Monfredo: Beware of the Summer Slide, Loss of Math Skills Are Taking Place

Sunday, July 12, 2015

John Monfredo, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Last week my column centered on learning loss in the summer time better known as the “summer slide” and I mentioned what strategies parents can use for reading. This week’s column will be about math loss and strategies parents can use at home.

Again let me remind everyone that research shows that more than half of the achievement gap between lower and higher income youths can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. Many students lose about two months of grade-level equivalency in mathematical computation skills as well as reading skills during the summer months. Summer learning loss happens with all subjects, but math and literacy are often the biggest cause for concern. Without regular practice, these skills tend to diminish over the summer months, especially in high-poverty communities.
Please keep in mind that summer is one stealthy thief. In the two months that you’re your child spends kicking back with her friends; he could be losing valuable learning. Math concepts and skills are particularly vulnerable. The loss of math knowledge affects every child. According to researchers if your math skills are not practiced during the summer you lose math knowledge.

By and large the reason for the loss is that children don’t use much math in the summer time. Task like balancing the checkbook or comparing price while you shop are not part of a child’s day to day activities. Remember, math requires a student to follow carefully a specific set of steps and without someone reminding them they tend to forget.

So what can be done to prevent the loss of math skills? Here are some strategies to consider…

    •   Cook with your children. This is one of the best ways to integrate math, reading and following directions. Let your child design the menu too! Help your child put together their favorite recipes in a cookbook.
   •   Play fun math and word games that turn everyday household activities into learning opportunities. For example, have your kids add up prices at the grocery store and challenge them to tally up the final bill. When going on drives, ask them to look for certain shapes, colors, letters or words on billboards and signs
   •   Math War - Play quick games with flashcards like Math War or Concentration to keep math skills sharp.
   •   Help plan the family vacation. Get your teen involved calculating gas mileage, estimating costs, and even coordinating day trips to somewhere   she'd like to go.
   •   Work math into a favorite hobby. Into sports? Compare the statistics of two teams or players. Business? Practice investing in the stock market or create a summer budget. Music? Explore the fascinating connections between harmonics and math.
   •   All Star math…. Whether cheering for Red Sox on TV or watching other sports, games are a perfect time to practice math. Try out some of these questions to promote your child’s math skills:

-What shape is the field or court? How do you know?
-How many more points does the losing team need to catch up?
-How many players have scored points? What’s the average per player?
-How much time is left in this half (or quarter)? How much time is left in the game?
-If that player hits a three run homer, how many points will the team have altogether?

• How about card games? Do you have a budding card shark in your family? Take advantage of her interest in games by playing a math card challenge! There are only three rules to remember: Remove face cards from the deck.
The Ace represents 1… evenly deal a deck of cards between two players and each player places one card face up. The first person to call out the product (or sum/difference) of the two cards wins the hand. The player with the most cards in the end wins.

   •   One of the readers of this column and a math developer sent me the following: Here are two good math games to consider - “El Mathador: Grab Math by the Horns” and “Treasure Math: 4D” and both have free demo and full versions available for multiple platforms that can be found on this website
   •   Also, listed are a number of websites for parents to check out…
www.ixi.com/math
http://www.aplusmath.com
http://www.funbrain.com/tictactoe/index.html
http://www.mathwire.com
www.coolmath-games.com
www.mathfactcafe.com/games
www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/
mathmagiciancathymath.html
www.gideomathandreading.com or go on line and look for summer math activities
   •   Driving … While driving in the car have mental math fun by asking your child to multiply, add, or divide numbers and make it a game. Some other math activities you can do with your child in the car are… use a map scale of miles to estimate distances and travel times … how many miles per gallon does your care average on highways? In the city? … What are the highest and lowest gas prices you can find on your trip? How much money can you save by filling up your car at the lowest price? … License plate math is also a good one for try having the children add or subtract or multiply or divide the numbers you find on license plates. You can work with as many digits as you wish. For instance, you might treat the first number on a license as a divisor and the next three numbers as a three digit dividend. Remember to have fun with it!
   •   Then there is the Water Balloon Toss – Children love the water balloon toss! It can be a great way to practice math skills and cool off at the same time. Take turns throwing the balloon and challenging the other player with math facts. You might say, “4 x 6 = ?” When the other person catches the balloon, he or she must say the answer. Each time he or she answers correctly, the player must take a step backwards. How many equations can you solve before the balloon breaks?
   •   Tradition math …Of course there is still the math flash cards that can be done in the morning during breakfast time.
   •   Play Live Online Maths Games – Registered players on Calculation Nation, can practice fractions, factors and many other math topics against other students online, using this website run by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
The bottom line is that “Parents are their child’s first teachers,” and all parents have the ability to teach their children or guide them in the right direction.   Everyday activities can turn into “math lessons” so engage your child in a number of fun math activities and continue throughout the summer time. The results will pay off come this fall. Again, let me know how you make out and e-mail me at [email protected].