Building with Cubes

12/4/08

Dear Family Member:

This unit helps your child develop spatial visualization skills while exploring the concept of volume. Volume is the amount of space that an object occupies. It is usually measured in cubic units. In this unit, we build upon students’ earlier experiences in finding volume by counting the number of cubes that make up an object. Students find the volume of their cube models and find that a given volume can be represented by different shapes.

Students will build cube structures
and draw plans to tell others how to build the same structure. They will
use models to create strategies for measuring volume.

Our class is studying the addition facts in Group E (6 + 7, 7 + 7, 7 + 8, 5 + 8, 6 + 8, 8 + 8, 9 + 9, and 9 + 10). Help your child learn these facts by using the Triangle Flash Cards.

Text Box: Floor plan used to build a cube structure

Thank you for your continued assistance.

Sincerely,

Ms. B and Mrs. Solis

Math in the Home

Math in the Home Your home is full of opportunities to explore math with your child and, at the same time, build his or her self-confidence and understanding of mathematical ideas. This is a chance for you and your child to "talk math" that is, to communicate about math while discovering relationships between numbers. Being able to describe mathematical patterns and relationships, such as those between "addition and subtraction" or "odd and even numbers," is important to later success in math.

Have your child look up different math activities on The Internet so they can continue to work on math over the vacation.