Math Games for Your Kids

When working on math (or anything, really) with your children at home, try to keep it fun. If you look at it as a chore, so will your children! I've decided to share some math activities that I've done with my own children at home. Most of these games are probably best suited for the elementary aged child, but some could be adapted for younger or older kids, as well. Be creative!

• Guess the Number-My kids, 2nd grade and 4th grade, love this one! Think of a "secret" number, and give them a range: perhaps between 1-200 for a second grader, and maybe between 200 and 1000 for a 4th grader.  The child has to guess the secret number.  Give clues like "higher" or "lower" until the child guesses the correct number.  Some kids may need help with the reasoning involved to narrow things down.  You can model this by periodically saying, "Ok, now we know that the number must be between 34 and 54", or whatever.  If your child has trouble playing this game mentally, make a big number line to use.
• Figure the Tip-More appropriate for the 4th-6th graders, my boss always has her nieces and nephews figure out the exact tip amount for the waiter when she takes them out to eat.  20% of the bill for standard service, more for superior service.
• Mental Math-This is a great car game.  Give a problem such as 43+52.  Explain how to mentally add the 40+50, and then the 3+2 to get 95.  The first person to get the answer gets a "point".  If necessary, take turns giving your children their own, ability appropriate problems to get their "points".  try this with subtraction and multiplication, as well.
• Find the Numbers-Another great car game, especially for road trips! The little kids can play along, as well.  Starting with one, compete to be the first person to find the number.  Work your way up as high as you can go.  You can make your own family rules, of course, but in our family, our rule is that when we get to numbers like 10 and 12, the two digits of the number can be IN another number, say 23104 or 125, but they must be in the correct order.  (So, not 23014 or 215).  Try playing this with the alphabet, as well.
• Heads or Tales Fact Families-My son needed some work with addition and subtraction fact families.  I got out some pennies, and called him over to the table.  You can begin with any amount over 3.  we started with 4 pennies.  I had him shake the pennies in his palm like dice, and then put them on the table.  He counted the amount of heads, 3, and then the amount of tails, 1, followed by the total, 4.  I modeled how to make the number sentence 3+1=4.  We repeated the process to get the other addition facts for 4.  Then we did subtraction sentences in the same way, before moving on to using 5 pennies, and so on.  My son actually had a lot of fun with this, and gained a better understanding of how addition and subtraction are related.  This is great for math fact practice, as well.
• Computer Games-do a Google search for "Math Games", and you'll find quite a few.  Our favorite is this one.  There's even a website to play Guess the Number here!  From the same website, there's even an interactive 100's chart to practice skip counting and multiplication tables.

Please share some of your own math games!

School Pride

Set your DVRs for Saturday October 15 at 8:00.  NBC is premeiring it's newest reality show, School Pride.  You can read what NBC has to say about it here, but basically, it's Extreme Home Makeover with schools! Community members will work together to improve and refurbish their schools and rebuild community spirit and involvement. I'm really excited about this show-I hope it lives up to the hype!

Having grown up and student taught in suburban schools in Indiana, and then teaching in a poverty stricken area of Mississippi, the differences between the "haves" and "have nots" were staggering to me.  In my school in Mississippi, carpeted classrooms, paper towels and soap in bathrooms, and even daily cleaning  of classrooms were considered "luxuries".  Our window screens were torn, there were bugs and mold growing in my classroom, and much of our equipment was broken or in disprepair.  It's a sad fact that many of our nations poorest students often go to schools that are in poor condition.

I hope this show takes off-it's only a tv show, of course, but think of all the lives it will touch if it is successful!  Kudos to NBC!

IPS Considering Year Round Schedule

Indianapolis Public School system is our state's largest school district, and is also one of the poorest performing districts when it comes to state test scores.  IPS has many struggles: declining enrollment, poor student attendance, a high drop out rate, graduation rates under 50%, a severe lack of parental involvement, disruptive student behavior, decaying infrastructure, and of course, money.  Most IPS schools consistently fail in reaching their AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) growth under the No Child Left Behind Act.  As poverty and crime rates rise in Indianapolis, IPS is working to combat it's many struggles.

To address some of these needs, IPS is considering a year round school schedule that would add 20 days to the current traditional calendar of 180 days.  Students would likely attend school in 9 week blocks, with 2-3 week breaks in between, and summer vacation would be cut from it's current 9 weeks,  to just 5 weeks.  Many parents support the idea of year round school, and I foresee this new schedule being put into place within the next year or so.

Would I want my children to go to a year round school? Honestly, I don't think so.  I value having my children home all summer.  With my husband and I having conflicting schedules, those long summer days afford us more time to spend together as a family.  I know that my kids enjoy the break as well-summer is just long enough for them to relax and recharge.  Just before they get bored, school starts again, and they are ready to go.  We are fortunate to live in a suburban area, that is somewhat affluent.  Our local schools consistently perform well on state tests, and parent/community involvement and support is high.  For these reasons, I don't think year round school is vital for our particular community.

However, I do think this is a great plan for IPS.  Students would have less time over the summer to forget what they had learned, which would cut down on the extensive amount of reteaching that must take place at the beginning of school.  IPS struggles every year to get students to show up on the first day of school.  Often, a large percentage of students don't arrive until school has already been in session for days or even weeks-a problem that I think would be less likely with this schedule.  Students would be in school more, and on the streets less.  Also, those students who depend on the free breakfast and free or reduced lunches served at school for their only meals, would be fed on a more regular basis.  Will year round school solve all of IPS's issues? No.  But it's a start.

What do you think of year round school calendars?