Play some Math at home!

As our year progresses and it gets darker earlier and the weather is less "friendly" outside, it is a great time to think about family games.  Families can pull dual benefits from games, as often games can support and reinforce many learning skills and content.  I hope to provide ongoing recommendations in this area for families to consider great ways to support and practice learning skills across content areas (and embrace fun family time!)  

Dr. Mahesh Sharma noted the following information about the importance of play; "Numerous research studies support the assertion that playing board games helps students improve mathematics and thinking skills. For example, in one study, disadvantaged preschool students played a simple numeric board game four times for 15-20 minutes at a time over a two-week period. At the end of the two weeks, researchers found students' knowledge of math greatly increased in several different areas related to quantitative thinking and number sense...The benefits of using board games are not limited to mathematics. They can be used to build vocabulary, spelling, and logical reasoning skills" (Sharma, 2012)

Leonard Family Game Time!

Some of our Leonard family favorites include:

• Tiny Polka Dot (subitizing, visualization, visual clusters, pattern recognition, number concept and facts, memory, etc.)
• Sequence for Kids (strategy, spatial orientation/space organization)
• Hoot Owl Hoot (strategy, planning, collaboration)

A few other great games:

• Battleship (spatial orientation, visualization, visual memory) 
• Mancala (sequencing, counting, estimation, visual clustering, deductive reasoning)

Keep your eye out throughout the year for more ways to utilize play and fun into learning opportunities!

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Heather Leonard
STEM Curriculum Coordinator, Reading Public Schools

Phone: 781-670-2256

Twitter: @STEMReading

https://readingstem.blogspot.com/

Read more from Dr. Mahesh Sharma here:  https://readingsuperintendent.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/maheshsharma-prerequisiteskillsmathlearning.pdf

"Why Play Math Games?" Article from NCTM:  https://www.nctm.org/Publications/Teaching-Children-Mathematics/Blog/Why-Play-Math-Games_/

Bringing STEM home...

We've heard so much about "STEM" in the last few years, but many may not know how to bring it into their daily conversations at home.  Want a great way to start?  Check out our fabulous Reading Public Library!  

https://www.readingpl.org/

Beyond their awesome collection of books on so many different STEM topics, their "Library of Things" is an amazing FREE resource for students and families!

https://www.readingpl.org/discover/library-of-things/

These resources are available to borrow and are an easy way to bring in opportunities to explore, try, build, question, and apply Science and Math skills to real-life!  

If you've tried something from the library of things, let's hear it... share below!

Math Anxiety Is Contagious

While this article was published in 2015, it is an interesting read about the impact parents can have when supporting their child's math homework.  I found this notation in the article a helpful recommendation;

"How can math-anxious parents help their children at math? Dr. Cooper suggests that parents of young children create a math-positive environment by modeling “math behavior.” The game plan: Tell your child, ‘You have your math homework, and I have mine,’ he said, and show them whenever you 'count your change, calculate when dinner will be ready, look at prices in a grocery store.'"

Math Anxiety Is Contagious! (Summary by Kim Marshall)

            In this New York Times article, Jan Hoffman reports on a study in Psychological Science of how parents’ math anxiety is picked up by their first and second graders, pulling down the kids’ school achievement in math (but not in reading). The means of transmission? Parents helping their children with math homework. The study found that the more math-phobic parents helped, the worse their children did, slipping more than a third of a grade level behind classmates and becoming math-anxious themselves. “The parents are not out to sabotage their kids,” says Sian Beilock, one of the authors of the University of Chicago study. “But they have to ensure their input is productive. They need to have awareness of their own math anxiety and that what they say is important… Saying, ‘I’m not a math person either, and that’s O.K.’ is not a good message to convey.”

            How does math anxiety work in the brain? According to Mark Ashcraft of the University of Nevada/Las Vegas, “On challenging math problems that require a lot of working memory, math-anxious people fall apart.” Their working memory is tied up with worries “and they don’t have enough left over to do the math.” The anxiety most often kicks in when students encounter middle-school algebra, but it can begin earlier, especially for girls who have math-anxious female elementary school teachers.

            One thing that increases parental math anxiety is the introduction of new math curriculum materials that take an approach to basic operations that’s radically different from what they learned in school. “Educators can’t take math, turn it into Greek, and say, ‘Mom, Dad, will you help your kid with this,’ and not expect to get a ‘Wha?’”, says Harris Cooper of Duke University. An Idaho mother went on Facebook to complain about how Common Core math standards were driving her to drink. “I’ve taken to labeling math homework by how many glasses of wine it takes to peel myself off the ceiling after I’m done,” she said. “That was a two-glasser after whatever it is we’re calling long division.”

            What can white-knuckle math parents do to reduce the negative effect they’re having? One approach is to create a math-positive environment and model “math behavior,” says Cooper. “You have your math homework, and I have mine” – counting change, calculating when dinner will be ready, and looking at prices in the supermarket. Another approach is to tag-team with a more math-confident spouse. And then there’s consulting with the teacher, looking over curriculum manuals, and actually mastering the math.

“Generations of Math Fears” by Jan Hoffman in The New York Times, August 25, 2015,

 http://nyti.ms/1Evsrxn; the study described in this article, “Intergenerational Effects of Parents’ Math Anxiety on Children’s Math Achievement and Anxiety” by Erin Maloney, Gerardo Ramirez, Elizabeth Gunderson, Susan Levine, and Sian Beilock in Psychological Science, August 7, 2015, is available for purchase at http://bit.ly/1KyDk2g. 

You ARE a Math Person!

As we all get back into the routine of school, I encourage you to think about how you set the frame for your child’s learning. 

If you tell your child that the grade they are beginning was “hard” for you – they will enter with a perception of difficulty. Simply re-framing it as “a year you grew and learned a lot” can shift a child’s mindset.

Also, please take out of your language that you’re "not a math person!”  There are no genes that determine mathematics capacity. 

My favorite graphic about this is below:

While we all may have areas of learning we preferred and those we struggled with, our children are rich with potential. They CAN do it – and their mindset going in can have a significant impact on their ability to learn, grow, make mistakes, and take risks.

My hope?  If you used to think you weren’t a “math person” make this year a year you decide to become one!  Try, grow, make mistakes, and learn alongside your developing “math person” and embrace a family growth mindset!

Want to learn more about mistakes and learning potential?  Check out some of these resources:

•         Carol Dweck, TedTalk, Mindset:  https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en
•         What having a “Growth Mindset” means:  https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means
•         Jo Boaler, Mathematical Mindsets:  https://www.youcubed.org/