Parents

Welcome Parents:
Our first unit will be incorporate four of the five math strands with a theme about a fun fair.
Much of September will be devoted to modeling, creating and establishing problem-solving routines.  Many mathematical procedures will be introduced and explored im problem-solving contexts.  It will be important for our grade 4 mathematicians to understand the process right from the beginning and it will help to support and facilitate mathematics instruction.
Problem solving offers opportunities for students  to:

• solve problems in ways that make sense to them
• talk about and represent mathematics
• work with pairs, triads and small groups
• realize that the process of problem solving is often as important as the solution
• apply previously covered concepts and procedures to new situations
• learn to be patient with themselves and others
• perservere when the solution is not evident immediately

You can expect to see packages of work come home as we finish each topic in Math this year.  I will save all your childs work and every week or two your child will bring it home, marked, along with extra practice if your child needs it. This will keep you in the loop about your child's strengths and needs. Please feel free to call or stop in if you have questions or concerns.

We will also be starting our Number of the Week.For the first 2 weeks, we'll complete our work at school as a class.  After that, the Number of the Week assignment will be sent home on Monday and will be due back at school on Friday.  This is designed to help students practice working with numbers in a variety of ways (adding, subtracting, money amounts, problem solving, etc.).  Becoming very flexible in their math thinking should help students as math tasks become more complex throughout the year.  Some children may choose to do a small part of their Number of the Week assignment each night or all of it in one evening.  This weekly assignment should not be arduous and it will be checked as part of student learning skills on the report card.  Our first number is 526 for both grades.