October 2025 - Junior Family Math E-Newsletter

Growing Mathematical Minds - Junior Edition

Children doing math on a whiteboard

Activities for October

Math Talk

Which one doesn’t belong? And why?

upper left: a cube upper right: a triangular prism, resting on a rectangular face lower left: a cylinder, lying on its side lower right: a rectangular prism, oriented like a shoebox with face of largest area as base

Source: Talking Math with Kids

When explaining your reasoning can you use any of the following words to help you:

  • Base                       
  • Edges                      
  • Circular
  • Congruent             
  • Faces                       
  • Symmetry
  • Vertices                
  • Vertex                     
  • Angles

Math Game

Find and label all the 2-dimensional shapes in the intersecting lines. Can you identify any:

  • Lines of symmetry?
  • Opposite sides that are parallel?
  • Opposite sides that are of equal length (congruent)?
  • Right, acute, obtuse angles?
  • Number of: sides, angles, vertices?
  • Adjacent sides that are perpendicular?
  • Diagonals that bisect each other? Are equal? Are perpendicular? 

Intersecting straight lines

Adapted From Source: Math Minutes, Brain Power Enrichment Programs, The Robertson Program

Create your own! Draw at least 7 intersecting lines and swap with a friend to look for 2-dimensional shapes and any of the listed attributes. Can you find more? 


Math Strategies

This year, we’ll be highlighting a range of mathematical strategies that students may use when solving problems. These strategies help build understanding and flexibility in thinking. While all strategies have value, some are more efficient than others. Our goal is to help students move toward using more effective approaches over time, rather than staying with less efficient ones.

As part of this journey, we’ll be sharing insights with families to build a shared understanding of the strategies students are learning. We hope this helps you feel more confident in supporting your child’s math development and gives you some of the language and tools to talk about math at home.

Splitting by Place-Value

Image Source: Math is FigureOutAble! The Most Important Numeracy Strategies, Pam Harris. 

Try: 

39 + 58 =

74 + 87 =

42 + 39 = 

27 + 48 = 


Real-World Math Connections

Together with your child, explore real-life contexts to explain a ‘one-eighty’ or a ‘three-sixty’ (e.g., skateboarding, snowboarding, freestyle skiing). Encourage your child to describe these turns by referencing the protractor as the unit of measure. They might talk about a circle having 3600, so a ‘three-sixty’ turn is a complete rotation, and a ‘one-eighty’ is a half rotation. Children can document angles in every-day life through pictures and identify the type of angle they see. Families are invited to send us examples of this documentation. Photos will be highlighted in our next Growing Mathematical Minds Family Newsletter.  

Example: 

“In my house, I have windows that form a right angle (900) at the vertex.”

Window with an L showing a right angle

Adapted From Source: Mathology, Geometry: 2-D Shapes and Angles, Grade 4 and Geometry: 2-D Shapes, angles, and 3-D Solids, Grade 5. 


Thinking Task

Can you take a rectangular cake, as pictured below, and cut it into acute triangular cake pieces?

Rectangular Birthday Cake

The pieces may be different sizes, but all angles must be less than 900. Try drawing out your solutions.

Source: Math Stunners


Math Riddle

Looking for additional math resources?

Check out our past e-newsletters for more fun and exciting math games and challenges to do at home.

Family Math E-Newsletter 2025-26