Currently, your child has been exploring patterns and methods of organizing and displaying information about patterns. Students already understand how to recognize, extend, and create basic patterns. They will now apply their understanding of patterns to other concepts such as time, money, multiplication, and division. As students work through this chapter, they will begin to see the connection of the concepts and skills taught in this chapter to other concepts and skills. The goal will be for your child to identify, extend, create, and solve problems that use patterns. They will also be asked to use different organizational methods to display their information, such as tables and charts.
Throughout this time, you and your child may engage in activities such as:
• Your child can look for patterns he or she sees in daily life, around the house, and in the community. Make a list of these places and create a chart to display them.
• Your child can create his or her own counting patterns, involving all four operations (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing).
• Your child can create an artistic 2-dimensional pattern or a 3-dimensional structure.
You may want to visit www.mathK8.nelson.com and follow the links to Nelson Mathematics 5, Chapter 1, for more suggestions to help your child learn mathematics
and for books that relate children’s literature to patterns. Also check the site for links to other Web sites that provide online tutorials, math problems, and brainteasers.
