We are starting Chapter 7 this week in math. In chapter 5, your student began to learn about subtraction concepts by taking apart a number. For example, your student might take apart 6 into 4 and 2. In this chapter, your student will use a subtraction sentence, which includes a minus sign, to show this relationship. Your student will subtract numbers within 10 to take away from a group of objects or animals and find how many are left. Your student will also subtract to take apart a whole and find the part that remains. Your student will discover subtraction patterns: When subtracting 0 from a number, the answer is the number. When subtracting 1 from a number, the answer is the counting number before the number. Finally, when subtracting a number from itself, the answer is 0. Your student will learn about the relationship between addition and subtraction by studying related facts, such as 2 + 3 = 5 and 5 − 3 = 2. This will help your student determine whether addition or subtraction best represents a situation. The vocabulary words for the chapter are left, minus sign, separate, subtract, subtraction sentence, and take away. Use the activities below to practice and apply subtraction with your student. 

• Look for opportunities to talk about subtraction with your student. For example, perhaps you bought six bananas and now there are two. How many bananas did your family eat? There were ten people in line in front of you. Now there are four people in front of you. How many people left? 
• Take turns subtracting 1. One person names a number up to ten, the other person says the number that is one less. 
• Help your student practice writing subtraction sentences. Toss five coins on a table. Ask your student to write a sentence that uses the whole (all pennies) minus one part (heads) to find the other part (tails). 
• Scatter up to ten pennies on a table. Have your student count the pennies and write the number.

Ask your student to look away while you cover some of the pennies with your hand or a sheet of paper. Challenge your student to name the number of hidden pennies using the number for the whole and the number of pennies that are showing.

In the previous chapter, your student learned that two parts make a whole. In this chapter, your student uses an addition equation, called an addition sentence, including a plus sign and an equal sign, to show two parts and a whole. 

Your student learns two different ways to apply addition. One way involves groups of people or animals actively joining. For example, 2 students may join 3 students to play a game so there are 5 students playing in all. Another way involves non-moving objects, such as counters, to focus on parts and a whole. 

Your student discovers patterns: When adding 0 to a number, the answer is the number. When adding 1 to a number, the answer is the next counting number. Finally, your student finds a missing partner number (addend) by adding or counting on to the given partner number. For example, for 5 + ? = 9, your student might use counters to figure out that 5 and 4 more equals 9. The goal of the chapter is to build an understanding of addition, not to memorize facts, so don’t worry if your student needs to count objects to find answers. Here are some activities you can use to practice with your student. 

• If you have two number cubes, change the sixes to zeros by covering the sixes with masking tape. Invite your student to toss the two cubes to make partner numbers. Encourage your student to name the partner numbers and the total, or the number in all. Expand the activity to include writing an addition sentence to show the parts and the whole. 
• Play “Get to Ten” using fingers to find missing partner numbers. One player holds up any number of fingers. The other player names the number of fingers and how many more fingers are needed to get to ten. For example, if a player holds up 7 fingers, the other player might say, “Seven fingers; it takes three more to get to ten.” 
• Make two sets of cards, numbered 1 through 5. Mix up the cards and spread them facedown on a table. Players take turns flipping over two cards to find partner numbers that make 6, for example, 2 and 4. If a player finds partners, the player gets to keep the cards. If not, the player turns the cards facedown. The player with the most cards wins!

This will be our last week of Chapter 5. We are creating numbers 8, 9, 10 by forming number bonds. We have been practicing this skill with numbers 5, 6, and 7. In addition to this, we will also be decomposing a group of five. Students will be learning that decomposing a number is to break a number apart. We will have our Chapter 5 assessment on Friday.

This week, we are starting Chapter 5. In this chapter, your student will put together two small groups of objects (parts) to form a larger group (the whole). They will also take apart a whole group to form two parts. They will use a number bond to show the numbers of objects in the parts and in the whole. number bond:

Learning how two parts make a whole is the first step in learning to add and subtract. The vocabulary words for this chapter are put together, take apart, part, whole, partner numbers, and number bond. Use the activities below to help your student practice putting together parts to make a whole and taking apart a whole to make parts. 

• Drop up to ten pennies on a table. Have your student name the number of heads, the number of tails, and the number of all pennies. 
• Make a line on a tabletop with chalk or tape. Invite your student to drop up to ten dried beans or other small objects on the table. Ask your student to write the numbers of beans that fell on each side of the line and the number of beans in all. 
• On the count of three, you and your student each show up to five fingers. Have your student name the number of fingers each person is showing and the number of fingers in all. 
• Set out up to ten buttons or other small objects. Place a cup on a table. Players take turns trying to toss all the buttons, one at a time, into the cup. After each round, guide your student to write the score as the number of buttons in the cup and the number of buttons outside the cup. Talk about how the two numbers are parts of the whole.

We will have our Chapter 3 test on Monday. For the rest of this week, we will be comparing numbers up to 10 as greater than, less than, or equal to. Students will be learning how to classify objects into categories. They will be sorting, comparing, and classifying this week. Below are some ideas on how you can practice this at home.

• Use scraps of paper to make two sets of number cards from 0 to 10. Mix up the cards and place them face down on a table. Each player takes a number card and turns it face up. Players compare the numbers. The player who has the greater number takes the faceup cards. Play continues until there are no cards left in the pile. The player with more (or the most) of the number cards wins.
• Invite your student to help you sort the laundry. Have your student describe the sorting rule, such as light and dark items or clothing and towels. Have your student count the number of items in each group.