By the end of the school year, all students should be able to:
■ Multiply and divide two-digit and three-digit numbers.
■ Read and write numbers up to 1 million (1,000,000).
■ Find the factors of a number. Factors are numbers that can be multiplied together to form an answer called the product. For example, 3 and 5 are the factors of 15.
■ Understand that percents are parts of 100. For example, 20 percent represents 20 parts of 100. Write percents as fractions (50 percent would be 1/2) and as decimals (20 percent would be 0.20).
■ Simplify fractions to their lowest terms—for example, 20/100 would be 1/5.
■ Classify quadrilaterals (geometric shapes with four sides) according to the properties of their angles and sides. For example, a quadrilateral with four 90-degree angles and four equal sides is a square.
■ Use a ruler to measure to the nearest 1/2 inch, 1/4 inch, 1/8 inch, and inch and to the nearest centimeter.
■ Understand algebraic expressions. For example, 2x is the algebraic expression of “two times a quantity,” and 4a + 3b is the algebraic expression of “four times one quantity plus three times another quantity.”
■ List the possible outcomes for a single-event experiment. For example, list all the possible outcomes when a coin is tossed.
■ Apply basic math skills to real-world situations. For example, recognize that a 20 percent discount means saving 20 cents of every dollar.
Learning at Home
Visit the interactive exhibit Mathematica: A World of Numbers, with your child at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, www.nyscience.org.
With your child, collect 100 pennies and agree that each penny equals 1 percent of one dollar. Ask your child to add and subtract the coins to get other percentages.
Find advertisements of sales from different department stores. Which store offers the biggest discount? Talk about other things that determine whether a sale price is a good value.
Check out the Web site for the PBS series Cyberchase, pbskids.org/cyberchase, which uses mystery, humor, and action to engage children in math. The site also has tips to help families support their children’s math and science learning.