Reply to Literally every single MCPS kid I know has a tutor. Do YOU?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Genuine, no-agenda question here.  I'm a parent to a Kindergartener, so this is all new to me, but I've looked at the curriculum guide on the MCPS website and have a question.  Some of the concepts listed are obvious (counting, I got that), but some are clearly in edu-speak.  For instance, this is just a small one:
Number and Operations in Base Ten: Compose and decompose
numbers (11–19): ten ones and some further ones.

I'm not a dumb person (I can tell you my degrees if you need) but I don't honestly know how to help my kid learn that.  "Compose numbers"?  What does that mean?  Write the numbers?  Ok, I can do that.  "Decompose numbers"?  Huh?  In normal person speak, "decompose" means to separate into pieces.  So, does this mean the concept that you can make 9 out of 3 3's, or a 5 and a 4 -- that sort of thing?
I realize that may seem obvious, but it isn't.  And clearly it only gets less obvious as they move up in grades.  I was a person who had to read the textbook when I got home to reinforce the lesson.  
My question is: is there any resource that will help me translate these "curriculum guides" into something that's actually instructive?
Other than asking the teacher?  Because I don't really want to be the pain in the ass parent that's emailing the teacher every week.[/quote]
 
Composing is making one ten out of ten ones, and decomposing is making ten ones out of one ten. I'm pretty sure. Or maybe it's the other way around? In any case, it doesn't really matter -- the point is that one ten = ten ones. So, for example, you can make 15 with one ten and five ones, or with 15 ones.

Asking the teacher is a good start. Does your school have a curriculum night? If so, that would also be a good place to ask questions; if not, maybe ask the principal to have a curriculum night. In the meantime, Google! For your question, for example, I might Google composing numbers kindergarten. Or you might even ask DCUM, if you don't mind wading through lots of MCPSawfuldumbedown2.0lousyillegals posts....[/quote]

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