It gives us every reason to hope that every problem has a solution.
Math at Home
Tips for Parents
Play Games
With so many facts and figures to memorize and apply to math problems, children learn early that math is something that requires work. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be fun; keep the pleasure in math by playing games with your children.
Ask Children to Explain their Thinking
Students can draw or write out their steps to their solution! Or they can just tell you! This helps students explain their thinking!!
Keep Math Real
The goal should be to make math meaningful by pointing it out in the world around you. That could include checking and comparing prices at the grocery store, driving down the street counting mailboxes, reading recipes, calculating coupons, or even measuring food or drink at the dinner table.
I Spy
For starters, find something in clear view and choose one attribute for a clue. For example, you might say, “round like a ball” for an orange. Then say, “I spy with my little eye something round like a ball.” Invite your child to look around and figure out what it was you spied. Once your child spies the object you’ve chosen, switch roles and invite your child to spy’ something for you to look for.
As you look, talk about one or two different things you see that don’t have the attribute your child has given you. (“Hmm …That box couldn’t be it – it’s not shaped like a ball…”) until you find the object your child has chosen. As the game continues, increase the attributes to two. For example, “I see something with 4 legs and that is smaller than this car.” (A dog.)