Dear 4th Grade Families

Recently a student (newton public school) brought in a letter from his 4th Grade math teacher. It’s a reminder again of how math is so cummulative, how important it is to cover the basics during the Elementary School years.

“Dear 4th Grade Families,
As students progress through 4th grade math, it is very important that they continue to practice and master addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts from zero to twelve. … Starting tonight, I am asking students to practice their addition, subtraction, multiplication or division facts for at least 10 mintues each night as part of their homework and record the kind of activity they did on their logs…. Finally, we have discussed in class the importance of both accuracy and speed when solving basic math facts and the role that practice plays in improving both of these areas. To this end, students will be taking timed math facts tests every few weeks.”

Whether your child works with a math tutor, is homeschooled, is in a math homework club, whatever math support he is getting, the goal is to master the Basics.

What is the Basics? For 4th grade, it’s Addition/Subtraction Facts, and Multiplication/Division Facts. And what is mastery? Speed and Accuracy. At our math learning center, our tutors goal is to get each child to do 30 facts in a minute.

Students who hit that target consistently get their photos taken and put on the 2-Second Wall of Fame (30 facts in 60 seconds => 2 seconds per fact). They also get a button proclaiming their achievement and induction to the 2-Second Wall of fame.