General Homework Tips
Getting Organized
1. Provide a study place. If possible, have the following materials readily available:
graph paper and notebook paper, ruler with both metric and standard units calculator (graphing calculator is preferred), and a dictionary.
2. Many children need assistance in organizing and maintaining a notebook. In student texts, there are few worked examples for students (or parent/guardians) to use as templates for solving similar problems. Student notebooks are an invaluable record of successful strategies and reflective summaries. This is a crucial part of your child's mathematical education, and an important aid to parents and guardians as well. Math binders are NOT to be cleaned out!! We will clean out the binders IN CLASS at the END of a module.
Our 5th grade math binders are organized as follows:
*Section 1- BELL WORK (keep each day's completed bell work)
*Section 2- FLUENCY (all yellow sprints should be kept here)
*Section 3- NOTES (each lesson's problem sets should be kept here)
*Section 4- HOMEWORK
*Section 5- GRADE SHEET (students keep a record of their individual grades)
3. Help remind your child to write down assignments, project due dates, quiz dates, and test dates in their school planner. Check to make sure that they are being used consistently and appropriately.
4. Help your child develop a system for taking meaningful notes. Frequently, note taking is taught during class, so it may just be a matter of seeing if your child is taking and using notes.
5. Encourage your child to identify study buddies or another math student they can call to work with on assignments, get clarification, find out about makeup work, etc.
6. Encourage and expect your child to get work done on time, to stay caught up, to get help in a timely manner, and to correct errors in work. You may want to help your child by going over incorrect or incomplete work and talk about how the work could be improved.
7. It is expected that middle school students know the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts as well as whole number computation. If your child is not proficient with these skills, help them master the needed skills.
Doing More Math at Home
1. Math is everywhere, yet many children don't see it. Look for ways to point out and reinforce math skills at home.
For example:
* talk about how you use math at work or in the home,
* involve your child in tasks that require computing, measuring,
estimating, building
* following directions
* problem solving and reasoning
* look for activities that require children to use their math skills such as building scale models, cooking, planning trips, and
playing logic games
2. Look for games and activities that teach and/or reinforce math and thinking.
For example, look for games that:
* require and develop skill with mental computation and estimation
* require players to use their math skills
* involve the development of strategies
* require players to think about the probability of certain
events occurring
* require the use of spatial visualization skills
* require logical thinking
3. When you see articles that have data that might interest your child (e.g., sports, statistics, data on teenage smoking, facts about natural disasters), share them and talk about what the numbers mean.
4. Share your problem-solving strategies and techniques, mental computation strategies, and estimation strategies. Have your children teach you some. Work on the same problem, then compare strategies as well as answers.
5. Invite your child to explain what was learned in math class or have them teach it to you. It provides and opportunity for children to help clarify their thinking, to practice new skills, and to practice communicating mathematically.
6. If your child has access to a computer, look for software that reinforces and teaches math concepts. Help your child learn to use math utilities such as spreadsheets and graphing programs. It would also be helpful to become familiar with Power Point Presentations and Prezi. You can go to prezi.com to learn more about them.
Getting Organized
1. Provide a study place. If possible, have the following materials readily available:
graph paper and notebook paper, ruler with both metric and standard units calculator (graphing calculator is preferred), and a dictionary.
2. Many children need assistance in organizing and maintaining a notebook. In student texts, there are few worked examples for students (or parent/guardians) to use as templates for solving similar problems. Student notebooks are an invaluable record of successful strategies and reflective summaries. This is a crucial part of your child's mathematical education, and an important aid to parents and guardians as well. Math binders are NOT to be cleaned out!! We will clean out the binders IN CLASS at the END of a module.
Our 5th grade math binders are organized as follows:
*Section 1- BELL WORK (keep each day's completed bell work)
*Section 2- FLUENCY (all yellow sprints should be kept here)
*Section 3- NOTES (each lesson's problem sets should be kept here)
*Section 4- HOMEWORK
*Section 5- GRADE SHEET (students keep a record of their individual grades)
3. Help remind your child to write down assignments, project due dates, quiz dates, and test dates in their school planner. Check to make sure that they are being used consistently and appropriately.
4. Help your child develop a system for taking meaningful notes. Frequently, note taking is taught during class, so it may just be a matter of seeing if your child is taking and using notes.
5. Encourage your child to identify study buddies or another math student they can call to work with on assignments, get clarification, find out about makeup work, etc.
6. Encourage and expect your child to get work done on time, to stay caught up, to get help in a timely manner, and to correct errors in work. You may want to help your child by going over incorrect or incomplete work and talk about how the work could be improved.
7. It is expected that middle school students know the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts as well as whole number computation. If your child is not proficient with these skills, help them master the needed skills.
Doing More Math at Home
1. Math is everywhere, yet many children don't see it. Look for ways to point out and reinforce math skills at home.
For example:
* talk about how you use math at work or in the home,
* involve your child in tasks that require computing, measuring,
estimating, building
* following directions
* problem solving and reasoning
* look for activities that require children to use their math skills such as building scale models, cooking, planning trips, and
playing logic games
2. Look for games and activities that teach and/or reinforce math and thinking.
For example, look for games that:
* require and develop skill with mental computation and estimation
* require players to use their math skills
* involve the development of strategies
* require players to think about the probability of certain
events occurring
* require the use of spatial visualization skills
* require logical thinking
3. When you see articles that have data that might interest your child (e.g., sports, statistics, data on teenage smoking, facts about natural disasters), share them and talk about what the numbers mean.
4. Share your problem-solving strategies and techniques, mental computation strategies, and estimation strategies. Have your children teach you some. Work on the same problem, then compare strategies as well as answers.
5. Invite your child to explain what was learned in math class or have them teach it to you. It provides and opportunity for children to help clarify their thinking, to practice new skills, and to practice communicating mathematically.
6. If your child has access to a computer, look for software that reinforces and teaches math concepts. Help your child learn to use math utilities such as spreadsheets and graphing programs. It would also be helpful to become familiar with Power Point Presentations and Prezi. You can go to prezi.com to learn more about them.