At MSC we give the children many hands on, manipulative activities -- such as working with Unifix Cubes, Cuisenaire Rods, Geo Boards, games, story problems and everyday life experiences as the basis of our mathematics. These materials are the concrete tools of math and they use them to explore mathematical concepts. Our program is "inquiry based" which means that the children are encouraged to ask questions, experiment and then to develop theories out of their experiences prior to learning traditional theorems and operations. We want to help children develop an understanding of numbers to consider their own reasoning and not merely to recite numbers. In every unit, children are challenged to use more than one strategy to solve and double check problems. Once they grasp the concepts, then they learn the equations.

The math program that we use to support our classroom activities is called TERC. This program provides a sequence of math lessons that develop over the year organized into a series of units. Each unit and each year builds on previous work to develop understanding and skills in a set of topics. Each unit in the curriculum is built around several investigations, which offer a variety of problems for students to explore. Students work in depth on a small number of problems to understand a number of concepts.

Sometimes parents are concerned that students will not learn to add, subtract, multiply and divide (the four basic operations of math). In this program they will. The program, which is outlined below, provides grade level expectations formulated by the National Council of Mathematics Teachers and is accepted by the New York City Board of Education. At every grade there are both Content Goals ("what" the students learn - the concepts and operations of the curriculum) and Process Goals ("how" the students learn).

The TERC program has as a central objective to support student's learning about numbers, number relationships, the base ten system and number operations. The units for each grade have been developed to help the children in achieving competency in the nine content areas outlined within the National Council of Mathematics guidelines. These are 1. Estimation., 2. Number Sense and Numeration – information about numbers and mathematical materials, 3. Concepts of Whole Number Operations, 4. Whole Number Computation, 5. Geometry and Spatial Sense, 6. Measurement, 7. Statistics and Probability, 8. Fractions and Decimals and, 9. Patterns and Relationships. In the Upper grades, a 10th module is added to the group, Algebra. These concepts are embedded in the student's studies, which are organized into units that last two to eight weeks.

We believe that the program, briefly outlined on pages 2 and 3, will provide our children with a challenging as well as engaging mathematics program. What you can see from this "laundry list" is that each year the students tackle the same nine content areas. As they work their way through this curriculum, each year their mastery of the material deepens. We believe we will all see children who grow up to be math literate - while enjoying themselves at the same time. This is merely an outline, to let you know the sequence of activities and themes. Please make time to come to curriculum nights, talk to your child's teacher and review your children's homework to better understand how our math program unfolds.

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