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My Math Program Grades 5 and 6 |
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How do you help your child learn to love math and all its processes? When your child has homework ask him/her to explain what the homework is about. Students should be able to put their understandings into words. Don't do the problem for them but explain the process using another example. For example, If the problem reads," Jane had 24 cookies, she gave some to Sam and had 15 left. How many cookies did she give to Sam?" Write an equation and solve it. You might give the student a similar problem such as , "Ellen had 34 stickers, she gave some to John and had 20 left. How many stickers did she give to John? Write an equation and solve it. In 6th grade we are learning about variables and constants. So our equation would be 34 -X= 20. Using math sense the student should see that 34 is the whole and X and 20 are parts. Put the parts together and they should equal the whole so 20 plus what =34 or 34-20= X therefore X=14. Does this make sense. 34-X=20 if X=14 then the equation is 34-14=20. Yes X=14 in this equation. Vocabulary is very important. At the back of the Math text there is a glossary that will help with definition of terms. In order to do these processes it is terribly important that your student knows Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division Facts. Use Flash cards and have the students say the fact 3 times, close eyes, say the fact, open eyes and read it again. Do this for for 4 different facts each night. It doesn't take long and this will ensure more ease in doing the advanced work. Ask your 6th grade student what "Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally" stands for. As a review of past work have them explain the processes to find mean, median, mode and range. Ask them about exponants. Fifth grade is working with decimal fraction. We have worked with place value from billions down to thousandths. We are working with addition and subtraction of decimal. Have your student explain how to regroup (what used to be called borrowing and carrying) when doing addition and subtraction. Teach the facts. The process is listed above Here again, (as stated aabove) when the students have homework. Ask them to explain what they are doing. They should be able to put the processes into words. .Ask your student about median, mode, and range. For all, point out the relationship of math to the world-various jobs, music, poetry, the animal world, dance, patterns. |