Parents! Please take ten minutes to watch this great video explaining why math is different now! I often overhear people complaining about this "new math" and asking why it has to be different from when we were in school? Well the math we are doing really isn't different; we are just trying to get kids to understand why it works instead of memorizing tricks, so it looks different.
For example, if we just tell the kids the "add 3 zeros" when multiplying by 1000, we aren't teaching them. We are simply trying to get them to memorize a trick that happens to work. These tricks we are teaching them don't stick for the long term because they don't really understand the numbers and the math. If a child understands that multiplying by 1000 is using the base ten or place value model, they will be able to apply that understanding to lots of things (division, decimals, tipping in restaurants, and the list goes on)! Plus, telling kids to "add 3 zeros" is just bad math. We learn from the Identify Property of Addition that zero added to a number is a that number itself (5 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 5 not 5,000)...
If we teach our kids to understand numbers, they will start to fall in love with math! I promise!
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