After a long school year and hard work our students are looking forward to the summer break! But how can we prevent learning loss over the summer so they are ready for September?
We have some fun ways to incorporate math into your quiet summer days and to keep your students’ brains ready and working!
Math Based Books
Many schools focus on summer reading as a summer assignment but what if the books we choose also share a math element. These titles have math integrated into the story and help build number sense while keeping your child’s interest! Stanford has generated a list of math based books that are fun, colorful and engaging. Also check out, learnmath.com booklist for middle school and high school!
Math Based Games
Technology and gaming play a role in any kid’s summer break. Incorporating math practice, into some of these games and apps helps keep these skills fresh. The puzzle 2048 can be found on different apps for both apple and android. It has also been trending with middle school students! Another staple math game can be found on sudoku.com. These help with mental math and can fill waiting time, instead of scrolling through instagram! If your student loves playing story based or fantasy games they will enjoy the website and app Prodigy Math Game. This plays more like some of the roll playing games many children play on a gaming system, but the puzzles involved directly correlate to their grade level.
By incorporating math into everyday situations, reading, and gaming we can keep math skills ready and fresh over the long summer! The most important part with any activity over the summer is that it is low stress and fun while learning.
Math Around the House
Did you know your house is full of math word problems? In the summer time children are home a lot more. Give them an opportunity to use math in the same way you do around the house. “We are a family of four so how many boxes of pasta will we need if everyone wants two servings?” Multiplication! “How many packs of buns will we need for the fourth of July cook out?” Estimation! “We bought two dozen popsicles for 11 people. Will we have enough?” Subtraction! We know this may be simple for us to figure out quickly, but it is powerful to allow your child to work through problems like these ones. It helps them practice finding the correct operations for a word problem and build their confidence.