Grade+5-6+Math

=Activity 1:=

How many edges does an envelope have? Ask your child to imagine an envelope before it is folded and draw a picture of what the unfolded envelope looks like. Take an envelope apart. Is your drawing similar to the actual unfolded envelope? How many edges does the unfolded envelope have? Using the information you have found, what would an unfolded cereal box look like? How could you check?

=Activity 2:=

How do you spend your day? As a family, estimate the fraction of the day each of you spends eating, sleeping, on the phone, reading, watching tv, showering/bathing, at work, or at school. Would these fractions add up to 1 whole? Why or why not? About how many hours does each fraction represent? If you needed more time for studying, what activities could most easily be adjusted? How many hours a year do you spend sleeping of on the phone? How might a caluclator help to answer these questions?

=Activity 3:=

How is your neighborhood organized? How are direction words used? Ask your child to make a map of the neighborhood and label it with words or numbers so someone could locate places. How are direction words used? Even and odd numbers? What numbers or letter patterns are on street signs? House addresses? Mail boxes? If you wrote directions to your neighborhood, what words or numbers would be helpful?

=Activity 4:=

What shapes can you find on sports fields? Ask your child to identify shapes that can be found on sports fields and organize the information into a graph. Which shape did you find most often? Can you calculate the percent of each shape found? What is the area of each field? Is that an estimate or exact answer? Compare the areas of the different fields. Can you make an accurate scale drawing of each field?

=Activity 5:=

How far could your family travel on 100 dollars? Ask your child to think about how you will travel, where you will go, the time it will take, and the number of people who will be going. What costs do you need to think about as you make your plans? How will you decide the method of travel? How will your plans change if two more people join your group? How will your plans change if you have twice as much money? How will they change if you have three-fourths of the money? How would a calculator help with your plans?

=Activity 6:=

How could you make 100 using addition, subtraction, multiplication and/or division? Ask your child to use numbers you see as you travel. How many different ways can you make 100? What if your target number were 500? 1000? How would a calculator help you reach you target number?

=Activity 7:=

What's in a package? Ask your child to choose two brands of favorite snack food and read the nutrition information on the labels. Are the serving sizes the same? Which has more calories? Which has more fat? If the serving size is not the same, how can you compare the two brands fairly? What is the cost per serving for each snack (cost of the package divided by the number of servings)? Which brand would you buy? Why?

=Activty 8:=

Which is the better buy? Ask your child to pick two different-sized containers of the same cereal and use a calculator to find the unit price. (Key in the price of the item and divide by the weight.) Which unit price is less? Is it the better buy? Explain your reasoning. Will the same be true for other types of cereal? How can you check?