This week, we have started our first Math unit during which your child is working with numbers from 0 to 1000.  Over the course of this unit, the students will represent and describe numbers such as 894 in a variety of ways and situations (e.g. standard form, expanded form, in words, using base ten blocks, sketching a model, etc.). Relationships among numbers and among digits in numbers will be emphasized as students rename, round, compare, and order numbers, explore number patterns, and develop number sense. Your child will also work with money to estimate, count, and write money amounts up to $10 and work with bills up to $100.

Throughout this time, you and your child can practice some at-home activities such as the following:

• You and your child can play a game using two sets of number cards labelled 0 to 9. Shuffle the cards and, without looking, choose 2 cards to form a 2-digit number. Ask your child to say the number, and to write the number in expanded form using numbers and words. For example, 75 can be made from two cards numbered 7 and 5. In expanded form, it is written as 70 + 5 and in expanded form with words, it is 7 tens 5 ones. After your child has had lots of practise with 2-digit numbers, you can play the same game with 3-digit numbers, using three sets of numbered cards.
• Say aloud various 2- and 3-digit numbers and ask your child to find the cards to make the numbers.
• Choose a book with a large number of pages. Open the book to a random page and ask your child to tell you the numbers 1 greater than, 1 less than, 10 greater than, and 10 less than the page number.
• Your child can count out the amount of money required when making a purchase in a store with you.
• Tomorrow I will be familiarizing the students with a program called Grade 3 Under the Sea, it is a Canadian based game that matches our curriculum to online challenges.