K - 5 Math
At FES, we're passionate about giving your child the best math education to prepare them for college and their future careers. We want to share with you our exciting approach to teaching math, which we believe will help your child succeed.
Below you will find resources by grade level as well as helpful links to understand more about the FES math curriculum.
For more information about our math program or anything math related, feel free to contact your child's teacher or Nancy Sirois, the FES Math Coach nancy.sirois@falmouthschools.org.
Partnering in Math
We've adopted Illustrative Mathematics, a modern and engaging way to learn math. With this approach, our teachers focus on teaching the most important math concepts and skills. This means your child gets the time they need to really understand these essential ideas, both throughout the year and as they move up through different grades.
But here's the fun part – our teachers also use exciting, real-world examples to make math come to life. This not only helps your child learn but also sparks a genuine interest in math. We want them to see that math isn't just about numbers; it's a powerful tool for solving real problems.
We're committed to helping your child succeed in math and beyond. So, if you ever have any questions or want to learn more about our approach, feel free to reach out to your child's teacher or the FES Math Coach.
As a parent, you play a vital role in your child's education, especially when it comes to math. Whether it's homework time or everyday life, you are your child's most important teacher. The first key to their success in math is fostering a positive attitude. For instance, if your child ever says, "I can't do that," we can work together to help them see it differently: "I can't do that YET!" Success in math is built on positive attitudes, the support we provide, and consistent practice.
We hope you'll enjoy being part of your child's math journey and watching them grow. It's an exciting adventure, and we're here to support you every step of the way.
To support you in your important role, we have organized resources that can help. For each grade level you will find:
What Your Child Will Be Learning - a general overview of math instruction, with links to the Unit Videos that give you insight on what your child is focusing on in their math class.
Progression of Learning - The progression videos are a series of videos that show how math concepts build and grow through the grade levels.
Home Connection - This section is there to support your experience for supporting math at home. To access these grade level resources, go to the top of this page and click on the desired grade.
What is new math?
"New" math isn't new...it's just different.
New math has gained a somewhat mixed reputation, and here's why it's different. Prior to the adoption of the Common Core State Standards in 2010, math was primarily taught in a highly procedural manner. Students were presented with algorithms or procedures as the prescribed method to solve problems and arrive at the correct answer. This teaching approach often followed the 'I do it, we do it, you do it' model, where students were expected to follow rules without necessarily understanding why.
However, with the introduction of the Common Core standards, a significant shift occurred. Suddenly, there was a focus on the 'why.' How did we arrive at the answer? Why does this method work? And, astonishingly, were there multiple pathways to reach the correct solution?
Common Core math was developed with eight standards for mathematical practice in mind:
- Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
- Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
- Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
- Model with mathematics.
- Use appropriate tools strategically.
- Attend to precision.
- Look for and make use of structure.
- Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Embracing these practices has transformed the role of the teacher from a traditional lecturer to a facilitator of conversations where students are encouraged to reason and contribute their perspectives. Students are challenged to explore various approaches to problem-solving, with a connection to real-life situations. Procedures and algorithms are still important, but it's acknowledged that they are not the sole path to the correct answer.
This 'new' math represents a balance between understanding mathematical concepts and developing students' ability to apply math procedures. We understand that this shift can be challenging and confusing for parents because it differs from how we were taught. Our hope is that the information provided on this website gives you insight into what your child is experiencing in the classroom, enabling you to provide valuable support at home.
For even more about Common Core math, read the following piece.
K-5 Resources
Kindergarten
What your child will be learning
The big ideas in kindergarten include: representing and comparing whole numbers, initially with sets of objects; understanding and applying addition and subtraction; and describing shapes and space. More time in kindergarten is devoted to numbers than to other topics.
The mathematical work for kindergarten is partitioned into 8 units:
Progression of learning
Early Number and Counting - Graham Fletcher
Progression of Addition and Subtraction - Graham Fletcher
Helping at home
Here are some activities you can do at home that tie into what students will be doing in class:
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Count a collection of items like toys, coins, rocks or any common item you have at home. Keep the total small to begin and then move into larger numbers. You can also ask your child to sort the items by shape or color or size.
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Have your child Identify circles, squares, rectangles and triangles when you are driving, reading a book or out shopping.
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Have your child Identify groups of objects as same or different and as more or less.
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Give your child a group of objects and ask them to separate the objects into two equal groups.
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Say a number up to 10, and ask your child to tell you the number one more or one less than the original number.
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Practice counting up to 100 by ones and tens. Teen numbers are tricky. Fifteen sounds a lot like fifty.
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Once we have taught Unit 4, ask your child some basic addition/subtraction questions but keep the numbers within 10 to start. For example, ask them what 3+5 equals and what 9-5 equals.
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Practice writing numbers to 20. Start with numbers to 10 before moving onto 20. Teen numbers are tricky.
Counting the "math way" with your fingers helps students see the connection between counting, addition/subtraction and the eventual number line. It helps younger students see counting in a concrete way and will lead to understanding concepts of 5 and 10. Here is a video that demonstrates how this can work at home.
Math related books connected to Illustrative Math to read at home
Grandma’s Purse by Vanessa Brantlet-Newton
My Heart Fills with Happiness by Monique Gray Smith
Pablo’s Tree by Pat Mora
Saturday by Oge Mora
There is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan
Count on Me by Miguel Tanco
The Girl with the Parrot on Her Head by Daisy Hirst
Full, Full, Full of Love by Trish Cooke
Bee-Bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park
Yoko by Rosemary Wells
Rice & Rocks by Sandra L. Richards
The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) by Philomen Sturges
1st Grade
What your child will be learning
The big ideas in grade 1 include: developing understanding of addition, subtraction, and strategies for addition and subtraction within 20; developing understanding of whole-number relationships and place value, including grouping in tens and ones; developing understanding of linear measurement and measuring lengths as iterating length units; and reasoning about attributes of, and composing and decomposing geometric shapes.
The mathematical work for grade 1 is partitioned into 8 units:
Progression of learning
Early Number and Counting - Graham Fletcher
Progression of Addition and Subtraction - Graham Fletcher
Helping at home
Here are some activities you can do at home to support math:
- Ask your child what time it is.
- Create math problems together about things happening at home. For example: “We started dinner with 6 pieces of bread but have eaten 3. How many are left?”
- Identify patterns found in the real world. For example, “The clock chimes once at one o’clock and twice at two o’clock, so what will happen at three o’clock?”
- Separate objects into equal groups. For example: Cut a pizza into slices so every family member has the same number of slices.
- Ask your child to solve addition/subtraction problems within 10 and then within 20. Focus on making 10's (5+5, 2+8, 7+3) and doubles.
- Ask your child to count forward or backward starting at any number within 120.
- Find larger groups of items to count like utensils, toys or a rock collection. Encourage them to group items so they can count by 10s or 5s.
Questions that may be helpful as they work:
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Are there any other facts that could help you with this one?
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How can we represent this fact with pictures or objects?
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How did you know which number comes next?
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What is a number less than ___? What is a number more than ___?
Math related books connected to Illustrative Math to read at home
The Sky Painter by Margarita Engle
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coer
Mighty Maddie by Stuart J. Murphy
Just A Little Bit by Ann Tompert
The Seesaw by Judith Koppens
Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll Walsh
One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab: A Counting by Feet Book by April Pulley Sayra and Jeff Sayre
Fish Eyes by Lois Ehlert
One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root
2nd Grade
What your child will be learning
The big ideas in grade 2 include: extending understanding of the base-ten number system, building fluency with addition and subtraction, using standard units of measure, and describing and analyzing shapes.
The mathematical work for grade 2 is partitioned into 9 units:
Progression of learning
Progression of Addition and Subtraction - Graham Fletcher
Progression of Multiplication
Progression of Division
Progression of Fractions
Helping at home
Here are some activities you can do at home to support math:
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Create math problems about things happening at home. For example: “We started dinner with 10 slices of pizza but have eaten 3, so how many are left?”
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Determine the value of coins up to one dollar.
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Write two different three-digit numbers on a piece of paper and ask your child which one is greater or less than.
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Ask your child to tell you what time it is. Ask them what time it will be in 5 minutes or 10 minutes.
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Practice counting backward/forward from any number. Count by 10's, 5's, and 2's. Also, begin at any number and ask them to count backwards by 10's. Example, count backwards by 10 starting at 93.
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Practice using a ruler to measure household items. Measure to the nearest inch or 1/2 inch.
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Practice addition and subtraction math facts within 20.
- After Unit 5, ask your student to think about the number 593 and complete the following tasks:
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Write the number as a number name and in expanded form (ex. 500+90+3)
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Draw an amount of place value blocks that has the same value.
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Create a number line from 500 to 600 and place the number on a number line.
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Compare the number to 539 using either >, <, or =.
- Ask your child to solve problems like: Diego gathered 37 orange seeds. Jada gathered 25 more apple seeds than Diego. How many seeds did Jada gather?Show your thinking. Can you explain to me how you solved the problem?
Math related books connected to Illustrative Math to read at home
The Sky Painter by Margarita Engle
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coer
Mighty Maddie by Stuart J. Murphy
Just A Little Bit by Ann Tompert
The Seesaw by Judith Koppens
Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll Walsh
One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab: A Counting by Feet Book by April Pulley Sayra and Jeff Sayre
Fish Eyes by Lois Ehlert
One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson
City Green by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan
3rd Grade
What your child will be learning
The big ideas in grade 3 include: developing understanding of multiplication and division and strategies for multiplication and division within 100; developing understanding of fractions, especially unit fractions (fractions with numerator 1); developing understanding of the structure of rectangular arrays and of area; and describing and analyzing two-dimensional shapes.
The mathematical work for grade 3 is partitioned into 8 units:
Progression of learning
Progression of Addition and Subtraction - Graham Fletcher
Progression of Multiplication
Progression of Division
Progression of Fractions
Helping at home
Ask your child to find examples of equal-size groups or arrays at home, or use household objects to make such groups or arrays.
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Create your own multiplication and division flashcards. Begin with x2, x5 and x10 and then move onto x3, x4 and x8.
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Use the numbers on cards, dominoes or dice to practice multiplication or division with your child. Also, fact fluency games are a fun way to practice addition/subtraction and multiplication/division facts.
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Identify fractions around the house. For example, if a four-drawer dresser has socks in one drawer, then how much of the dresser is filled with socks?
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Ask your child to identify the shapes and types of angles in road signs.
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Measure the sides of four-sided objects in daily life (a tabletop, cell phone, etc.) and add all the sides together to find the perimeter.
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Talk about how area is related to multiplication.
Questions that may be helpful as they work:
- How many groups are there?
- How many are in each group?
- Represent the objects with a drawing, a diagram, and an expression. How does your drawing and diagram match the expression?
Math related books connected to Illustrative Math to read at home
The Sky Painter by Margarita Engle
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coer
Mighty Maddie by Stuart J. Murphy
Just A Little Bit by Ann Tompert
The Seesaw by Judith Koppens
Balancing Act by Ellen Stoll Walsh
One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab: A Counting by Feet Book by April Pulley Sayra and Jeff Sayre
Fish Eyes by Lois Ehlert
One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson
City Green by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan
4th Grade
What your child will be learning
The big ideas in grade 4 include: developing understanding and fluency with multi-digit multiplication, and developing understanding of dividing to find quotients involving multi-digit dividends; developing an understanding of fraction equivalence, addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators, and multiplication of fractions by whole numbers; understanding that geometric figures can be analyzed and classified based on their properties, such as having parallel sides, perpendicular sides, particular angle measures, and symmetry.
The mathematical work for grade 4 is partitioned into 9 units:
Progression of learning
Progression of Addition and Subtraction - Graham Fletcher
Progression of Multiplication
Progression of Division
Progression of Fractions
Helping at home
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Ask your student to compare 3/5 and 3/7.
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Create illustrations of multiplication problems using items you can find around the house.
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Using books that you have at home, ask your child to find at least 5 numbers that end in zero, then multiply those numbers by 10, 100 or 1,000.
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Design a hopscotch board labeled with fractions. Ask your child to add or subtract as they hop.
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Search for different shapes and angles in your home.
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Practice multiplication and division facts. Feel free to use flashcards or have your child roll dice and multiply the two numbers.
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Ask your child to solve multi-digit multiplication and division problems. Watch these videos to learn about using the area model or partial products to multiply and partial quotients to divide.
Questions that may be helpful as they work:
- How are the two fractions alike? How are they different?
- What strategy did you use to compare?
- Is there a different strategy that you could use to compare?
5th Grade
What your child will be learning
The big ideas in grade 5 include: developing fluency with addition and subtraction of fractions, developing understanding of multiplication and division of fractions in limited cases (unit fractions divided by whole numbers and whole numbers divided by unit fractions), extending division to two-digit divisors, developing understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths, developing fluency with whole number and decimal operations, and developing understanding of volume.
The mathematical work for grade 5 is broken into 8 units:
Progression of learning
Progression of Addition and Subtraction - Graham Fletcher
Progression of Multiplication
Progression of Division
Progression of Fractions
Helping at home
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Use fractions from recipes and other resources around the house and find the corresponding decimal.
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Have your child help with baking and do 1/2 of a recipe or double it and ask about the fractions they need to use.
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Determine the number of ice cubes (or other objects) it takes to fill a container to help your child understand the concept of volume. Use sugar cubes to build rectangular prisms and ask your child what the volume is. They may count the cubes to start but eventually we want them to use the length x width x height algorithm.
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Sort objects into three to five categories and ask your child to create a graph based on the categories and explain it to you.
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Provide your child with five numbers – for example, 26, 30, 32, 32, 35. Ask your child to find the mean, or average (31); median, or middle number (32); mode, or number that occurs the most (32); and range, the difference between the highest and lowest number (35 - 26 = 9).
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Construct and classify triangles (including equilateral, right, scalene, and isosceles triangles) using items that you can find around your house, such as straws, pencils, or crayons.
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Practice multiplication and division math facts. By 5th grade students should be fluent with their multiplication facts within 10. Fluency is about being able to quickly recall the answer to math facts but it is also the ability to use an efficient strategy to solve the math facts you don't know.
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Ask your child to share ways they can multiply and divide fractions.
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Ask your child to solve multi-digit multiplication and division problems. Watch these videos to learn about using the area model or partial products to multiply and partial quotients to divide. Students do begin using the standard algorithm for multiplication in 5th grade.
Our Curriculum
Illustrative Mathematics
We've adopted Illustrative Mathematics, a modern and engaging way to learn math. Select a link to learn more about this problem-based curriculum.
What is a problem-based curriculum?
Illustrative Math Information for Families
A typical Illustrative Math lesson
Scope and sequence
What is an instructional routine?
Family Guide to Routines
Fact Fluency
Watch students demonstrate math fluency in this video.
Some teachers are incorporating lessons and activities from the Building Fact Fluency kits. Here is some more information about this program.