I visited all first, second, third, and fourth grade classrooms today at Island Avenue and Ryerson Schools encouraging students to have a “mathematical summer” by taking advantage of our “Summer Math Fun Packet,” posted on all of our elementary school websites. Click on Summer Math Fun: Put Some Math In Your Summer! to go directly to these fun math activities.
Here’s the letter to families that accompanies the Summer Math Fun Packet:
June 2009
Dear Parents and Families,
Summertime is a great time to help children investigate mathematical concepts, as well as to revisit basic math facts, in a variety of exciting ways. Playing board games, telling math stories, and using technology are just a few fun ways to help our students retain their number sense and to further develop their fact fluency.
The National Mathematics Advisory Panel released a report stating, “Students should develop immediate recall of arithmetic facts to free the working memory for solving more complex problems.” In addition to challenging problem solving, emphasis on recall of basic arithmetic facts is also valued in our elementary schools. To give your child a head start on mastery of fact fluency—or to retain fluency of facts already achieved, you will find many strategies, games, and related websites in this packet. Learning math facts does not have to be just quizzes and workbook pages. Playing games is an excellent way to develop fact fluency.
Brain research indicates that ability in mathematics should be looked at as less of a talent and more of as a result of hard work and continued practice. This research supports the belief that confidence in math, and thus prowess and talent, can be developed through exposure, practice, and effort.
Please make a commitment to your child’s developing math sense this summer by trying some of these marvelous math activities—and have fun in the process!
As you do this, please complete the form, “Ten Ways I Practiced Math During the Summer” (contained herein), with your child and return this to the Math Specialist at your elementary school at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year.
Happy Learning! Best wishes for a safe, fun-filled, mathematical summer!
Ruth W. Rose
Math Specialist
Island Avenue and Ryerson Schools
roser@madison.k12.ct.us
Visit my Educational Blog at: http://blogs.madisonct.org/roser
You can also access the Summer Math Fun Packet by clicking on “Summer Math Fun” on the banner of this blog!
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