Dear Parents,

    It is hard to believe we are already well into our third academic quarter.  Our third graders have and will be working very hard in math.  In the third quarter we have started working on multiplication.  Your child needs to be studying their facts fifteen minutes each night.  This is extremely important for their success in math.  We will be giving the students timed tests in class during the week to check their progress.  We will be keeping track of this information and the timed test may be sent home so you can see your child's progress.  We are currently working on making arrays with multiplication sentences.  An array is a picture that represents a multiplication sentence.

    Example:        array                    x        3                This array is
 
                                                            OOO                       a 4x3=12
                                                4          OOO
                                                            OOO
                                                            OOO

    We have also been identifying each number in a multiplication sentence.
 
    Example:    factor x factor = product

    Your child should be able to identify each number by name in a multiplication sentence.

    In math class when a new concept is covered your child is given notes or takes notes in their math journals.  Your child needs to be reviewing these notes as often as possible.  This will make test time easier when your child has to review topics covered for each math concept.

    We will be moving from arrays to the repeated addition model for multiplication.
  
    Example:            7 + 7 + 7 + 7 = 28

                                       7 x 4 = 28

    We hope this will help your child's progress.  If you have any questions or concerns that we can help you with feel free to contact your child's math teacher here at school.