Welcome to Mathematics in West New York
Families and caregivers are important partners in helping students develop confidence and success in mathematics. This year, West New York students are learning mathematics through Amplify Desmos Math, a student-centered mathematics program designed to help students understand not only how to solve problems, but also why mathematics works.
You may notice that mathematics looks a little different from what you remember from your own experience in school—and that's okay! Students will still develop important mathematical skills and fluency, but they will also be encouraged to explore problems, recognize patterns, make connections, explain their reasoning, compare different strategies, and learn from the ideas of their classmates.
Our goal is to develop students who don't simply know how to get an answer, but who can think, reason, communicate, and problem-solve mathematically.
What You May See in the Classroom
Amplify Desmos Math combines hands-on, paper-based, and digital learning experiences. Throughout the year, students will have opportunities to:
- Explore mathematics through meaningful problems and real-world situations.
- Share and explain their mathematical thinking verbally and in writing.
- Listen to, compare, and build upon the strategies of their classmates.
- Use different representations and approaches to solve problems.
- Develop procedural fluency while strengthening conceptual understanding.
- Ask questions, make predictions, notice patterns, and make discoveries.
- Use technology and mathematical tools to explore ideas.
- Practice previously learned skills and make connections between mathematical concepts.
Students will also encounter a variety of assessments that help their teachers understand what they know, identify areas where they may need additional support, and plan for next steps in their learning.
"But That's Not How I Learned It!"
If you've ever looked at your child's math homework and thought, "That's not how I learned to do it!"—you're not alone.
There is often more than one way to think about a mathematical problem. Students may use drawings, number lines, models, equations, manipulatives, mental strategies, or other representations before—or alongside—learning a more traditional algorithm.
These approaches aren't intended to make mathematics more complicated. They help students develop an understanding of the relationships between numbers and operations so that procedures have meaning rather than being a set of steps to memorize.
You don't need to know every strategy your child is learning in order to help. In fact, one of the most powerful things you can do is simply ask questions and listen to their thinking.
Try questions such as:
"How did you figure that out?"
"Can you show me another way?"
"What do you notice?"
"Why do you think that works?"
"How do you know?"
"Does your answer make sense? How can you tell?"
These questions communicate that your child's thinking is just as important as the answer.
Supporting Mathematics at Home
Mathematics happens everywhere, and some of the best opportunities for mathematical thinking happen naturally during everyday life.
Invite your child to estimate the total while shopping, compare prices, calculate a discount, measure ingredients while cooking, look for patterns in nature, plan how long it will take to get somewhere, compare statistics from a favorite sport, measure a room, divide food equally, or talk about how money grows when it is saved.
The goal doesn't have to be to turn every experience into a math lesson. Simply noticing mathematics and talking about it helps children recognize that math is something they can use to understand and navigate their world.
Most importantly, encourage curiosity and persistence. Mathematics sometimes requires trying an idea, discovering that it doesn't work, and trying something different. Those moments are an important part of learning.
Amplify Desmos Math Caregiver Resources
Amplify provides families with resources specifically designed to help you understand what your child is learning and support that learning at home.
The Caregiver Hub includes unit-specific resources, explanations of important mathematical concepts, activities and problems you can try together, practice opportunities, and videos designed to help families understand the mathematics students are learning.
Grades K–5:
Visit the Amplify Desmos Math K-5 Caregiver Hub.
Grades 6–8:
Visit the Amplify Desmos Math 6–A1 Caregiver Hub.
You can also watch the Amplify Desmos Math Family Video for an introduction to the program and its approach to teaching and learning mathematics.
Experience Math Together
One of the best ways to understand your child's mathematics experience is to try some of the mathematics yourself!
Throughout the year, families may have opportunities during events such as Back-to-School Night or Family Math Night to explore activities similar to those students experience in their classrooms. You might find yourself investigating ways to make ten, comparing strategies for finding area, building three-dimensional figures, exploring ratios, scaling figures, or investigating mathematical relationships through an interactive Desmos activity.
Don't worry about finding the answer as quickly as possible. Instead, notice what happens when you explore, discuss, make a mistake, revise your thinking, and discover a solution together.
That's mathematics.