Rosine,

Thanks so much for this step by step answer to the problem. I have read it over and it makes perfect sense. Once I work it through with my dd if we have any further questions I'll let you know.

The only remaining question/comment that I have is should I have known based on the previous lessons and levels to allow her to use a negative number to find the solution? I wasn't thinking that was an option because we hadn't really gotten to negative numbers yet; we've dealt with them little but not to the point that I realized it was okay to allow my dd to use them in solving problems. Maybe I need to think outside the box a little more regarding this!

Thanks again,
Leslie

Dear Leslie,

I'm glad that my explination made sense to you. Leslie, it's not really about using negative numbers. I just mentioned a negative number because there was no other way to state it when writing it out. What I was hoping to express was that as you are comparing the fractions you would see that you needed to move into a whole again to continue to subtract the fraction.

I think you are right on when you say "Maybe I need to think outside the box a little more...." Also, I would encourage you to give your child the questions and let your child wrestle with them. You do not need to give the answer or the how to to do it right away. Give your child the space to think through it even if that space means putting it aside for an hour or two or even for the day. By doing this as parents we allow our children to have that "think" time they need to discover how math works. This is also how new inventions are created.

Let me know if you have other questions or comments.

Sincerely, Rosine
PS While working through RS children seem to understand and use negative numbers without even being formally introduced, however, again in this situation I was only using a negative number as a visual.