Homework Help!
Parents,
I know that you and your child can get frustrated trying to finish homework! It's definitely a battle at my house! I've put together this page with the hopes of providing you with resources you can use when helping your child with his/her homework.
First, the most important thing I want to say about homework is that I will NEVER tell your child that they have to solve any problems the way I do! I emphasize over and over again in class that there are lots of ways to solve math problems! I try to model and show as many ways that I can so that the kids have lots of options and ideas when tackling homework, classwork, and tests. If you don't understand your child's approach to a problem, ask them about it! There is great power in being able to explain your thinking! And please show and explain to your kids the way that you would solve the problem (keeping in mind that they are still 8-9 years old and you've had a lifetime of problem solving, of course)!
Second, I want to express how much faster and easier math will be for your child if he/she is able to learn, memorize, and commit to memory their basic math facts for addition, subtraction, and multiplication. We work on these in class, but only for a few minutes a day. The students do have basic fact charts in the back of their planners (p.114) to help until they are memorized, but they will not always have access to these charts when working on tests or other assignments in class or in the real world. You can practice basic facts in the car, using flashcards, with apps, on computer websites, etc.
Third, please email me any time a question about homework comes up! It makes my skin crawl when I see my friends posting homework rants on FB without even asking their child's teacher for help first (and these rants always seem to be about math)! I am very quick to respond to emails, even in the evenings when I'm at home! I will not guarantee that I will be able to respond every single time in the evenings, but I will do my best!
Last, I'm posting pages from our math journals that we use daily at school. I explain to the kids that the math journal contains tools that help us to be mathematicians. Just like a carpenter uses tools when building a house, we as mathematicians need to use our tools too!
I know that you and your child can get frustrated trying to finish homework! It's definitely a battle at my house! I've put together this page with the hopes of providing you with resources you can use when helping your child with his/her homework.
First, the most important thing I want to say about homework is that I will NEVER tell your child that they have to solve any problems the way I do! I emphasize over and over again in class that there are lots of ways to solve math problems! I try to model and show as many ways that I can so that the kids have lots of options and ideas when tackling homework, classwork, and tests. If you don't understand your child's approach to a problem, ask them about it! There is great power in being able to explain your thinking! And please show and explain to your kids the way that you would solve the problem (keeping in mind that they are still 8-9 years old and you've had a lifetime of problem solving, of course)!
Second, I want to express how much faster and easier math will be for your child if he/she is able to learn, memorize, and commit to memory their basic math facts for addition, subtraction, and multiplication. We work on these in class, but only for a few minutes a day. The students do have basic fact charts in the back of their planners (p.114) to help until they are memorized, but they will not always have access to these charts when working on tests or other assignments in class or in the real world. You can practice basic facts in the car, using flashcards, with apps, on computer websites, etc.
Third, please email me any time a question about homework comes up! It makes my skin crawl when I see my friends posting homework rants on FB without even asking their child's teacher for help first (and these rants always seem to be about math)! I am very quick to respond to emails, even in the evenings when I'm at home! I will not guarantee that I will be able to respond every single time in the evenings, but I will do my best!
Last, I'm posting pages from our math journals that we use daily at school. I explain to the kids that the math journal contains tools that help us to be mathematicians. Just like a carpenter uses tools when building a house, we as mathematicians need to use our tools too!
math_journal_pages.pdf | |
File Size: | 7096 kb |
File Type: |
Here are two ways that I showed the kids to solve those tricky place value questions! One way is to draw a place value chart and fill in the numbers. There can only be one digit in each place, and the number should END in the place written in words (for example, 15 thousand ENDS in the thousands). Another way is to rewrite the numbers in expanded notation, then multiply them out, and add them together. For example 15 thousands would get rewritten as (15 x 1,000). Then multiply 15 x 1 and add the same number of zeroes! Are there other ways to solve this? I'm sure there are! If you have one that works for your kid, please share it! :)