Common Core Math Demystified - Fourth Grade

You've seen the viral memes about "new math" or "Common Core." You've seen frustrated parents give up on helping their students with math. Maybe you've even been one of those frustrated parents. You've probably heard or thought to yourself how much more complicated math seems today, and you're not sure how to help your student do math the way her teacher wants it - or even why it needs to be done that way.

Become an expert in the tools and strategies your student is using to learn math

• Link concrete models like area models to the algorithms for multiplication and division
• Understand multiplication and division based on place value understanding
• Use number lines and area models to represent fractions

Help your student build a strong conceptual understanding of math

You want your student to have a positive experience in math, and Ms. Kadilak wants to help. Common Core can be confusing to those of us who were brought up learning math the traditional way. While the standards have been around since 2010 or so, many parents still have trouble relating what their student is doing with what they learned in math class.

What might look like a jumble of extra steps, though, is actually a very thoughtfully laid out plan that extends from kindergarten all the way through middle school and beyond. Knowing about the common frameworks and strategies, and how to use them, can help you support your student without either of you feeling frustrated.

Course Overview

Through this fourth grade course, you'll see how to use such tools as area models and number lines, and such strategies as partial products and quotients, to help your student understand the many advanced concepts that are introduced in fourth grade. You’ll also see how these strategies support conceptual understanding, giving students a strong foundation in math for future grades.

Ms. Kadilak is a veteran educator who has seen how the frameworks and strategies used in classrooms today support students' conceptual foundation in math. Ms. Kadilak explains not only the tools but the reasoning behind them in an approachable, easy-to-understand way.

This course is for parents and teachers who would like to learn more about how to support their students learning math using a Common-Core-aligned curriculum. By the end, you’ll be able to help your student just the way their teacher does, and that will leave you both smiling.