Leaders can support
teachers in creating
and implementing fun,
schoolwide events
that increase parental
involvement in—and
discourse about—
students’ math education.
Copyright © 2014 The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc. www.nctm.org. All rights reserved.
This material may not be copied or distributed electronically or in any other format without written permission from NCTM.
2014 Focus Issue:
Building a
Math Village:
Developing Partnerships
among School, Home,
and Community
Family
Game
Nights
By Stephanie Kessinger
FUSE/THINKSTOCK
R
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esearch shows that children’s home environment and
their parents’ expectations, aspirations, and beliefs can
greatly affect their attitudes toward mathematics and level
of achievement (Fan 2001; Sheldon and Epstein 2005).
Furthermore, parental involvement at school can result in higher
levels of student academic achievement (Lee and Bowen 2006).
In fact, one study found a significant correlation between parental involvement in children’s early years of educational development and their long-term achievement (Barnard 2004). Therefore,
encouraging parental involvement can have beneficial results in
the development of children’s positive mathematical dispositions
and, in turn, their academic achievement. Note, however, that some
parental involvement can be detrimental to the aforementioned
goals. Parents who lack the necessary content knowledge to properly assist children may supply incorrect information or strategies;
other parents, wanting to ease their children’s (and their own) level
of frustration, may provide answers rather than scaffolding the children’s processes.
Vol. 21, No. 3 | teaching children mathematics • October 2014
147
So, how can we, as educators, increase
parental involvement while ensuring positive
results? How can we assist parents in beginning
discourse with their children and effectively
engaging with them at home? As a teacher
leader, I have worked with my colleagues to
create and implement schoolwide events in an
attempt to increase parents’ involvement, content knowledge, and ability to hold discourse.
To assist their children accurately, certainly
parents must have an understanding of the
content knowledge. However, they also need
the tools to talk to their children about math.
To supply the necessary tools and materials for
parents to begin holding a positive discourse
with their children, our school holds family
game nights. These evenings offer parents a
fun, stress-free environment in which to begin
meaningful mathematical conversations with
their children.
Why host a family game night?
Formal schoolwide functions (e.g., PTA meetings) intimidate some parents, who may be less
nervous participating in an event that includes
their whole family. Because we invited the entire
school community to our game night, more
parents could attend (they had no need to find a
babysitter). Moreover, students, wanting to play
games with their friends, were more likely to
pressure their parents to attend. We hoped that
many parents who had never attended a school
event before would be willing to attend the game
night. This past spring, we had 124 students
(approximately 29.5 percent of our population)
and 117 parents in attendance.
Holding game nights at your school can
positively influence parents, students, and
teachers alike, as well as the overall school
community. Parents begin to gain knowledge
of their children’s strengths and weaknesses
as mathematicians, not only through one-onone games but also through observing other
children at play. Additionally, as teachers play
games with families, they model various questioning techniques for the parents and show
how to initiate discourse with their children.
While playing math games with their children,
parents are also reinforcing the importance of
the mathematics discipline to their children,
emphasizing their desire for their children to
achieve. Other benefits for students include
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October 2014 • teaching children mathematics | Vol. 21, No. 3
A mother and daughter played Compare My
Number to build understanding of place value.
building content and conceptual knowledge,
practicing procedures, and gaining fact fluency.
Preparing for the event
If you are overwhelmed by the prospect of a
schoolwide game night, start small. Running
a game night for one grade level (particularly
your own) makes it easier to gather and prepare
materials, publicize the event, and garner a high
level of student and parent buy-in. A smaller
scale also allows for easy reflection on successful aspects of the event and areas that need
improvement. I originally held a game night
for my third graders, reflected on positives and
negatives of the event, and used what I learned
to then run the schoolwide experience.
To get started, have your colleagues help you
compile a large number of quality games. Each
grade level should have at least five games from
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STEPHANIE KESSINGER (2)
which to choose. The younger the students, the
more games you will want on hand, as these
families seem more likely to attend. We had a
significantly higher population of kindergartners attend than students at any other grade
level. This year, we are increasing to eight or
nine games to offer at their grade level. Games
should cover a large range of concepts and
skills, allowing students who struggle with one
concept to take a break and visit a different skill
to boost confidence and experience success.
Although you should select games for specific grade levels, allow students to play any
game they choose. Lower-level games will build
confidence in struggling students, and higherlevel games will challenge them. Be aware that
some students will choose the “easy” games
and may need some scaffolding to attempt a
more difficult game. Choose a few games that
students already know and some their parents
will have to teach them. Students love teaching games to their parents, as it makes them
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feel knowledgeable; but having parents and
students learn games together offers time for
relationship building. Each game should last
a short period (approximately ten minutes).
We found that games like Multiplication Bingo
resulted in students staying at one center for
too long—and missing out on other quality
games. Make sure to choose games that can
lead to a mathematical discussion between
parent and child. Although fact building is
important, remember to push conceptual
games and development. For example, in
Multiplication War, each player flips over two
cards, and then the players compare their
product. This fact-building game is great for
skill building but must be elevated to a higher
level by asking the right questions. Model for
parents how to ask about their children’s process and reasoning, expressing the importance
of children explaining how they determined an
answer. By asking, “How did you find six times
seven?” parents see firsthand how deep their
children’s understanding goes and how this
type of question can lead to higher-level thinking. You could also model how to assist children
when they are struggling to find an answer—
scaffolding their thinking without giving away
the answer. For example, if a child struggles to
find six times seven, you could remind them
of a strategy they have used in the past—such
as using a fact they do know to find a fact they
do not know: “I know you recall what five times
seven is, or five groups of seven; how can you
Preparing a neat, organized table with all the
necessary materials allows for an evening of
fun! This table was set for a multiplication
fact review game and included calculators.
Vol. 21, No. 3 | teaching children mathematics • October 2014
149
use that fact to solve six times seven?” We want
parents to see the importance of creating an
open dialogue about mathematics at home and
the ease in getting students talking.
We found that students and parents enjoyed
games involving skills in which they were
confident. A popular game for students, FiveQuestion Geometry, in which players try to
determine which three-dimensional polygon
is “it” in five questions or less, was less popular
with parents. I believe that the use of vocabulary (e.g., faces, edges, apex, etc.) at this station
intimidated parents; we will include a definitions page this year.
Ask students to sort shapes on the basis of
a certain attribute—such as the number of
vertices, edges, or faces—and ask them to note
similarities and differences between shapes:
• What do you notice about the number of
vertices, edges, and faces of a cube and
rectangular prism?
• What makes them similar and different?
• How is an apex different from a right corner?
F IGURE 1
One of our favorite games, Name That Number (or Target Number), can be differentiated
for any number of players and ability levels.
One player shuffles a deck of cards, having
When playing the Target Number game (aka Name That
Number), students ideally use mental math to find a given
number in more than one way, increasing their number sense
and flexibility.
Target number: 10
A player’s cards:
7
5
8
2
7 + 5 − 2 = 10
(3 points)
7 + 5 + 8 − 10 = 10
(4 points)
10
Some possible solutions:
8 + 2 = 10
150
(2 cards used; 2 points)
October 2014 • teaching children mathematics | Vol. 21, No. 3
removed the jacks, queens, and kings. He deals
four cards to each player (or pair), and places
one card, the “target number,” where all players
can see it. Players then work to add, subtract,
multiply, or divide their four numbers to get to
the target number (see fig. 1). You might want
students in early grades to use only two cards to
find the target number or to use only addition
or only subtraction. Ideally, students will use
mental math during this game, but some students may prefer to use a white board or paper
to record their thinking. Players announce their
number sentences as they find them, receiving a point for each card they use. Each player
should listen and check other players’ work.
Having students find the given number
in more than one way (see fig. 1) increases
their number sense and flexibility. Higherlevel questions could include asking students
to record their steps using the appropriate
parentheses and notation, asking students to
prove various solution equivalents, or even
asking them to compare solutions: How is your
solution similar to how Jack solved the problem? For example, 8 + 2 must be equivalent to
7 + 5 − 2 because 5 − 2 is 3; therefore, you have
8 + 2 and 7 + 3, and 8 is one more than 7, but 3 is
one more than 2, so 8 + 2 and 7 + 3 represent the
same amount.
Ask parent volunteers or your coworkers
to help type game directions into a specified
format, allowing for easy readability. Direction
sheets should contain the game’s title, objective (the skill or concept that playing the game
will practice), a list of materials, directions,
how to win, and differentiation options. After
everything is typed, upload the directions onto
the school website for teachers and parents to
download and use at their own discretion. Copy
the directions onto cardstock and laminate
them so they can be reused for future game
nights. Collect enough materials for at least six
players for each game, and place the materials
and directions in a large plastic bag.
A few weeks before the event, begin advertising with school fliers, listservs, at PTA meetings,
and during class. The more excited teachers are
about the event, the more likely students are
to try getting their families to attend. I spoke
at our school’s staff meeting, pushing the fact
that this event would help build stronger parent, teacher, and student relationships, and
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that teachers could learn some games that they
could use in their own classrooms.
Implementing math game nights
On the night of the event, set up the game area
so families have ample space to move from
game to game. Setting up tables in rows in our
gymnasium allowed for easy flow for our thirdthrough fifth-grade game night; we used cafeteria tables for our kindergarten through second
grade. Placing the tables in rows also allowed
us to easily point out games for each grade level
(row 1: grade 3, row 2: grade 4, etc.) Each table
was set up with chairs, a sign with the name of
the game, multiple copies of the directions, and
all the materials needed for at least six players.
If you are interested in specific game feedback,
leave a clipboard at each table with the name
of the game and three columns labeled I liked
it; I did not like it; I have no opinion. Instruct
parents to check off how they felt about the
game; this way you can weed out “bad” games
and replace them.
During the event, have someone greet families at the door and direct them to the correct
venue. Have parents sign in at the entrance
under their children’s grade level, listing their
name and their children’s names. This will give
you the data you need to determine which
grade levels were in attendance and which
grades need more buy-in. (Our school saw a
large number of kindergarten students but
hardly any fifth graders in attendance; we are
currently discussing ideas on how to motivate
more fifth graders to participate.)
While families are playing, teachers should
walk around, helping those who need assistance with understanding the directions
(directions in multiple languages will help),
encouraging students to try new or higher-level
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Vol. 21, No. 3 | teaching children mathematics • October 2014
151
STEPHANIE KESSINGER
Third-grade students investigated a fourth-grade game involving
estimating and measuring angles with protractors.
games, and getting feedback on the positives
and negatives of the games. Most important,
however, teachers should play the games with
the families, informally modeling questioning techniques to parents and how to begin a
dialogue with their children. Teachers should
emphasize the importance of discussing student strategies, processes, and conceptual
understanding. Teacher modeling is indirect
and nonintrusive to parents and is highly
beneficial for them to observe. Finally, this is a
great time to discuss with parents the changes
in mathematics education. Illustrate how children’s reasoning, process, and proof have taken
the forefront in education—although fact fluency is still important. We no longer ask simply,
“What is your answer?” but instead scaffold
students’ thinking:
•
•
•
•
How did you get your answer?
Can you solve it any other way?
Why does it work?
Is it always true?
Experiencing math together
Bridging the gap between school and home and
building parent involvement can be extremely
difficult. However, game nights offer a positive,
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October 2014 • teaching children mathematics | Vol. 21, No. 3
risk-free environment for parents and students
to experience mathematics together. While
students work to build procedural and conceptual understanding, practice fact fluency,
develop number sense, and build confidence,
parents begin to engage in discourse with their
children, learn about their children’s abilities,
and are given the tools (games) needed to
engage with their children at home. By observing teachers using appropriate higher-level
questioning techniques and strategies, parents
leave with a better understanding of what to
do and what not to do. Best of all, once parents
leave with a positive school experience, they
will be more willing to attend another school
event—perhaps a grade-level content course
for parents. Increasing parent involvement can
have considerable positive results for children,
including the development of a positive mathematics disposition and increased academic
achievement.
REF EREN C ES
Barnard, Wendy Miedel. 2004. “Parent Involvement in Elementary School and Educational
Attainment.” Children and Youth Services
Review 26 (1): 39−62. doi:http://dx.doi.org
/10.1016/j.childyouth.2003.11.002
Fan, Xitao. 2001. “Parental Involvement and
Students’ Academic Achievement: A Growth
Modeling Analysis.” The Journal of Experimental Education 70 (1): 27−61. doi:http://
www.jstor.org/stable/20152664
Lee, Jung-Sook, and Natasha K. Bowen. 2006.
“Parent Involvement, Cultural Capital, and
the Achievement Gap among Elementary
School Children.” American Educational
Research Journal 43 (2): 193−218. doi:http://
www.jstor.org/stable/3699418
Sheldon, Steven B., and Joyce L. Epstein. 2005.
“Involvement Counts: Family and Community
Partnerships and Mathematics.” The Journal
of Educational Research 98 (4): 196−206.
doi:http://www.jstor.org/stable/27548080
Stephanie Kessinger, stephanie
[email protected], is a fifthgrade teacher at Charles Barrett
Elementary School in Alexandria,
Virginia. She is a 2012 recipient of
the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.
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