Math Investigations Unit 1: Combining & Comparing

Dear Family,

During the next few weeks in math, our class will be working on an addition and subtraction unit called Combining and Comparing. We'll be focusing on interesting and real problems that involve combining and comparing two or more amounts.

Students will be learning about many different ways to solve addition and subtraction problems. Students will be encouraged to develop more than one way to solve a problem and to use methods that are based on understanding numbers and their relationships. Some of these methods may not be the ones you learned in school, but you may recognize some of them as methods you use in your daily life. We encourage students to develop strategies that make sense to them, that they can use easily and flexibly.

The point is for children to find useful and meaningful ways of putting together and taking apart numbers. While our class is working on this unit, you can help in several ways:

1. When your child has an assignment to do at home, offer your help and ask your child about what he or she is doing in class.

2. Ask your child to describe any of the homework problems and tell you about the strategy used to solve it. Communication is an important part of mathematics, and students need to describe their strategies through talking, writing, drawing, or using concrete objects. You can be an important audience.

3. You can also share your own ideas. At one point, we will work on the mathematics of "party planning." You might explain how you would figure out how to fit a number of different activities into a two-hour block of time.

An important emphasis in this unit is for students to recognize when and how to apply addition and subtraction and to develop procedures for adding and subtracting that they understand thoroughly and can use confidently. One of the most important things you can do is to show genuine interest in the ways your child solves problems, even if they are different from your own.

Thanks for your help and your interest in your child's mathematics!