June 2023

Dear Parents, 

    Happy Summer! I hope that everyone will be able to find ways to have some fun, relax and enjoy the outdoors and the summer weather.  To help keep your child's math skills sharp, I am sharing some ideas on this website to give you options for finding interesting ways to build some math conversation and practice into your everyday life. 

 

    This article from Harvard shares four ways to help integrate math into your summer fun:  

1. Highlight the math in everyday activities (shopping, cooking, distance driving on trips, time-telling).

2. Read short math stories together. Bedtime Math (bedtimemath.org) is a wonderful resource for this.  It is free (and there is also an app) and appropriate for all grade levels.  If you sign up, it sends you a short “story” each day with a math problem related to the story. Below is a link to their summer program.

3. Play math games.  (to see a list of board games and info about what skills they reinforce click on this short article: The Power of Games)

   4. Find small ways to practice math at home.

Most of all, find ways to enjoy math around you!

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   Below, you will find links to some great activities for summer math fun that are offered by Bedtime Math and Greg Tang.  I have also included Talking Math, a series of great photos with a math question for each grade level. This could be done daily over the summer, or however often you'd like.  Another option for short daily activities over the summer are the math calendars for July and August (see links below). 

 

     I hope these ideas will give you some choices for promoting math at home this summer, without making it seem tedious or dull.  Whether you just want some new activities to try or you want some interesting math-related stories to chat about at your dinner table , we hope you will find some new ideas here.  Play games together, talk about what you see around you,  and enjoy each other!   

 

    See you in September!

 

Nancy Moriarty

Math Specialist

Wolf Swamp Road School