Math Newsletter

​Visual Math

Mathematics is highly visual. Using visual representations will help enhance your child’s understanding of quantity, build fluency and flexibility with numbers and support the development of both spatial and algebraic reasoning.

Mathematical models can help support your child to think about numbers visually - improving both their understanding of quantity, promoting automaticity and flexibility with numbers.

Ten Frame

​Spring Math: Math is Outside Too!

Spring and nice weather make for a great time to get outdoors and connect with math. Whether you are taking a walk, filling compost bags with leaves or starting to build that garden shed, there are many opportunities to engage in rich mathematical discussions with your child.

• Here are some questions you can pose to your child as you engage with nature:

• What shapes do you see in that house?

Questioning

At school, students have opportunities to engage in problem solving tasks. At home, mathematical problem solving can take on many different forms. For example, budgeting, time scheduling, measuring and constructing are all situations where children would need to problem solve. Problem solving, being the process of finding solutions to challenging issues, is an essential component of your child’s mathematical journey.

As your child works through problem solving tasks at home, here are some strategies you can encourage them to use and questions you can ask them:

The Ontario government recently released a parent fact sheet and a teacher’s guide on Focusing on the Fundamentals of Math in grades 1 to 8.