STRATEGIES & SHORTCUTS FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS Research shows that math is one of the hardest subjects to learn and retain, so it is important to exercise good study habits and remember that math is best learned by doing. This means working on skills daily with your child. Think of how pyramids are built—a large, stable base supports an increasingly narrow structure. This is how math works. Skills learned as a child never are forgotten or tossed aside. They may not be thought of in the same visual way with apples for arithmetic and pizzas for fractions, but they still are relied upon heavily. “Math is one of those subjects where each lesson is built upon the lesson before,” says Richard E. Bavaria, Ph.D., vice president of education for Sylvan Learning Center. “It is important for children, whether they are in grade school, middle school or high school, to stay engaged in their math lessons every single day.” Here are a few strategies and shortcuts to help your younger child get ahead in the math classroom. Don’t Fall Behind How can students learn new concepts if they don’t master the ones that precede the new material? This is especially important with younger children. Practice with your child at home on a daily basis, and provide incentives for your child to complete extra work. Encourage Participation in the Classroom It always is important to ask questions, but with the added pressure of building base skills, the importance multiplies. Confusion in a math class could mean your child is missing out on vital life skills. Not only will he become discouraged in class, but his frustration could extend outside of school as well. “By actively participating in class, a child’s skills or lack of skills become more evident to the teacher,” Dr. Bavaria says. “Teachers are trained to listen and make an assessment based on what children have to say.” Remind your child that every question is worth asking, and use this as an opportunity to build confidence if his participation in class is a problem. Students who ask questions prove their dedication to their teachers. If your child has thought of a new way to visualize or solve a problem, encourage him to share it with his teacher. “When children talk about something they are learning, they are giving themselves another opportunity to cement the concept in their mind,” Dr. Bavaria says. Nightly Practice Flashcards are useful for young children. When playing Trivial Pursuit or another game that is too complicated for your child, let him use flashcards with categories such as fractions, decimals, the number line, multiplication, subtraction and so on. Study time is a good opportunity for family fun at this age. Real World Practice Let your child count the money when ordering at a fast food restaurant or ice cream shop. If your child is working on telling time or measurement, give her a watch with a second hand and have her time the red lights while you are driving. Act Out the Problem New concepts are easier for young children to learn if they have something physical to work with. Fruit is good for adding and subtracting small numbers. Small pieces of candy are manageable for larger numbers. Probability problems are especially conducive to this type of study. Flip a coin, roll dice or pull pieces of colored paper out of a hat to illustrate this skill. Perseverance Never let your child give up. If the correct answer escapes your child’s grasp, try an easier problem of the same type before coming back to the difficult one. Don’t be afraid to break the problem into smaller parts, and if that doesn’t help, re-write the problem or try to think of it in a different context. Visualize a real-life situation where your child would encounter a similar problem. By Jamie L. Scheppers K-5 Worksheet 1. What do the numbers 5, 10, 15, and 20 have in common? 2. Jack has 2 quarters and 3 nickels. How much money does he have? 3. Stan’s watch says it’s 6:45 p.m. right now. If the movie doesn’t start for 45 minutes, what time does the movie start? 4. Angela, Beth, Cathy and Dana are in line to buy gum. Dana is in front of Cathy and Beth is in front of Angela. If Beth is not first and Angela is not last, what order are the girls standing in? 5. What is the probability of throwing a 1, 2, or 3 on a fair 6-sided die? 6. How many cuts are needed to divide a pizza into 4 equal pieces? 7. Julie starts with ½ of a pizza. If her friend Bob eats ½ of that, how much is left for Julie? Answers 1. They are all multiples of 5. (5 x 1, 5 x 2, 5 x 3, 5 x 4) 2. Answer: 65¢ 3. 7:30 p.m. (Use a clock to explain if necessary, but try to visualize without one for older children.) 4. From front to back: Dana, Beth, Angela and Cathy. This one is difficult, but it is a good candidate for acting out. If enough people aren’t available, try writing the names on separate pieces of paper and rearranging them until all conditions are met. 5. ½ or 50% Skill: Probability = number of favorable outcomes / number of possible outcomes 6. 2 Order pizza and act out the problem if your child is having trouble understanding this. 7. ¼