Math
Gantry View School uses time-tested resources (e.g., Singapore Math, Eureka Math) and supplements them with manipulatives, math-based games, our customized fluency program, and applications to real-life experiences. Our curriculum helps students develop firm computational and problem-solving ability, spatial, logical, and algebraic reasoning skills, and an appreciation of math as relevant in their everyday lives and as a pursuit in which they can continuously grow.
Kindergarten
GVS’s thoughtful approach to math instruction leverages games, manipulatives, and clear demonstrations of progress to launch our youngest learners with motivation and pride. Embedded within the excitement is consistent practice for writing 0-9; counting to 100 by 1s, 10s, 5s, and 2s; ordering numbers up to 20; and working on place value for 1-99. Students arrive at a point where they can model early addition and subtraction stories and write and solve number sentences within 10 in preparation for larger numbers in 1st grade. Students strengthen their spatial sense by measuring length in nonstandard units and tracking objects on bar graphs and charts.
1st Grade
Students build fact fluency and move into decomposition to add/subtract to 20 and 120. An understanding of place value and counting patterns enables them to break numbers into their 1s, 10s, and 100s, write equivalent expressions (25+7=25+5+2), and perform mental math. They represent part-whole relationships in word problems with bar models, number bonds, equations, and word statements. They learn and apply concepts of multiplication, division, and fractions—sharing, symmetry of equal-sized groups and shapes—to units of length, weight, capacity, time, and currency. They may start multiplication and division facts and solve one-step word problems with units of measurement and data.
2nd Grade
Students expand their grasp of place value, add/subtract 2- to 4-digit numbers using mental math and the algorithms, and interpret and solve one- and two-step word problems. They solidify multiplication fact fluency for 2, 5, 10 , with 3, 6, 9 in the works. Concepts of multiplication as repeated addition and division as equal sharing are reinforced, and students learn to distinguish multiplication/division word problems from addition/subtraction ones. Students are introduced to fractions and how “part-whole” relates to them too. Second grade ushers in years of more challenging, but ultimately exciting, concept formation.
3rd Grade
Students move into place values to 100,000 and greater facility with the addition and subtraction algorithms and mental math, using rounding (estimation). With improved recall of multiplication/division facts, they multiply single-digit numbers by powers of 10, and multiply 1- by 3-digits and divide 4- by 1-digit. Instruction on the distributive property and other forms of equivalence help students interpret and solve word problems with a model, number bond, equation, and written answer.
In fraction work, students compare, order, and find equivalent forms and use them to solve problems involving data. They measure angles, find missing angles and lengths, solve for area and perimeter of simple shapes, and measure units of currency and time.
4th Grade
Students work with whole numbers to 1 million and round to multiple place values. More secure with their multiplication/division facts, they tackle problems with 4- and 5-digit dividends and 2-digit (n x 10) divisors using algorithms and mental math, and they solve more complex word problems. They learn to find equivalent fractions and to convert fractions, percentages, and decimals,
Students compare fractions with different denominators and express them in improper, mixed, and reduced forms. They draw models to represent the relationship (part-whole) in a word problem and determine the operations to solve it. Students apply fractions to units of measure (area, perimeter) and symmetry in geometry to perpendicular and parallel lines and how they affect the properties of quadrilaterals and cuboids.
5th Grade
Students represent word problems with multi-term expressions and use the order of operations to solve them. They practice modeling, estimating, and solving problems with fractions, mixed numbers, decimals, ratios, and percent. They become stronger with multiplication and division (2-dig divisors). In geometry, students apply properties of lines, angles, and polygons to find areas and perimeters of triangles and quadrilaterals, and surface areas and volume of cuboid prisms. They interpret and construct line plots for fractional quantities; line graphs using the coordinate plane.
Students who master 5th grade math can move on to proportional relationships (ratios) and problems with unit rates and percent. They may learn operations on integers and rational numbers, solve algebraic expressions and equations, and algebraically represent the solutions to problems involving surface area and volume of simple 2- and 3-D polygons. They can push into basic statistics and its relationship to sampling, and into concepts of mean, median, mode, central tendency, and variability.