Summer Math - Wayland Middle School

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Summer Math

Parent Letter
Sharing Math in Everyday Life
Games to Play
Websites for Math Games & Help
WMS Practice Packets by Grade
(Download this Summer Math Intro in a printable PDF format)

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Dear Parents:

Often parents and students ask what can be done over the summer to maintain skills and develop mathematical thinking. Hopefully the information contained in this letter will give you some ideas and provide opportunities for you and your child to enjoy math over the vacation months. Below are some ideas of activities you can do every day with your child. On the reverse side of this letter is a list of games and websites that you can use with your child to assist the development of good math skills; such as spatial recognition, sequencing, patterns, logical deduction, visual memory and number facts. These games can help strengthen a mathematical foundation that is further developed within the math classroom. Most of the items on the list are commercial games. They are motivational and, with parent involvement, these games are an excellent way to get your child to communicate concepts while sharpening thinking
skills. They also provide an opportunity for discussion and questions; encouraging your child to evaluate answers, draw conclusions and strengthen reasoning skills. Games are a low stress way to engage your child in math while developing necessary skills. Something as simple as playing cribbage daily will improve your child's number sense, addition skills and number recognition. We hope you will find time to use some of these suggestions and that you enjoy playing them.

Through the years many parents have requested work that can be done over the summer. The Middle School math teachers have created a packet to help your child retain his/her skills and to provide valuable practice over the summer. You should feel free to discuss the work with your child. Math discussions are an important way for students to remember and retain concepts. Students may enjoy working with peers or parents as they practice. Again, this packet is simply an opportunity for your child to maintain skills. The packet and answer key are here on the Wayland Middle School website and can be downloaded and printed at your convenience. Hard copies of the packet are available through your child's math teacher or in the school office.

Thank you for your support. We are looking forward to an exciting and enriching year with your child.

Sincerely,
The Wayland Middle School Math Department

SHARING MATH IN EVERYDAY LIFE

+ Budget Share the budget (household, food, clothing, phone, vacation etc.) with your child.

+ Banking Explain and share interest rates with your child.

+ Grocery Shopping

Have your child estimate the total bill.

Share any money saving techniques with your child (coupons, percent discounts, etc).

Have your child compare unit prices to find the better deal.

+ Purchasing Gasoline

Have your child predict the cost of gasoline and how far you can travel on one full tank based on your car’s mileage.

+ Going on Vacation!

Car: Before the vacation, ask your child to predict how long the drive will take based on an average speed of 60 miles per hour (no more “are we there yet!”).

Airplane, Bus, Train: Have your student practice elapsed time (time of arrival versus time of departure).

+ Going out to Eat Have your child help figure out the tip.

+ Baking Have your child follow a recipe (dividing a recipe in half practices fraction operations).

+ Construction Project

Have your child help you plan and measure prior to construction.

+ Sports Share sport statistics with your child (shooting percentages, golf scores, baseball averages, etc)

GAMES

The following list of games, excerpted from Games and Their Uses in Mathematics Learning (Sharma, 2008), will help your child sharpen thinking skills, makes inferences, draw conclusions, evaluate answers and strengthen reasoning. Beside each title are the skills and concepts which are reinforced.

Simon or Mini Wizard (sequencing, following multi-step directions, visual and auditory memory)
Battleship (spatial orientation, visualization, visual memory)
Cribbage (number relationships, patterns, visual clusters)
Quarto (spatial orientation/space organization, patterns, classification)
Concentration (visualization, pattern recognition, visual memory)
Chinese Checkers (patterns, spatial orientation/space organization)
Pachisi (sequencing, patterns, number relationships)
Checkers (sequencing, patterns, spatial orientation/space organization)
Othello (pattern recognition, spatial orientation, visual clustering, focus on more than one aspect, variable or concept of time)
Score Four or Connect Four (pattern recognition, spatial orientation, visual clustering, geometric patterns)
Qubic (pattern recognition, spatial orientation, visualization, geometrical patterns)
Pyraos (spatial orientation/space organization)
Krypto (number sense, basic arithmetical facts)
Go Muko (pattern recognition, spatial organization)
Kalah or Mankalah (sequencing, counting, estimation, visual clustering)
Master Mind (sequencing, logical deduction, pattern recognition)
Four Sight (spatial orientation, pattern recognition, logical deduction)
Black-Box (logical deduction)
Reckon (number facts, estimation, basic operations)
Card Games (visual clustering, pattern recognition, number facts)
Dominos (visual clustering, pattern recognition, number facts)
Hex (pattern recognition)
British Squares (pattern recognition)
Stratego (spatial recognition, logical deduction, graphing)
Number Safari (number facts, a paper/pencil game)
Pinball Wizard (number facts, a paper/pencil game)
Number War Games (visual clustering, arithmetic facts, mathematics concepts)