Beaches & Bedmas: Succeed In Math All Summer Long!
Math is Everywhere!
Math might not be as experimental as art, as fun as gym or as mind-blowing as science… but it’s still pretty awesome!
Students need to stop thinking of math as something that they will only use in the classroom: math is used in everyday life from cooking to fitness, home decor, landscaping, nursing, driving, etc.
Without math, how would teens learn to manage their money in order to purchase new phone Apps, go for dinner with their friends, or attend the summer’s best music festival?!
Math literacy is essential and there are endless practical ways that kids can apply math to everyday life: the trick is getting them to realize and appreciate that!
Math in The Summer
While summer learning loss has been shown to affect all areas, math skills are the hardest hit.
This might not come as a surprise because math is a tough subject for students and parents alike. Did you know that:
- 40% of parents feel their child has difficulty with math, or at best, are just getting by
- One-in-three parents are unable to help their teen with high school math
- Grade 6 students who fail math have less than a one-in-five chance of beginning Grade 12 on time
- Students can lose up to 2.6 grade levels in math over the summer
But, there are plenty of ways for children to keep their math skills active and avoid the summer brain drain. Studies have found that:
- Students can increase their math retention by 2/3 simply by doing 10 minutes of math per day in the summer
- Adding 10 minutes of math homework per day can lead to students’ lost progress in math dropping by 1/3
- Regular physical activity can lead to increased concentration and improved mathematics and test scores
Try these 10 tips to boost math know-how this summer!
~ with ideas from PBS and GreatSchools.org
- Dive into equations: When plunging into a pool, have your child calculate the volume and weight of the water and the rate at which the pool will fill or drain.
- Be a meteorologist: Track summer weather and convert daily temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit and monitor monthly rainfall.
- Show the relevance: Invite your child to help you prepare poolside treats. Encourage them to use measuring cups and proportion snacks into different size bowls.
- Connect Math & Language: If your child excells at language, then use that subject as a platform to help them excel in math. Give them picture books and nonfiction texts to read that focus on math.
- Turn errands into learning opportunities: While at the grocery store, have your child figure out which box of crackers is closest to the $2.50 price point and count the kiwis as they put them in the bag.
- Add some education to your road trips: Distract your child from asking “Are we there yet?!” by creating paper tickets that identify all the rest stops along the way, so they can practice time and distance on the ride there.
- Make your beach day mathematical: Have your child arrange their seashells into piles of 3 or 5, and use those piles as the basis for multiplication and subtraction activities.
- Note Numbers: Have your child pay close attention to numbers found on clocks, cereal boxes, the kitchen calendar and the local newspaper. Have them tell you how many articles are on page B4 of the paper and calculate how long they’ve been awake for.
- Pay close attention to menus: Whether you go out for dinner or order in, there’s bound to be a menu involved. Have your child pinpoint the price specific item, or list items that range between $10 and $15, or calculate how much a hamburger and a juice would cost.
- Change it up: Give your child a pile of coins–the bigger the assortment, the better! Have them find as many coin combinations as possible that equal the price of a beach ball.
Fun Math Resources
If your child has experienced difficulty with math throughout the year, then summer is a great time to fill in learning gaps, catch up and get ahead. Here are some fun resources that use math as an avenue to keep your child’s brain fit all summer long:
- Online Practice
- Check out a blog: Helpful for students, teachers and parents, Nat Banting’s “Musing Mathematically” blog expertly breaks down the subject into topics, provides resources for teachers (including fun games!), math-based books and more.
- Oxford Learning programs: Remember, Oxford Learning is here to help too! Our personalized math programs can help put an end to your and your child’s math frustration. From Grade 1 to Grade 12, our math programs provide comprehensive instruction that makes math fun. Oxford Learning can help you master basic numerical facts and operations, see the real-life relevance of math, understand math using familiar contexts, make the leap from concrete to abstract concepts, and use advanced thinking through timed challenges and problem-solving activities.
- Mathematical illustrations: Check out the clever and creative ways that Craig Damrauer uses summertime words to illustrate math and have your kids make their own fun, linguistic equations to discuss summer.
Math In The Summer
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