3 Resources to Prep Kids for Back-to-School Math
During the summer kids often spend their time running around, going on vacation, and enjoying some much deserved downtime. But unless they were engaged in specifically designed activities (like 25 Ways to Practice Math at the Pool), chances are they weren’t practicing math. During the summer, kids can lose over two months of math proficiency. This means that when school starts, they’re two months behind where they were when school ended. Thankfully, you can make a focused effort to help ensure kids’ math skills are where they need to be on the first day of school. As you start your back-to-school shopping and start transitioning into back-to-school mode, throw in some math practice too! We are here to help.
Conduct Basic Skill Drills
Kids need to have their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills down pat. (depending on their age of course). While math drills may not be incredibly exciting or the best method for teaching, they’re a great option for brushing up kids’ knowledge of these key skills. You can conduct a basic skill drill in a few ways:
- Use a set of flash cards
- Print off a sheet of problems for a timed drill
- Recite problems with a specific number from memory
If you notice kids need help with certain areas, add more problems related to those areas to the drills. Make it fun by making it a game, doing the drills with your child or doing the drills in shaving cream or other sensory bins.
Use a Review Book
If you’re not sure what skills kids need to know or don’t have a lot of time to drill kids, pick up a review book for kids to work on by themselves. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, your local dollar store may even have a basic review book that will work well for this purpose. Get a book that covers the grade your child just completed. All of the material in the book should be familiar and provide you with a simple way to help your child brush up on his skills. Instead of a math review book, you can also use a free online math review service. A few to consider include:
Of course, you can also use the free worksheets and math videos found at Math Game Time to help kids brush up on their skills.
Play Math Games
One other thing you’ll find at Math Game Time is plenty of free math games. Kids can also brush up on their math skills while playing some of their favorite apps and other popular games. Playing math games is a great way to help kids brush up on their math skills while still giving them a chance to have fun. After all, it’s still summer and you don’t want to cut that short.