Math for Families to do Together

This month’s Web Bytes focus on involving families in math education through home activities and school-based math nights.

Figure This - http://www.figurethis.org/

“Helping families enjoy mathematics outside school through a series of fun and engaging, high-quality challenges…the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, in cooperation with the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Widmeyer Communications, and the Learning First Alliance, launched Figure This! “ (middle/high)

Figure This! Math Challenges - http://www.figurethis.org/challenges/challenge_index.htm

Index of Math Challenges from the site cited above.

Helping Your Child Learn Math - http://www.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/math/index.html

and http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Math/index.html

These sites contains activities for math at home, at the grocery store and “on the go”. It also contains several articles and links to other resources. (K-5)

Family Math from the Buddy Squared Project - http://www.buddyproject.org/resources/family/math/default.asp “These activity files have been created for families to do independently. They can also be used by teachers for classroom activities. Activities include ideas on how to set up an allowance spreadsheet, measuring area and perimeter, creating a calendar, graphing ideas, and ideas for creating logic or a pattern tables. For a suggested outline listing resources and a timeline to plan for Family Night sessions at your school, visit our timeline page.” (middle/high)

Family Math: Try at Home - http://www.cis.edu.sg/family_math/activity_to_try.htm Various activities that parents can do with there children at home.

MathSURF Family Site - http://www.mathsurf.com/parent/index.html “The MathSURF Family Site contains ideas and activities that will help you and your child work together at home to improve his or her math skills.” (K-6)

Texas Instruments: Discovering Math you’re your family - http://education.ti.com/us/resources/familymath/familymath.html “Uncovering Math With Your Family is a twelve-page booklet that provides parents with a resource they can use to help their children develop an interest in, and feel more comfortable with, mathematics. The booklet is filled with activities for parents to complete with their children. These activities are age-appropriate for children from early childhood through sixth grades.” (K-6)

Helping your child learn math - http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/brochure/earlymath/

This site is maintained by the government of Ontario, Canada.

Schools, families and Math - http://www.terc.edu/handsonIssues/s03/schools_fam_math/schools_fam.html

An article from TERC, “a not-for-profit education research and development organization” whose “mission is to improve mathematics, science and technology teaching and learning.”

Doing Math with Your Child - http://www.math.com/parents/articles/domath.html#1

This site reprints an ERIC digest article.

A Parent's Guide to Helping Your Child with Today's Math - http://www.nea.org/parents/math.html

“We want ALL students to realize that math is more than adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. We want children to be able to connect math to their everyday lives. We know that every child is capable of achieving in math topics such as geometry, data and statistics, algebra, and measurement.”

The Math Forum: Parents and Concerned Citizens - http://mathforum.org/parents.citizens.html

Various resources for parents from the Math Forum, a website that “helps students learn mathematics through the use of the Internet and innovative technologies.”

Family Math - http://sv.berkeley.edu/showcase/pages/fm_act.html

Three sample activities from the Family Math book. (K-8)

Family Math Night - http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/ChurchillRoadES/crs9899/mathnight/

This site contains some ideas and example activities for offering a family math night. (K-6)

The Parent-Teacher Connection - http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/ccvi/pub/newsletter/Fall1998_ParentsSchsWorkingTogether/Family_Math_Night.html

An article on planning an effective family math night. (K-3)

A Night for Parents - http://www.kaidy.com/FamilyMathNight.htm

“Ten Steps to Organizing a Family Math Night from Kaidy Educational Resources”

Resources for Family Math Night - http://www.techteachers.com/mathweb/familymath/

This site includes many links to various math activities and a sample parent night Power Point presentation.

Family Math Night at Home - http://math.about.com/library/weekly/aa100402a.htm

Suggestions for planning a family math night at your home.