Fun With Numbers
Lower School Students Teach Their Parents a Thing or Two About Math
The new monthly HMJDS Parent Mini-Class Series kicked off last week with nearly a dozen Lower School students confidently demonstrating math games used in their classrooms to nearly 30 parent and grandparent participants.
In Fun With Numbers: Math Games in the Lower School, student-teachers and parent-learners explored the ways in which engaging experiences help teach critical concepts and prepare students to think like mathematicians and problem solvers.
A slideshow with accompanying audio, sharing highlights from the class, will be posted on the HMJDS website soon.
“It was sweet to see that even though the two kindergarten girls were playing a chess pawn wars game ‘against’ each other, they kept suggesting what would be a good move for their opponent to make.” —HMJDS Parent
Games have been used as a form of learning reinforcement for centuries. Math games relieve the boredom and monotony of the practice necessary for many students for whom frequent repetition is essential for skill mastery. The "drill and kill" worksheets of old do little to address a child's multiple intelligences or their need for hands-on learning. Math games can be played just for fun too!
“My teacher made up this game; it's really fun. We play it in class and then I made up my own version to play at home with my family.”
—HMJDS Student
Here are websites which provide rules for some of the Everyday Math games,
as well as resources for math skills:
www.everydaymath.uchicago.edu/educators/em_games
www.funbrain.com (more than just math)
Oswego City School District Math Games
These websites require membership but are excellent resources:
For a complete description of the parent mini-classes being offered in coming months, please see http://www.heilicherjds.org/academics.asp
