skip to main content

Elementary Mathematics

At the elementary level, our mathematics program provides your children with the type of learning required in a 21st century classroom. In their classes, your children learn the rigor of mathematics, they experience the relevance and role of mathematics in their learning, and they develop learning relationships with their peers and teachers. Our teachers help children develop their mathematical fluency and critical thinking skills, do problem solving, communicate their understanding, and work collaboratively with other learners.

At Theodore Roosevelt School and James H. Vernon School, children learn about the topics of Counting, Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number and Operations in Base Ten, Measurement and Data, Operations with Fractions, Ratios and Proportional Relationships, The Number System, as well as Expressions and Equations. Children develop both their procedural fluency in mathematics and their conceptual understanding of mathematics.

Helpful Websites

The websites below are ones that students might find interesting and informational.

  • ThinkCentral: ThinkCentral is the website that provides online access to our elementary math textbook.
  • ST Math (Grades 3-6) : Visual instructional program that builds conceptual understanding
  • IXL (Grades K-6): Fluency and skill practice through interactive questions and built-in support.

Curriculum by Grade

Kindergarten

Kindergarten mathematics is about

  1. representing, relating, and operating on whole numbers, initially with sets of objects
  2. describing shapes and space
Major emphasis in Kindergarten is placed on:
  • Counting and Cardinality
    • Know number names and count sequence
    • Count to tell the number of objects
    • Compare numbers
  • Operations and Algebraic Thinking - Understand addition as putting together and adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from.
  • Number and Operations in Base Ten - Work with numbers 11-19 to gain foundations for place value.

Return to top of page

1st Grade

First Grade mathematics is about

  1. developing understanding of addition, subtraction, and strategies for addition and subtraction within 20
  2. developing understanding of whole number relationships and place value, including grouping in tens and ones
  3. developing understanding of linear measurement and measuring lengths as iterating length units; and (4) reasoning about attributes of, and composing and decomposing geometric shapes.
Major emphasis in First Grade is placed on:
  • Operations and Algebraic Thinking
    • Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction
    • Understand and apply properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction. • Add and subtract within 20
    • Work with addition and subtraction equations
  • Number and Operations in Base Ten
    • Extend the counting sequence
    • Understand place value
    • Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract
  • Measurement and Data - Measure lengths indirectly and by iterating length units

Return to top of page

2nd Grade

Second Grade mathematics is about

  1. extending understanding of base-ten notation
  2. building fluency with addition and subtraction; (3) using standard units of measure
  3. describing and analyzing shapes
Major emphasis in Second Grade is placed on:
  • Operations and Algebraic Thinking
    • Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction
    • Add and subtract within 20
    • Work with equal groups of objects to gain foundations for multiplication
  • Number and Operations in Base Ten
    • Understand place value
    • Use place value understanding and properties of operations to add and subtract
  • Measurement and Data
    • Measure and estimate lengths in standard units
    • Relate addition and subtraction to length

Return to top of page

3rd Grade

Third Grade mathematics is about

  1. developing understanding of multiplication and division and strategies for multiplication and division within 100
  2. developing understanding of fractions, especially unit fractions (fractions with numerator 1)
  3. developing understanding of the structure of rectangular arrays and of area
  4. describing and analyzing two-dimensional shapes
Major emphasis in Third Grade is placed on:
  • Operations and Algebraic Thinking
    • Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division
    • Understand the properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division
    • Multiply and divide within 100
    • Solve problems involving the four operations and identify and explain patterns in arithmetic
  • Number and Operations – Fractions - Develop understanding of fractions as numbers
  • Measurement and Data
    • Solve problems involving measurement and estimation of intervals of time, liquid volumes, and masses of objects
    • Geometric measurement: understand concepts of area and relate area to multiplication and to addition

Return to top of page

4th Grade

Fourth grade mathematics is about

  1. developing understanding and fluency with multi-digit multiplication, and developing understanding of dividing to find quotients involving multi-digit dividends
  2. developing an understanding of fraction equivalence, addition and subtraction of fractions with like denominators, and multiplication of fractions by whole numbers
  3. understanding that geometric figures can be analyzed and classified based on their properties, such as having parallel sides, perpendicular sides, particular angle measures, and symmetry
Major emphasis in Fourth Grade is placed on:
  • Operations and Algebraic Thinking - Use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems
  • Number and Operations in Base Ten
    • Generalize place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers
    • Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic
  • Number and Operations – Fractions
    • Extend understanding of fraction equivalence and ordering
    • Build fractions from unit fractions by applying and extending previous understandings of operations on whole numbers
    • Understand decimal notation for fractions, and compare decimal fractions

Return to top of page

5th Grade

Fifth grade mathematics is about

  1. developing fluency with addition and subtraction of fractions, and developing understanding of the multiplication of fractions and of division of fractions in limited cases (unit fractions divided by whole numbers and whole numbers divided by unit fractions)
  2. extending division to two-digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system and developing understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths, and developing fluency with whole number and decimal operations
  3. developing understanding of volume
Major emphasis in Fifth Grade is placed on:
  • Number and Operations in Base Ten
    • Understand the place value system
    • Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths
  • Number and Operations – Fractions
    • Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions
    • Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions
  • Measurement and Data - Geometric measurement: understand concepts of volume and relate volume to multiplication and to addition

Return to top of page

6th Grade

Sixth grade mathematics is about

  1. connecting ratio and rate to whole number multiplication and division and using concepts of ratio and rate to solve problems
  2. completing understanding of division of fractions and extending the notion of number to the system of rational numbers, which includes negative numbers
  3. writing, interpreting, and using expressions and equations
  4. developing understanding of statistical thinking
Major emphasis in Sixth Grade is placed on:
  • Ratios and Proportional Relationships - Understand ratio concepts and use ratio reasoning to solve problems
  • The Number System
    • Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to divide fractions by fractions
    • Apply and extend previous understandings of numbers to the system of rational numbers
  • Expressions and Equations
    • Apply and extend previous understandings of arithmetic to algebraic expressions
    • Reason about and solve one-variable equations and inequalities
  • Represent and analyze quantitative relationships between dependent and independent variables

Return to top of page