Give gifts associated with writing, such as special pencils and pens, a desk lamp, a hard-bound diary, a children's dictionary, or personalized stationery.

• Show pride in what your child writes by displaying their books and stories for visitors.

• Encourage your child to have a pen pal.

• Invite your child to do crossword puzzles, word jumbles, and other word games that build vocabulary and fluency.

• Read together, and talk about the books and authors you both love.

Let's Do The Math!

  

 

“Why Can't I Skip My Twenty Minutes of Reading Tonight?"


Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week.
Student B reads only 4 minutes a night...or not at all!

Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 each week.
Student A reads 20 minutes x 5 times a week = 100 mins. a week.
Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes.

Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.
Student A reads 400 minutes a month.
Student B reads 80 minutes a month.

Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months a school year.
Student A reads 3600 minutes a school year.
Student B reads 720 minutes a school year.
Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year. Student B get the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.
By the end of 6th grade, if Student A and Student B maintain these same reading habits, Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days. Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 days.
One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance. How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student?

Some questions to ponder:
Which student would you expect to read better?
Which student would you expect to know more?
Which student would you expect to write better?
Which student would you expect to have the better vocabulary?
Which student would you expect to be more successful in school...and in life?

Which student are you?