The central goal of the Pre and Lower School mathematics program is to help students develop number sense - understanding, what numbers mean, how they relate to one another, their relative size, how they can be thought about and represented in many ways, and the effect of operating with numbers. Students learn basic number facts through varied and systematic practice sessions at school and at home.
Mathematics learning for pre-kindergarten through second grade children is active, rich in new mathematical language, and filled with thought-provoking challenges. In this grade band, students begin to develop an understanding of relationships among whole numbers by comparing, ordering, estimating and grouping numbers, including beginning understandings of place value, addition and subtraction. They learn to identify and generate patterns, measure using standard and non-standard units, tell time and work with money. They collect, sort, organize and graph data. They explore geometry and develop their spatial sense.
In grades three and four, students learn about classes of numbers and their characteristics; they study and represent fractions and decimals as numbers with emphasis on how they are related to whole numbers and to one another. They master their basic computation skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They focus on statistics, geometry and measurement in a more sophisticated manner and are introduced to pre-algebraic concepts. Students learn to see connections between concepts. They continue to develop problem solving strategies and work on their math communication skills.
Students use calculators and computers at appropriate times as computational tools; calculators are not used when the instructional focus is on developing and practicing conventional computational techniques. The University of Chicago's Everyday Mathematics program is the primary source for K-4 curricular materials; areas of thematic emphasis include: problem solving, computation, communication, data collection and analysis, real world applications, connections to other subjects, and the use of manipulative objects to teach and reinforce key ideas.