Hello Lori,

I agree with Lisa.

These lessons are to train for critical thinking/problem solving skills. The child is not expected to already know this, they should be exploring and discovering this.

With great encouragement, we should be allowing them time to figure out how they can solve this problem. This is one of the great parts of RS, it teaches children to think and not rely on "set-up" problems. Of course, for those of us that were taught math in the usual manner this will scare us because we are used to being told how to do everything in a formulaic way, so we can pass the test. Here at RS, the idea is to teach to the child to think outside of what they are used to and it will help them to think when they come across new math concepts.

So be prepared this happens often

To answer your question...
After dividing the circle in half with a straight edge, if I use the angle of the triangle to divide it into thirds, the angles aren't correct to make it into 3 equal thirds. Am I just supposed to eye it or am I missing something here?

The 30 degrees should be correct if you are resting it on your T-square, and have your paper taped to the drawing board.

You should have one vertical line going from the top to the center of your circle, then a second 30* angle from the center to the circumference, then a third 30* angle by flipping the triangle and having it go from the center to the circumference. He might do it slightly different, but the idea is the same and it should be fine.

He should be seeing the pattterns in dividing a triangle and a circle in thirds.

Please let me know if you have any more questions. You can email me directly at Carissa@alabacus.com .

Thank you for giving your child a RightStart in Math,

Carissa
RightStart™ Mathematics by Activities for Learning, Inc.

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