Question: Where can you find fun math lessons during the summer so your elementary school kids don’t lose the number knowledge they picked up during the school year?
Answer: All around you, said educator Andy Isaacs.
There are math lessons in the games you play, the excursions you take, the trips you make to the grocery store, said Isaacs, a former elementary school teacher and co-director for Elementary Math and Science Education at the University of Chicago.
Perfect example: Playing poker or gin, two card games that are great for lazy summer days. Talk to your kids about the odds involved in your decisions and your approach to playing the game. (Think: You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em.)
“It’s not just playing the game; it’s also about having a conversation about the strategy,” Isaacs said.
The key is to make these summer “lessons” fun.
If you are taking a trip, he suggested having your child help determine how far you will be traveling and the approximate speed you’ll be moving at. Then have your child estimate about how long it will take to get to your destination. Maybe it will keep them from asking: “Are we there yet?”
When you go to the grocery store, have your child help you find the best deals comparing the cost per unit (ounce, gram, each) of different package sizes. For example, compare the cost of a family-size box of cereal with the cost of a regular-size box. Bring along paper and a pencil; resist the urge to use a calculator.
(True confessions from Such A Smart Mom: When my kids were younger, I would purchase math workbooks every summer for the grades they would enter in the fall. Truth be told, they were not excited about this, so I offered an incentive: 10 cents for every page they completed. This approach worked, but I wish I had it more fun as Isaacs suggests.)
Interested in more ideas? Here are many more that are drawn from Isaacs and Everyday Mathematics. (All these activities and children’s literature that incorporates math concepts can be found online at wrightgroup.com.)
Grade 1
Have your child help create a number line (0–15) outside with sidewalk chalk. Call out a number and have your child jump on that number. Make up directions such as “Hop to the number that is two less” or “Jump to the number that is four more.” Give a few more directions, and then have your child call out directions while you jump. If you don’t have chalk, use paper, crayons, and fingers.
Play the classic card game War. Divide a deck of cards (or more) evenly between you and your child and put the cards facedown. For each turn, players flip their top card faceup and decide who has the larger number. That player collects both cards. Continue playing until the deck has been used. Play a second round, but have the player with the smaller number take both cards. You may assign points to Aces, Kings, Queens, and Jacks or remove them.
Count orally by 2s, 5s, and 10s, sometimes starting at numbers other than 0.
Choose a time “on the hour” (7:00, 2:00), and help your child set an analog clock or watch to that time.
Have your child measure various objects in the house using his or her hand spans (outstretched fingers). Before measuring, estimate how many hand spans it will take to cover the object, then compare the estimate with the actual number.
Look for geometric shapes around the house, in the supermarket, on buildings, and on street signs. Help your child use geometric names for the shapes, such as triangle, square, rhombus, hexagon, and so forth.
Help your child use paper and scissors to make various shapes such as rhombus, hexagon, trapezoid, pentagon, square, or circle. Take turns holding up each shape and naming them. After naming all of the shapes, make a design.
With your child, cut food, such as pizza, celery, carrots, sandwiches, pies, or green beans into halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, and so on. If you are cutting more than one of the same item, look at the pieces to compare the fractional parts. Ask questions: Which are bigger: the halves or quarters?
Have your child name a temperature that is hot, cold, and mild. Using a map of the United States, discuss with your child states that are hot, cold, have temperatures in the teens in the winter, have temperatures over 100 degrees in the summer, and so on.
Grade 2
Ask your child to count by certain intervals. For example, “Start at zero and count by 4s.”
Use your family calendar to discuss numbers of the months in a year, weeks in the month, and days in a week. Count how many days, weeks, or months it is until a special event, such as a birthday or holiday.
Roll two dice and practice addition and subtraction by adding or subtracting the two numbers. Alternate turns with your child and have him or her check your answers.
Gather a handful of coins with a value less than $2. Have your child calculate the total value.
Ask the time throughout the day. Encourage alternate ways of naming time, such as half past two for 2:30.
Use household items (toothpicks, marshmallows, straw and twist-ties) to construct and name shapes. Encourage your child to try combining shapes to make other shapes.
When reading recipes, discuss the fractions in it. For example, ask, “How many ¼ cups of sugar would we need to get 1 cup of sugar?”
Ask questions to help your child visualize fractions, such as, “Which would give you more pizza: 1/8 of a pizza or ¼?”
Grade 3
Ask questions that involve equal sharing. For example, say “Seven children share 49 baseball cards. How many cards does each child get? How many cards are left over?”
Help your child find fractions in the everyday world—in advertisements, on measuring tools, in recipes, and so on.
Have your child trace around an object such as a deck of cards, a box, a plate, a cup, a can, and so on. Divide the figure equally into four parts. Ask your child to color ¾ of the shape. Try a few more using different figures and dividing them into different fractional parts. Instead of tracing around an object, draw figures such as squares, rectangles, and circles.
Name items around the house that weigh less than 5 pounds, 10 pounds, and 20 pounds. If you have a scale, place the items on the scale to check your guesses.
Use the weather as a springboard to discuss probability. Begin by noting the chance (percentage) for rain, and then ask your child if it seems likely or unlikely that it will rain.
Make a number line from –6 through 6, leaving off some of the numbers. Ask your child to fill in the missing numbers. Try another number line with a different range of numbers and blank spaces. Then switch roles, and have your child create a number line, leaving off some labels for you to fill in.
Grade 4
Have your child identify real-world examples of right angles (the corner of a book) and parallel lines (railroad tracks).
Have your child compile a shapes scrapbook or create a collage of labeled shapes. Images can be taken from newspapers, magazines and photographs.
Help your child look up the population and land area of the state and city in which you live, and compare these facts with those of other states and cities.
Gather money from piggy banks or wallets. Ask your child to show you two different amounts, such as $1.33 and $4.20. Practice adding or subtracting the amounts.
Hide an object in a room of your house, and give your child directions for finding it. Your child can move only according to your directions, and the directions can be given only in fractions or degrees. For example, say “Make a ¼ turn and walk 3½ steps. Now, turn 180° and walk 4 steps.” Switch roles and have your child hide an object and give you directions to find it.
Make a game of identifying and classifying angles: acute (less than 90°), obtuse (between 90° and 180°), right (90°), straight (180°), and reflex (between 180° and 360°) in everyday things (buildings, bridges, ramps, furniture).
Encourage your child to recognize how probability is used in everyday situations, such as weather reports. Have your child make a list of things that could never happen, things that might happen, and things that are sure to happen.
Help your child draw a scale map of your city, town, neighborhood, or have your child do a scale drawing of the floor plan of your home.
Have your child look for everyday uses of fractions and percents. Look in games, grocery stores, cookbooks, measuring cups, and newspapers. When finding fractions, decimals, or percents, ask your child to change them from one form to another. For example, if you see “¼ off”, ask your child to tell what percent is equal to ¼ (25%).
During trips in the car, let your child know how far you will be traveling and the approximate speed you’ll be moving at. Ask your child to estimate about how long it will take to get to your destination.
When grocery shopping, ask your child to help you find the “best buy” by comparing the cost per unit (ounce, gram, each) of different package sizes. For example, compare the cost of a family-size box of cereal with the cost of a regular-size box.
Grade 5
To learn more about population data and its uses, visit the Web site for the U.S. Bureau of the Census at www.census.gov. Talk about interesting pieces of information that he or she learned.
Find a map of your state and ask your child to use the scale to find the distance from a particular city to another city.
Identify percents used in stores, newspapers, and magazines. Help your child find the sale price of an item that is discounted by a percent. For example, a $40 shirt discounted by 25% will cost $30.
Have your child practice adding fractional parts of a hour with a digital clock. Ask questions, such as “What time will it be an hour and a half from now? What was the time a quarter of an hour ago?”
Use a deck of cards to practice comparing fractions. Use only the number cards 2 through 9. Each player is dealt two cards and creates a fraction using one card as the numerator and one card as the denominator. The player with the greater fraction takes all four cards.
When at a store, reinforce percents by pointing out discounts and asking your child to figure out the sale price. If, for example, a sign shows “40% off,” select an item, round the price to the nearest dollar, and help your child calculate the savings.
Have your child draw a picture using rectangles, parallelograms, and triangles. Once completed, work together to find the area of each shape, and write it inside each shape. Ask your child, “What do you notice about the size of the area and the size of the shape?”
Draw several circles and ask your child to find the radius, diameter, and circumference of each. Cut them out and make a design.
In a parking lot, select a row or section and count the number of cars parked in that section. Ask how many of those cars in that section are red. Have your child determine the ratio of red cars to the number of cars parked in that section.
Grade 6
Scan the paper or magazines for graphs, and discuss with your child whether the information presented seems accurate or intentionally misleading. Analyze and discuss the statistics with your child to make it more meaningful.
Have your child mentally calculate a tip from a restaurant bill. For example, if the bill is $25 and you intend to tip 15%, have your child go through the following mental algorithm: 10% of $25 is $2.50. Half of $2.50 (5%) is $1.25. $2.50 (10%) + $1.25 (5%) would be a tip of $3.75 (15%). The total amount to pay would be $28.75.
Look through the paper for examples of number-and-word notation such as 7.5 million or 1.5 trillion, and ask your child to write the number in standard notation (7,500,000 or 1,500,000,000).
When cooking in large quantities, ask your child to double or triple the amounts in your recipes. Watch to make sure that your child does the math for every ingredient. Or, halve a recipe if you need to make a smaller amount.
While driving in the car together, direct your child to look for congruent figures (two or more figures with the same size and shape). Windows in office buildings, circles on stop lights, and so on, can all represent congruent figures.
Draw a number line from - 5 to 5 with sidewalk chalk outside. Give your child addition or subtraction problems with positive and negative numbers. Have your child solve the problems by walking to the numbers while explaining his or her thinking.
While playing a game that uses a die, keep a tally sheet of the total number of times you roll the die and how many times a certain number is rolled. For example, find how many times during the game that the number 5 comes up. Have your child write the probability for the chosen number. The probability is the number of times the chosen number came up over the number of times the die was rolled during the game. The probability will be close to 1/6.
Try with your child to identify events that occur without dependence on any other event. Guide your child to see the different between dependent events and random events. For example, “Will Uncle Mike come for dinner?” depends on whether or not he got his car fixed. However, “Will I get HEADS when I flip this coin?” depends on no other event.
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