Bridgeport School Family Fun Math Kit
The Family Fun Math Kit was handed out to parents at our Math Night event to support math fun and learning at home. The math kit includes a math kit games package for K-6 students, and math props (dice, cards, tape measure, number charts, etc) to support the games. It is a great reference for all family members to play together at anytime! Thank you to the Bridgeport staff for creating this resource for our families. If you were unable to attend and would like to explore the Family Fun Math Kit, there are two complete kits available in the Parent Resource section of the school library for parents to sign out.
WRDSB Resources
Learning Services: Tips for Math Learning at Home
Ontario Ministry of Education Resources
Curriculum and resource documents for elementary mathematics:
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/math.html
Mathies.ca is an online resource for students, teachers and parents with math tools and games:
http://mathies.ca/games.php & http://mathies.ca/learningTools.php
Other Resources on the Internet
Math story books:
http://chasingsupermom.com/2013/02/100-books-about-math-for-kids/
Positive Engagement Project – Acing Math (One Deck at a Time): card games
Dreambox promotes number sense concepts and encourages perseverance:
http://www.dreambox.com
There is a really damaging myth that pervades the US/UK and other countries – the idea that some people are born with a ‘math brain’ and some are not. This has been resoundingly disproved by research but many students and parents still believe this. It is really important to communicate “growth mindset” messages to students. Help them know that everyone is a math person and that the latest research is telling us that students can reach any levels in math because of the incredible plasticity of the brain:
http://youcubed.stanford.edu/category/teaching-ideas/growing-mindset
The key to understanding math is making sense of it. Many students believe that math is a set of formulas that have to be remembered – this belief is associated with lower achievement. Math is a very creative subject that is, at its core, about visualizing patterns and creating solution paths that others can see, discuss and critique:
http://youcubed.stanford.edu/category/teaching-ideas/number-sense