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

Dear Families:
- Through the years many parents have asked what can be done over the summer to maintain skills and develop mathematical thinking. There are a couple of options for families, including a calendar with one math problem each day and a suggested course on math mindset for both students and parents. Our goal is to have students experience doing math over the summer. We hope that everyone can attempt at least one option, but nothing is mandatory.
The middle school math teachers have created a practice calendar with one math problem each day 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 calendar is simply an opportunity
for your child to maintain skills. The calendar and answer key are here
on the Summer Math website (see links at the bottom of this page) and can be downloaded and printed
at your convenience.
A few things to note:
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Rather do your WMS Summer Math
Calendar on the computer? Check this out!
Students who would rather access the summer math calendar on the computer can do so by joining the appropriate Google Classroom. To join a new Google Classroom, follow these directions:
1. Go to https://classroom.google.com and click Sign In. Sign in with your Google Account, i.e. firstname_lastname@student.wayland.k12.ma.us
2. Click the “+” icon at the top-right corner of the screen. A menu will appear.

3. When the menu appears select Join class. You will be prompted to enter a class code.

- 4. Enter the Class Code (see below) and click Join.
- 5. Once in the Google Classroom, click on Classwork at the top of the page to see the summer math calendar assignments listed by week.
6. Clicking on the assignment will bring you to Assistments where you will be able to see the problems and submit your answers.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-Curious About Math Mindset? Another option this summer is for parents and students together to enroll in the free online course, How to Learn Math, offered through Stanford University. This is a self-paced course appropriate for both children and adults, focusing more on math mindset than on specific skills. Each of the six sessions is geared to be approximately 10-20 minutes long. Parents of children under age 13 should register themselves (i.e., parent's name, email, username) and preview the material before sharing with their child.
Below are some ideas of activities you can do every
day with your child. Also provided 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.
We hope that at least one of these options appeals to you and your child and that you can both enjoy doing some math this summer. 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.
+ 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, make inferences, draw
conclusions, evaluate answers and strengthen reasoning. Beside each
title are the skills and concepts which are reinforced.
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Simon or Mini Wizard (sequencing, following multi-step directions, visual and auditory memory)
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Battleship (spatial orientation, visualization, visual memory)
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Cribbage (number relationships, patterns, visual clusters)
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Quarto (spatial orientation/space organization, patterns, classification)
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Concentration (visualization, pattern recognition, visual memory)
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Chinese Checkers (patterns, spatial orientation/space organization)
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Pachisi (sequencing, patterns, number relationships)
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Checkers (sequencing, patterns, spatial orientation/space organization)
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Othello (pattern recognition, spatial orientation, visual clustering, focus on more than one aspect, variable or concept of time)
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Score Four or Connect Four (pattern recognition, spatial orientation, visual clustering, geometric patterns)
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Qubic (pattern recognition, spatial orientation, visualization, geometrical patterns)
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Pyraos (spatial orientation/space organization)
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Krypto (number sense, basic arithmetical facts)
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Go Muko (pattern recognition, spatial organization)
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Kalah or Mankalah (sequencing, counting, estimation, visual clustering)
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Master Mind (sequencing, logical deduction, pattern recognition)
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Four Sight (spatial orientation, pattern recognition, logical deduction)
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Black-Box (logical deduction)
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Reckon (number facts, estimation, basic operations)
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Card Games (visual clustering, pattern recognition, number facts)
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Dominos (visual clustering, pattern recognition, number facts)
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Hex (pattern recognition)
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British Squares (pattern recognition)
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Stratego (spatial recognition, logical deduction, graphing)
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Number Safari (number facts, a paper/pencil game)
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Pinball Wizard (number facts, a paper/pencil game)
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Number War Games (visual clustering, arithmetic facts, mathematics concepts)
WMS Math Teacher Favorites (not already listed above):
Blockus
Quirkle
Prime Climb
Set
Chess
Tangoes
99 or Bust (play with a regular deck of cards or purchase a special deck)
Rush Hour
Sudoku puzzles
WEBSITES FOR MATH GAMES & HELP
http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/
http://illuminations.nctm.org
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm
http://www.mathtv.com/videos_by_topic
http://www.ixl.com/math
http://calculationnation.nctm.org/
http://quizlet.com/
http://www.thatquiz.org/
https://www.mathplayground.com/
http://www.khanacademy.org/
WMS PRACTICE CALENDARS BY GRADE LEVEL
Entering GRADE 6
Answer Key GRADE 7 July and August
Answer Key GRADE 8