MEEKER MATH DEPARTMENT COMMON CORE AND ENGAGE NY

SHIFTS FOR STUDENTS DEMANDED BY THE CORE 6 Shifts in Mathematics Focus: learn more about fewer, key topics  Tacoma accelerates students to complete algebra by the end of 8 th grade Build skills within and across grades Develop speed and accuracy Really know it, Really do it Use it in the real world Think fast AND solve problems

Keeping the 6 shifts in mind parents can help their students in the following ways: ∞Know what the priority work is for your child for their grade level ∞Spend time with your child on priority work ∞Ask your child's teacher about their progress on priority work ∞Be aware of what your child struggled with last year and how that will affect learning this year ∞Advocate for your child and ensure that support is given for “gap” skills- negative numbers, fractions, etc. ∞Know all of the fluencies your child should have and prioritize learning of the ones they don’t ∞Provide time for your child to work hard with math at home ∞Make sure your child really knows why the answer is what it is ∞Ask your child to do the math that comes up in daily life ∞Make sure your child knows/memorizes the basic math facts, they should practice often the ones he/she struggles with ∞Make sure your child is thinking about math in real life

Key Fluencies

The old MSP test would ask a question like: Place the following numbers in order from least to greatest: a)23.42,23.35,23.24,23.21,23.18 b)23.35,23.24,23.18,23.42,23.21 c)23.18, 23.21, 23.24,23.35, d)23.18, 23.24,23.21,23.35,23.42 The New Smarter Balanced test will ask questions like this : this is a 5 th grade practice problem

Here are links to some informative websites: The EngageNY website Parent roadmaps (describes what happens for ccms at each grade level) Smarter Balanced Practice items The Common Core Standards Pierce County Library Tacoma City Library