Pasadena Independent School District
Elementary Math & Science Specialists
Turn waiting time into
math time with this idea. Keep a
menu after you order at a restaurant
or takeout counter, and give your
youngster an amount she can
“spend.” How many meals can she
put together that stay within that
amount? Tip: Collect carryout menus
to try this at home, too.
When your child is reading science
textbooks, suggest this 3-2-1 strategy.
Have him jot down three things he
discovered, two things he found fascinating, and one question he still has.
Looking for facts and questions will
keep him focused on what he’s reading— and help him learn more.
The Grapes of Math (Greg Tang) is
filled with math riddles presented in
clever verses with eye-popping illustrations. Solving the puzzles is a fun
lesson in patterns, grouping, and
more.
Spark your youngster’s curiosity
with a look at 30 scientists. With
photos, facts, and timelines, Great
Scientists (Jacqueline Fortey) brings
fascinating discoveries to life.
“Wisdom begins in wonder.”
Socrates
What animal was the
first to visit
space?
The cow
that
jumped
over the
moon!
© 2010 Resources for Educators, a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
Does your child think multiplication is tricky? Share
these hands-on ways to learn
and practice the facts, and
he’ll find that multiplication
can be fun.
Learning multiplication
facts is easier when your
youngster can see them. Have
him build arrays— sets of numbers in rows and columns —
with small objects like beans
or buttons. Or he can use
stickers or draw small
pictures (smiley faces, houses).
For example, he might form 3 rows of
4 beans to show 3 x 4. Have him count
the total and say the fact (3 x 4 = 12).
Ask him to look at the array sideways ,
and he’ll see that 4 x 3 also equals 12.
Point out that each multiplication fact
has a “twin”— once he has learned half
the facts, he’ll know all of them! Idea:
Give each other problems, and make
arrays to find the answers.
Your child can practice multiplication
with this memory game. Make a set of
20 multiplication cards, using separate
index cards for each problem (6 x 7) and
each answer (42).
Mix up the problem and answer
cards, and place them facedown. Then,
take turns flipping over two cards at a
time. Keep the cards if the problem and
answer match. If they don’t, turn them
back over, and it’s the other person’s
turn. Continue until all the pairs are
taken. Whoever has captured the most
pairs wins. Tip: Make more cards, and
play again.
Your youngster will learn how energy is transferred
between objects with this simple outdoor activity.
Have her hold a small, light ball (tennis ball, rubber
ball) on top of a larger, heavier ball (basketball, soccer ball)
at waist height. She should put one hand on top of the
smaller ball and the other under the larger ball. Then,
tell her to let go of both balls at exactly the same
time.
When the big ball hits the ground, the smaller
ball will immediately bounce off it and fly high
into the air! This experiment demonstrates how kinetic energy (the energy of
motion) is transferred from the big ball to the little one.
Intermediate Edition
Example: “Tall tree in
a tropical rain forest.
Many trees nearby
for swinging. Plenty
of leaves, fruit,
seeds, nuts, insects,
and spiders available
for food.” (Answer:
monkey)
Just like people, animals need homes
that will provide them with shelter and
access to food and water — the basic
needs for survival. Help your youngster
think about this by taking turns choosing an animal and discussing where it
lives. Then, try these ideas.
Together, look at classified
ads for houses in a newspaper. Ask your
child to secretly choose an animal and write
an ad for its home. Can you figure out the animal? Swap roles, and write an ad for her to figure out.
How many quarts are in a gallon?
How many cups are in a pint? Here’s a
fun way to help your child remember
the relationships among liquid
measurements.
On a poster board, have him draw a
large outline of the letter G for gallon.
Inside the G, he should write four Qs to
show that four quarts are in a gallon. He
can put two Ps (two pints to a quart)
inside each Q and two Cs (two cups to a
pint) inside each P.
Next, have him use his “Big G” to figure out math problems. Example: The
recipe calls for 4 cups of milk. How many
pints should we buy? (2) Let your youngster make up questions for you, too.
To provide busy parents with practical ways to
promote their children’s math and science skills.
Resources for Educators,
a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
128 N. Royal Avenue • Front Royal, VA 22630
540-636-4280 • [email protected]
www.rfeonline.com
© 2010 Resources for Educators, a division of Aspen Publishers, Inc.
Let
your youngster pick an
animal and build a home
for it out of craft or natural
materials. For instance, she might make a model of a bear’s den
out of clay. She could set it on brown construction paper and
add trees made of clay and rocks from outside. Or she might
build a bird’s nest with twigs, leaves, string, and glue.
At back-to-school night, the
teacher said children should practice doing math problems in their heads.
How can we work on this at home?
Doing “mental math” is an important
lifelong skill. You might do math in your
head when you check that you got the
right change at the store, for example.
Look for everyday opportunities to help your child practice.
While shopping, suggest that she round off numbers to estimate the total. If two
items are $5.29 and $3.42, she can round them to $5.30 and $3.40 and think,
“Since $5 + $3 = $8 and 30 cents + 40 cents = 70 cents, the total is about $8.70.”
When you’re playing games like Scrabble or Yahtzee, make your youngster the
scorekeeper — but ask her to tally scores in her head and write only the totals. Or let
her be the banker for Monopoly or Life. She’ll get practice in counting money and
giving change.
Your youngster
might be surprised to find that drops of
water will stay on top of a penny. Show
him how.
You’ll need: pennies, paper towels,
medicine dropper, water
Here’s how: Ask your child to
predict how many drops of water
will fit on a penny before the water
runs off. To find out, he can place a
penny on a paper towel and use the
medicine dropper to add water,
one drop at a time. Have
him count the number of
drops the penny holds.
What happens? The water will rise
into a dome on the penny before eventually spilling over.
Why? Water molecules are attracted
to each other. This causes surface tension — a “skin” forms and holds
the water together. When the
dome gets too big, the surface
tension breaks, and the
water spills off.
Variation: Your youngster can repeat the experiment five times and
determine the average
number of drops held.