After Kathleen Wynne now Doug Ford on Ontario Math grades.

Once again heat is on for declining Math grades in Ontario schools. Rather than blaming one another some concrete steps need to be taken. 15 years of experimentation has already gone. It is high time to take the help of asian educators.
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WE ARE SHARING THIS INFORMATION  ABOUT ONTARIO SEX-ED CURRICULUM FROM cbc.ca
Please click this link for full news item.

The Ontario government has released an interim
sex-ed curriculum for elementary school teachers to use this September, and Premier Doug Ford is suggesting there will be consequences if they don't adhere to it.

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) was quick to blast the plan, accusing the Ford government of creating chaos instead of addressing the real issues facing the public school system just weeks before classes resume.

The Progressive Conservative government issued a news release about the changes on Wednesday afternoon, while also announcing plans for what it called an "unprecedented" provincewide consultation process on education reform and a future parents' bill of rights.

Union to 'vigorously' defend any teacher who defies province by teaching current sex-ed curriculum
Proposed sex-ed changes a violation of charter rights, CCLA says
The Ford government has faced sharp criticism from a number of groups — including teachers' unions, many parents and the Official Opposition — over its decision to scrap the modernized sex-ed curriculum brought in by the former Liberal government in 2015, which included information about online bullying, sexting and gender identity.

A group of human rights lawyers are also challenging the government's decision in court on behalf of six families.

Neither Ford nor Education Minister Lisa Thompson took questions from reporters on Wednesday.

       MATH IS FUN IN VACATIONS- ENJOY.

Yes it is vacation time. Schools are closed till September and kids will be enjoying with their families. But it is not bad if some time is spent on improving your reading ,writing and Math skills. This is just fun working with us at your schedule with discounted rates. After all school study is just 6 months/year. Where does the rest of the time go? Don't know? We have a plan customized to your needs.

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Mathematics at Home -Help your child

Talk together and have fun with numbers and patterns

Help your child to:

How many pizza slices and what is the fraction?

1.find numbers around your home and neighbourhood – clocks, letterboxes, speed signs

2.count forwards and backwards (clocks, fingers and toes, letterboxes, action rhymes, signs)

3.make patterns when counting "clap 1, stamp 2, clap 3, stamp 4, clap 5…"

4.do sums using objects such as stones or marbles eg 2 + 3, 4 +1, 5 + 4

5.make up number stories – "you have 2 brothers and 2 sisters. There are 4 of them"

Here's a tip - maths is an important part of everyday life and there are lots of ways you can make it fun for your child.

Use easy, everyday activities

Involve your child in:

• preparing and sharing out food – "two for me and two for you". Ask, "How many for each of us?"
• talking about time – "lunchtime", "storytime", "bedtime"
• using words in everyday play like "under", "over", "between", "around", "behind", "up", "down", "heavy", "light", "round", "circle", "yesterday", "tomorrow". You can get library books with these words and ideas in them too
• asking questions like "How many apples do we need for lunches? What do you think the weather is going to be like today/tomorrow? What are we going to do next?"

Here's a tip - use lots of mathematics words as your child is playing to develop their understanding of early mathematics (eg "over", "under", "first, second, third", "round", "through", "before", "after"). Use the language that works best for you and your child.

For wet afternoons/school holidays/weekends

Get together with your child and:

• play with water using different shaped containers and measuring cups in the sink or bath
• bake – talk to your child about the recipe/ingredients using words like "how many?" "how much?" "more". Count how many teaspoons of baking soda are needed, how many cups of flour, how many muffin cases
• play dress-ups and getting dressed, use words like "short", "long", and ask questions like "what goes on first?", "what goes on next?", "does it fit?"
• create a ‘sorting box’ with all sorts of ‘treasure’ – bottle tops, shells, stones, poi, toys, acorns, pounamu (greenstone), cardboard shapes, leaves. Ask questions like "how many?", "which is the biggest group?", "which is the smallest?", "how many for each of us?"
• do jigsaw puzzles, play card and board games and build with blocks.

Here's a tip - being positive about mathematics is really important for your child’s learning – even if you didn’t enjoy it or do well at it yourself at school.

Why is any number(except zero) raised to zero is always 1?

250=1 ,  x0=1

Any number except zero) to the zero power always gives one.

Rule of exponents states that

Exponents add when you have the same base. 

So if you have a number, x, and exponents, a and b, then:
x^a multiplied x^b = x^(a+b)
So then if we make one of the exponents negative:x^a multiplied  x^-b = x^(a-b)
And if the exponents are the same magnitude (a = b) x^a  multiplied x^-b = x^a * x^-a = x^(a-a) = x⁰

Now, remember that if you have a negative exponent, it means you have one divided by the number to the exponent:

x^-a = 1/x^a
So, we can also write x^a * x^-a in a different way:
x^a * x^-a = x^a * 1/x^a = x^a/x^a
And a number divided by itself is always 1 so:
x^a * x^-a = x^a* 1/x^a = x^a/x^a = 1:
So now we've shown that:
x^a * x^-a = x^(a-a) = x⁰
and
x^a * x^-a = x^a * 1/x^a:
This means that any number x⁰ = 1.

If you had trouble understanding it all with variables, let's look at it again,but this time as an example with numbers:

If we plug in numbers, (for example let x = 5, a = 2, and b = 4) then:
One rule for exponents is that exponents add when you have the same base.
5² * 5⁴ = 5⁽²⁺⁴⁾ = 5⁶ = 15625
So then, if we make one of the exponents negative:
5² * 5^-4 = 5^(2-4) = 5^-2 = 0:04
And if the exponents are the same magnitude:
5² * 5^-2 = 5^(2-2) = 5⁰

Now, remember that if you have a negative exponent, it means you have one divided by the number to the exponent:
5^-2 = 1/5² = 0:04
So we can also write 5² * 5^-2 in a different way:
5² * 5^-2 = 5² * 1/5² = 5²/5² = 25/25

And a number divided by itself is always 1 so:
5² * 5^-2 = 5² * 1/5² = 5²/5² = 25/25 = 1

So now we've shown that:
5²*5^-2 = 5^(2-2) = 5⁰
and
5² * 5^-2 = 5²/5² = 1
This means that 5⁰ = 1.

This works for any number x that you want to plug in except for x = 0,because 0/0 is indeterminate (it is like dividing zero by zero).

Another explanation

Let's look at what it means to raise a number to a certain power: it means to multiply that number by itself a certain number of times. Three to the second power is three multiplied by itself 2 times, or 3*3=9. Let's look at a few examples:

3⁵ = 3*3*3*3*3 = 243
3⁴ = 3*3*3*3 = 81
3³ = 3*3*3 = 27
3² = 3*3 = 9
3¹ = 3 = 3

But how do you go from 3¹ to 3⁰? If you look at the pattern, you can see that each time we reduce the power by 1 we divide the value by 3. Using this pattern we can not only find the value of 3⁰, we can find the value of 3 raised to a negative power! Here are some examples:

3⁰ = 3/3 = 1
3^-1 = 1/3 = 0.3333... (this decimal repeats forever)
3^(-2) = 1/3/3 = 0.1111...
3^(-3) = 1/3/3/3 = 0.037037...

No matter what number we use when it is raised to the zero power it will always be 1. Suppose instead of 3 we used some number N, where N could even be a decimal. N¹=N, and to reduce the power by 1 we divide by N, soN⁰=N¹/N = N²/2N =1.

Notice that 3^(-1) is the same as 1/(3¹), 3^(-2) is the same as 1/(3⁽²⁾),and so on. This gives us a useful property of exponents, namely that a^(-b) is the same as 1/(a^b).

One more explanation

Heres a quick demonstration of why any number (except zero) raised to the zero power must equal 1. As an example we will let that any number be the number 3.

Note that:
3¹ = 3 = 3
3² = 3*3 = 9
3³ = 3*3*3 = 27
3⁴ = 3*3*3*3 = 81
And so on

Youll notice that 3³=(3⁴)/3, 3²=(3³)/3, 3¹=(3²)/3
In other words, 3^(n-1)=(3ⁿ)/3
So 3⁰=(3¹)/3=3/3=1

This same reasoning will work for any number (not just 3), except the number 0. It wont work for 0 because you cant divide by 0. Lets call any number x:

x^(n-1)=xⁿ/x
So x⁰ = x^(1-1) = x¹/x = x/x = 1

Still another explanation

of the answer is that this is how we've defined powers to be.

Raising something to a power greater than zero means multiplying it by itself a number of times equal to the power. So, for instance,

2¹ = 2
2² = 2 x 2 = 4
2³ = 2 x 2 x 2 = 8
and so on.

Now, you can multiply anything by 1 and it will still be the same thing, and likewise you can divide anything by 1 and it will still be the same. Therefore:

2¹ = 2 x 1 = 2
2² = 2 x 2 x 1 = 4
2³ = 2 x 2 x 2 x 1 = 8

You see I've just multiplied everything by 1.

Now, also note that if you raise something to a negative power, then you take the reciprocal of that something:

2^-1 = 1/2
2^-2 = 1 /(2x2) = 1/4
2^-3 = 1/8

And so on. Again, we can multiply by everything by 1:
2^-1 = 1 x 1/2

Now, what happens when the power is zero?

Well, you're not multiplying by anything, except the 1 you started with. You're not dividing by anything, except the 1 you started with. So, what you're left over with is 1.

Now, here is the slightly more mathematically sophisticated version: when you raise something to a power, what you do is take 1 and multiply it by the base of the power a number of times equal to the power. So, by definition, raising something to the power of zero means you start with 1, and then don't multiply it by anything. So, naturally, 1 is what you're left over with.