NAME ______________________________ DATE _______________

Investigation 2

FAMILY LETTER

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Related Activities to Try at Home

Dear Family,

The activities suggested below are related to the mathematics we are currently studying in school. Doing them with your child can enrich your child's mathematical learning.

Measuring Shoes In school, we have been using cubes to measure the length of our shoes. Your child may enjoy investigating the length of shoes at home. Just as we do in school, your child can trace shoe outlines on paper, and then use paper clips (or another same-sized item such as blocks or toothpicks) to measure the length of the outline. Ask your child to put the shoe lengths in order from the shortest to the longest.

Counting We continue to focus on strategies for counting accurately. At home, find many ways to count together with your child; for example, count aloud, count sets of objects, ask your child to count out specific amounts, and pose problems that he or she can solve by counting. The list of suggested books below includes several counting books that you can read together.

One More or Less Find opportunities to ask your child about one more and one less, an idea we have been working on in class. For example, after your child counts a set of objects such as pennies, ask, “What if I gave you one more penny? Then how many would you have?” or “What if I took one penny back? Then how many would you have?” Then, add (or remove) a penny. That way, your child can recount the set from one to find out or to double-check the answer.

Many counting books that count up from one (i.e., from 1 to 10) present situations of “one more”; books that count back (i.e., from 10 to 1) present situations of “one less.” (See list of books.)

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