1. Welcome to Curriculum Night for Math!

2. Thank you for coming. Please take a handout. There is notebook paper and pencils available for you to take notes.

3. Third Grade math utilizes the Investigations curriculum. This is a “ hands-on ” approach to learning. Each daily lesson is presented in this manner: A mini-lesson is used to introduce and model the concept Students work as a whole group to solve problems and discuss the different strategies that may be used to solve the problem Students will break into small groups to practice with more problems and discuss Students work individually to further practice and “ internalize ” the concept

4.  Each Investigations lesson builds from the previous lesson.  Multiple strategies are introduced and reinforced as ways to solve problems.

5. These strategies include:  CUBE it  Draw a picture to visualize the problem  Choose an operation  Simplify the problem  Make a table or chart  Find a pattern  Work backwards  Guess and Check  Always, always, always show your work!

6. “I know…..” Students are asked to ask themselves what information they need to know to solve the problem. This is primarily accomplished through the strategy CUBES. This is a highly effective method of problem solving and higher-order thinking each student needs to solve multi-step problems.

7. READ, READ, READ Students are asked to read each problem a minimum of 3 times. First time to just read it. Second time to CUBE it. Third time to pull the information needed to choose a strategy.

8. Show your work to prove your answer!

9. What can you do at home? Practice, practice, practice! From the RPE website, check out the links to several math (and science) websites. These may be found on the 3 rd Grade website and on the Students section on the RPE homepage. Each website has been teacher- approved and has several activities in all the concepts we are working on.

10. Expectations for STAAR: Students are expected to develop strong math skills that will enable them to solve math problems that are in line with the state TEKS. Your handout has the website address for the TEA (Texas Education Agency) as well as instructions for locating the TEKS specific to 3 rd grade. The handout also includes some sample STAAR questions.

11. Questions?

12. Thank you for supporting your child! Please keep the handout as a reference of the expectations and concepts your child needs to know. Enjoy the rest of your evening!