Mathematical Emphasis
Investigation 1—Using Fractions to Describe Data

• Finding familiar fractions of a group
• Estimating complex fractions with familiar fractions
• Describing data in terms of fractions
• Using fractions to compare data from two groups, including two groups of different sizes
• Recognizing that fractions are always fractions of a particular whole

Tips For Helping At Home
Questions To Ask:

• What is the problem about? Tell me in your own words.
• What did you do in class to get started?
• Can you solve a simpler version of the problem?
• What have you already tried? What steps did you take?
• Did you show all of your work?
• Does the answer make sense?
• How do you know your answer is correct?

Helping At Home

• You and your child probably run across many advertisements and newspaper articles with headlines like “Three out of four doctors prefer X brand of pain reliever” or “1/2 of all Americans don’t get enough sleep.” Try to notice these ads and articles and talk with your child about them. “What does three out of four mean? What fraction is it? If there were 20 doctors, about how many of them would prefer this pain reliever? How do you think these data were collected?”
• When you work at home with your child, we suggest that he or she use pictures and object to help solve problems. There are many different ways of making sense of data. At school, students will be encouraged to find ways that work for them. Encourage them to do this at home, too.

Vocabulary Terms

Categories

Groups of data that share a common attribute

Data

Collection of information

Mathematics Strategy—The Concept of the Whole and Comparing Groups

As fraction problems become more complex, students sometimes lose track of what is the whole and what are the parts they are considering. Recognizing the whole is a critical part of understanding fractions.

One confusion children make when working with the fraction of a group is between the part of the group (for example, ¼) and the number of things in that part (5 children in a group of 20 students). Children confuse the number of objects with the fraction of the whole.

The idea that you can compare groups by using fractions, rather than directly comparing amounts, is a complex idea. It requires an understanding that a group can be considered as one whole and can be compared to another group also considered to be one whole. This idea requires that the view of the group change: We no longer consider size as an important attribute, each group is viewed as a unit.

Source: Investigations in Number, Data, and Space: Three Out of Four Like Spaghetti. Dale Seymour, 1998. (Pages 21 and 22)

Mathematics Games

During the summer, play games that use mathematics with your child. Any of the games used this past school year are excellent for review. A number of commercial games also provide review of mathematics skills and strategies. A few are listed below:

• Backgammon
• Checkers
• Chess
• Chinese Checkers
• Cribbage
• Dominoes
• Go
• Mancala
• Pente
• Rummy Tile
• Set
• Skip-Bo
• Uno