There are several ways for parents to support their children at home with math concepts being taught in school. Below are some of these ways that do not involve worksheets or the use of a device.
Kindergarten
- Count objects such as jellybeans in a bowl, pennies in a jar, cheerios in a baggie, etc.
- Find numbers on common objects such as license plates, highway signs, price tags, clothing, etc.
- Practice counting with your student while doing various activities-driving in the car, jumping rope, waiting in line at a store, etc. Challenge your student to start counting at a given number, such as 13 or 28.
- Use cards to compare numbers (remove the face cards). Have each player take a card; identify who has more, less, or if the values are equal.
- Use a popsicle stick to represent a ten and beans to represent ones. Using a deck of cards, give your child a 10 card, and draw another number card, then add the numbers together and show the number with sticks and beans.
- Walk from one end of the kitchen to the other and count how many steps, then show how many steps were taken with sticks and beans.
- Use cereal pieces to solve the following problem: Mason has 10 pieces of cereal. He eats 4 pieces. How many pieces are left?
- Go on a shape hunt outside, ask your student to name the shapes of doors, windows, bicycle wheels, etc.
- Ask your student to identify the shapes of various road signs while traveling in the car.
- Talk with your student about the various shapes of items packaged in the grocery store.
- Build with blocks. Discuss what shapes were used to create the structure.
- Look around your home for solid shapes. Name at least 3 solid shapes.
- Look around your home for flat shapes. Draw at least three of the shapes.
- Trace your foot with chalk outside. Trace a friend’s or family member’s foot, too. Who has a longer foot? Who has a shorter foot?
- Sort a bag of candy by color. Count each color. What color has the most? What color has the least?
- Get three different cups. Put them in order from shortest to tallest.
- Sort the mail by name. Who has the least amount of mail? Who has the most amount of mail?
- Find 3 objects in the home that are shorter than your hand.
First Grade
- Count objects such as jellybeans in a bowl, pennies in a jar, cheerios in a baggie, etc.
- Estimate and then count a given number of objects.
- Find numbers in newspapers, magazines, or on items around the house.
- Practice counting forwards and backwards starting at any given number within 120 while doing various activities-driving in the car, jumping rope, waiting in line at a store, etc.
- Divide a deck of cards evenly between players. Each player flips over a card, the player with the highest card wins the cards. Continue until one player has all cards in the deck.
- Put different items into groups and talk about which group has more or less items using the terms greater than and less than.
- Roll 2 or 3 dice with single digit numbers and add them together. (Example 4 + 2 or 4 + 2 + 1)
- Roll 2 dice to create a 2-digit number and record it. Roll 1 die and add it to the 2-digit number you created. (Example: 47 + 6)
- Add all the digits of your house number together.
- Make a train with Legos or colored blocks. Write a number sentence for the different colors in the train.
- Add the price of two items at a store.
- Go on a shape hunt outside, ask your student to name the shapes of doors, windows, bicycle wheels, etc. Ask how your child knows that the door is rectangle and not a square or triangle.
- Ask your student to identify the shapes of various road signs while traveling in the car.
- Talk with your student about the various shapes of items packaged in the grocery store.
- Build with blocks. Discuss what shapes were used to create the structure.
- While playing board games, discuss why a die can only have 6 numbers on it.
- Measure the length of various items around the house using different objects (crayons, pennies, etc.).
- Use different objects (pennies, beads, etc.) to measure your family members’ hands or feet.
- Keep track of your child’s growth each month by measuring his/her height using standard and non-standard units of measurement.
- Use an analog clock to show the time to the hour and half-hour.
- Show your child the time on an analog clock and have them write what the time would look like on a digital clock.
- Talk with your child about specific times that activities occur – eating breakfast, going to school, dinner time, bed time, etc.
Second Grade
First Grade
- Count objects such as jellybeans in a bowl, pennies in a jar, cheerios in a baggie, etc.
- Estimate and then count a given number of objects.
- Find numbers in newspapers, magazines, or on items around the house.
- Practice counting forwards and backwards starting at any given number within 120 while doing various activities-driving in the car, jumping rope, waiting in line at a store, etc.
- Divide a deck of cards evenly between players. Each player flips over a card, the player with the highest card wins the cards. Continue until one player has all cards in the deck.
- Put different items into groups and talk about which group has more or less items using the terms greater than and less than.
- Roll 2 or 3 dice with single digit numbers and add them together. (Example 4 + 2 or 4 + 2 + 1)
- Roll 2 dice to create a 2-digit number and record it. Roll 1 die and add it to the 2-digit number you created. (Example: 47 + 6)
- Add all the digits of your house number together.
- Make a train with Legos or colored blocks. Write a number sentence for the different colors in the train.
- Add the price of two items at a store.
- Go on a shape hunt outside, ask your student to name the shapes of doors, windows, bicycle wheels, etc. Ask how your child knows that the door is rectangle and not a square or triangle.
- Ask your student to identify the shapes of various road signs while traveling in the car.
- Talk with your student about the various shapes of items packaged in the grocery store.
- Build with blocks. Discuss what shapes were used to create the structure.
- While playing board games, discuss why a die can only have 6 numbers on it.
- Measure the length of various items around the house using different objects (crayons, pennies, etc.).
- Use different objects (pennies, beads, etc.) to measure your family members’ hands or feet.
- Keep track of your child’s growth each month by measuring his/her height using standard and non-standard units of measurement.
- Use an analog clock to show the time to the hour and half-hour.
- Show your child the time on an analog clock and have them write what the time would look like on a digital clock.
- Talk with your child about specific times that activities occur – eating breakfast, going to school, dinner time, bed time, etc.
Second Grade
First Grade
- Count objects such as jellybeans in a bowl, pennies in a jar, cheerios in a baggie, etc.
- Estimate and then count a given number of objects.
- Find numbers in newspapers, magazines, or on items around the house.
- Practice counting forwards and backwards starting at any given number within 120 while doing various activities-driving in the car, jumping rope, waiting in line at a store, etc.
- Divide a deck of cards evenly between players. Each player flips over a card, the player with the highest card wins the cards. Continue until one player has all cards in the deck.
- Put different items into groups and talk about which group has more or less items using the terms greater than and less than.
- Roll 2 or 3 dice with single digit numbers and add them together. (Example 4 + 2 or 4 + 2 + 1)
- Roll 2 dice to create a 2-digit number and record it. Roll 1 die and add it to the 2-digit number you created. (Example: 47 + 6)
- Add all the digits of your house number together.
- Make a train with Legos or colored blocks. Write a number sentence for the different colors in the train.
- Add the price of two items at a store.
- Go on a shape hunt outside, ask your student to name the shapes of doors, windows, bicycle wheels, etc. Ask how your child knows that the door is rectangle and not a square or triangle.
- Ask your student to identify the shapes of various road signs while traveling in the car.
- Talk with your student about the various shapes of items packaged in the grocery store.
- Build with blocks. Discuss what shapes were used to create the structure.
- While playing board games, discuss why a die can only have 6 numbers on it.
- Measure the length of various items around the house using different objects (crayons, pennies, etc.).
- Use different objects (pennies, beads, etc.) to measure your family members’ hands or feet.
- Keep track of your child’s growth each month by measuring his/her height using standard and non-standard units of measurement.
- Use an analog clock to show the time to the hour and half-hour.
- Show your child the time on an analog clock and have them write what the time would look like on a digital clock.
- Talk with your child about specific times that activities occur – eating breakfast, going to school, dinner time, bed time, etc.
Second Grade
- Skip count when counting groups of nickels and dimes.
- Count in a pattern while doing a rhythmic or repeated task – stirring pancake batter, brushing hair, putting away groceries, walking.
- Represent two digit numbers with popsicle sticks – make bundles of ten for the tens and use single sticks for the ones.
- Roll dice to make two or three digit numbers with a partner. See who can make the larger number.
- Add all of the digits of your house number together.
- Roll single-digit numbers and add them together.
- Roll 2-digit or 3-digit numbers and add them together.
- Roll two dice to make a two-digit number. Subtract it from 99 or 100.
- Add all the digits of your house number together.
- Make a train with Legos or colored blocks. Write a number sentence for the different colors in the train.
- Represent two digit numbers with popsicle sticks – make bundles of ten for the tens and use single sticks for the ones. Add the piles together.
- Use small items (counters, beans, small toys) to represent number sentences. Use index cards to make +, -, <, >, and = symbols. Show a number sentence with a missing element: 7 + ___ = 12. Have your student find the missing addend.
- Add the price of two items at a store.
- Compare gas prices to find the lowest amount.
- Look at a TV guide and locate the time a favorite show starts. Have your child find that time on an analog clock.
- Look through an ad in the paper to locate an item your child would want (less than $10.00). Have your child count out that much money, then ask them to make the change from a $10.00 bill.
- Have your child pick out two or three items in an ad, then add the amounts together to see how much the items would cost altogether.
- Give your child various amounts of money to count, using dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies.
- Estimate the lengths of various objects around the house, such as a table, a book, a toothbrush, etc. Next, measure the same objects using a ruler with inches and centimeters to compare the estimate to the actual length.
- Measure the four sides of a square or rectangular table using inches, and then add the four sides together to find the total length of all 4 sides.
- Measure two different book lengths using centimeters. Compare the two lengths and determine how much longer one book is than the other.
- Survey various family members about their favorite sport, color, ice cream flavor, or pizza topping. Create a bar graph to show the data.
- Look for 2-D and 3-D shapes around your house and community.
- Compare 2-D and 3-D shapes. Look for the 2-D shapes that make up the 3-D shapes.
- Talk about the shapes of foods that are eaten. For example, oranges are spheres.
- Talk about the shapes of containers in stores. For example, cans are cylinders and boxes are rectangular prisms or cubes.
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