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Everyday math:
Helping your junior high schooler master mathematics
How important will math skills be during the 21st
century? Mathematics Equals Opportunity, a report
published by the U.S. Department of Education, sums it
up: "In the United States today, mastering mathematics
has become more important than ever. Students with a
strong grasp of mathematics have an advantage in
academics and in the job market. The eighth grade is a
critical point in mathematics education. Achievement at
that stage clears the way for students to take rigorous
high school mathematics and science courses—keys to
college entrance and success in the labor force."
To make sure children have the math skills to take on
the challenges of college and the world outside of
school, all New York students are now required to pass
at least one Regents in math to graduate from high
school. Junior high schoolers are tested at the end of
eighth grade to ensure they are prepared to meet this
requirement. Many districts are also giving a variety of
other math tests during the years that state tests are
not required.
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Creating a climate for math
learning at home
For kids to learn to like math and understand its
practical uses, they need to practice what they know
every day. Here are some easy at-home activities that
can help bolster your children’s knowledge and success
with math:
Be positive about math. You don’t have to be a
math whiz to help your children develop positive
attitudes about the subject. Simply sitting with them
and helping out when math homework seems difficult can
go a long way toward getting them to believe in their
mathematical abilities. Junior high is a time when
children begin to seriously define who they are and
learn about what they are skilled at. Success with math
now can create a positive attitude about future
learning. Get excited about what they are learning, help
them ferret out the answers. If you have trouble with
terms or need a math primer yourself, there are many Web
sites that offer help, such as
mathforum.org/dr.math/.
Ask your children’s teachers what’s being taught in
school and how you can help reinforce it at home.
Help them see math’s connection to their daily lives.
Math becomes more meaningful when kids see how important
it is to everyday living. We all use math every day:
banking, shopping for groceries, calculating how much
paint is needed to cover the living room walls. Every
sport uses numbers, whether for scoring, determining
averages or figuring percentages. Artists use shapes and
figures and need to understand ratios (fractions) when
mixing materials like paint. Help your budding chef see
the usefulness of math when measuring ingredients or
doubling a recipe. Math skills are also put to practical
use when spacing new plants or figuring out how many
plants to grow in order to have enough tomatoes for
homemade pasta sauce.
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Help your children understand the basics. Just
because they’ve been practicing basic math skills for
many years doesn’t mean they have mastered them.
Children need a firm grip on the basics to be successful
with the higher math they’ll study in junior and senior
school. If your children have difficulty figuring math
in their heads, encourage them to work problems through
on scrap paper or with the help of math counters. Flash
cards are a quick and easy way to help a struggling
learner get a grip on addition, multiplication and
fractions. Puzzles, like tangrams, are great for
reinforcing shapes and size. Teaching supply stores and
online sources like
www.lakeshorelearning.com and
www.etacuisenaire carry a variety of these supplies. If
you are uncertain about what types of materials are best
for helping your children learn, ask their teachers for
suggestions.
Sneak in a little math practice on vacation. On
your next trip, pack a variety of board and card games
that are great for reinforcing basic math skills. Having
your children help calculate the distance between home
and your destination(s) or gas mileage are also great
on-the-road math activities.
Have your children open a bank account. Most
banks provide literature aimed at helping teach children
to manage their money. The Web site
www.kidsbank.com is an online
resource that provides a kid-friendly primer on banking.
Capitalize on your pre-teens’ desire to shop till
they drop. Use the sale flyers from the Sunday paper
to teach your children about comparison shopping. Math
skills will also help them understand just how much of
their hard-earned money they’ll have to fork over for a
new pair of jeans or sneakers.
Show the importance of math for career choices.
Many jobs that once required little background in math
now call for specific skills in algebra, geometry,
measurement, probability and statistics. Virtually all
of the fastest growing and highest paying professions
listed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics require a
strong knowledge of math. How do you and other adults
you know use math in your job each day? Think it over
and let your kids know.
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Math resources for families
http://chamberlin.sbschools.net/users/twhiteford/gender.htm
This Web site is designed
specifically to help junior high school and high school
girls excel at math.
www.figurethis.org/
Mathematical challenges for families provide interesting
math challenges that junior high students can do at home
with their families.
Why Do Buses Come in Threes? The Hidden Mathematics
of Everyday Life by Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham
Books about mathematical ideas
for kids
The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by
Hans Magnus Enzensberger.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.
Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland: A
Math Adventure and Sir Cumference and the Dragon
of Pi: A Math Adventure by Cindy Neuschwander.
The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat
and
Fractals, Googols and Other Mathematical Tales by
Theoni Pappas.
Math Trek: Adventures in the Math Zone and
Math Trek 2: A Mathematical Space Odyssey by Ivars
Peterson.
G Is for Googol: A Math Alphabet Book by David
Schwartz.
The Man Who Counted: A Collection of Mathematical
Adventures by Malba Taha.
The Grapes of Math: Mind Stretching Math Riddles
by Greg Tang.
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