Summer Work
6/11/2019
Dear Parents and Students,
I wanted to take the time to write one final Summer send-off before we all take off. First and foremost, thank you for a wonderful school year. To my students, thank you for the work that you invested in your studies this year. To the parents, thank you for supporting your kids every step of the way. Success in school takes teamwork. Parents, students, and teachers all have to work together to make sure you get the most from your time at school, and I am so grateful for the team you all created this year. Secondly, I've had a lot of parents asking about Summer math work and I have a lot of advice here. One of the best ways to support your child's development is through experiences. Have your child cook a recipe or help plan a get together. They will be analyzing problems involving cost, quantities, and measurements. Have your child help plan a road trip. It doesn't have to be a long road trip and it doesn't have to be one that you actually go on. Grab a map and have them figure out what stops would be reasonable, Where should you get gas or lunch? When should you leave and when will you arrive? The possibilities are endless here. My soon to be four-year old loves to plan road trips on a dry-erase map we got at Target. Let them build something. Have them plan it first and calculate what supplies they will need and how much they will need. Make sure they read something. There are two math books that I highly recommend here. They are interesting and they also build mathematical understanding:
Finally, I do recommend skills practice for kids who feel there are sixth grade math concepts they don't understand. Kahn Academy and ALEKS are both online platforms that allow students to work through math concepts. I prefer these to workbook style skills practice because they provide feedback. It is really easy to go overboard on the skills practice, so I will caution you to limit this sort of math work. You don't want to take the joy out of learning. I hope all of you enjoy your Summer and I look forward to seeing you again next year! |