Happy New Year!!!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and that you are ready for a new year of math learning and fun!

Regardless of what grade your child is in, we have been working hard together to learn basic math facts. Because we have so little time together and we have so many skills/concepts to cover, it is also important that you practice facts with your child at home. There are lots of fun ways, other than the traditional flash card way, that you can use to give your child additional practice. The most important thing is to make it fun and positive! Focus on progress and celebrate every success! Here are some ideas you can try at home:

• Play Fact Wars by splitting cards into 2 piles. Each player flips over 2 cards and the says the sum or product (depending on what skill/grade level they are in). The player with the greatest sum or product gets to keep the cards. In this game repetition and correct answers are emphasized rather than speed.
• For difficult to remember facts, have your child create a "model" using cereal or some other food to help them internalize the fact. 
• Draw pictures to show a fact.
• Have your child make up a word problem to go with two numbers.
• Tape flash cards (you can buy these at dollar store or make them using index cards) on different doors and drawers in the house. Have your child give the answer before they can open the door/drawer.
• Create two piles (1. facts they know and 2. facts they don't know). Focus primarily on the facts they don't know and celebrate each time a card can be placed in the facts they know pile. Your child will love seeing that pile grow!

It was a pleasure getting to meet so many of during the conference days in November and December! If we did not get to speak and you would like to contact me, or having any questions regarding your child's progress report, please do not hesitate to email or call. 

One of the things I get asked about often are ways to practice word problems. Making up your own "Math stories" using the people and events in your child's life is one great way. For example, if your child plays a sport, a math story could be as follows: Bobby's hockey team had 17 players, Lindsey's team had 3 fewer players. How many players did Lindsey's team have?

A good website for word problems is math playground (listed here on my blog). You can also type in kidzone word problems in your search engine and then click on the appropriate grade level for your child. 

We will be working on word problem strategies and skills as well during our group time! Thank you for all that you do at home!!