Supporting your child’s math skills

General guidelines

Kids learn best when they feel confident, successful, and supported. Here are ways you can help them. 

• Notice your child’s strengths – Kids have strengths in areas like art, physical skills, helping others, and being a good friend. Look for what your child does well and let them know you see them doing well.  
• Notice your child’s successes – Kids need to hear what they are doing well. Share with them areas they could improve. Start at the level where your child has success. Celebrate their successes. This may mean praising them when they solve a math problem, even if it’s a problem their peers can easily solve. 
• Talk to your child’s teacher – Kids feel supported when they see their parents and teachers working together. 

Ways to build math skills

Math calculation skills

• Let your child help with cooking and baking. Have them read the numbers in the reci< rel="noopener noreferrer" a="" title="Hyperlink Manager" class="reTool" href="https://www.khanacademy.org/math" unselectable="on" target="_blank" /> pes. Let them measure or count out ingredients. 
• Play board games that require counting. Some examples are Hi Ho Cherry-O, Connect 4, and Yahtzee.
• Help your child to use number lines and actual objects to help them add and subtract.
  
  
• Have your child count how many items are present in groups of items. If there is more than 1 group of items, have them tell you which group is bigger.
• Use objects to help them understand numbers. Have the child say the number and have them count out objects to represent the number. 
• Practice adding by having your child add small numbers of items together. Take 2 apples and 1 more apple and add them together. 
• Practice a few addition or subtraction facts often. This helps with your child’s recall. Do the facts in different ways. Try flashcards, bingo games, or Go Fish. Mix it up and keep it fun! Once your child has success with 1 group of facts, move onto another. 

Math word problems and Everyday Math Skills

• Have your child help count out change to pay for items at the store. Use play money and play store with your child.  Have them count out change. 
• Look at the family calendar with your child. Help them find days of the week and upcoming events. 
• Give your child everyday math problems to solve. For example, we have 2 eggs, but the recipe calls for 4. How many more eggs do we need? 
• Tell your child to draw pictures or number lines to help them with math problems. This can make it much easier to solve. 
• Point out key words in math problems. These include “all together”, “combined”, “remain”, or “how many in each”. Help them learn what they mean. This will help them solve word problems easier. 

Math Apps

Math apps help your child practice math skills they are learning in school. They may help to build your child's math skills.  

Preschool and Early Grade School

• Moose Math https://www.commonsense.org/education/reviews/moose-math-by-duck-duck-moose 
• Elmo Loves 123s  https://www.commonsense.org/education/reviews/elmo-loves-123s 

Elementary School

• Splash Math https://www.splashlearn.com/math-games
• Rocket Math https://www.rocketmath.com/ 

Middle School

• Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/math 

For a listing of academic apps and ratings of them consider https://www.commonsensemedia.org/ 

Math Interventions

Interventions support children's math skills. 

• Evidenced based Intervention Network https://ruralsmh.com/attention-and-academic-issues/
• Intervention Central https://www.interventioncentral.org/response-to-intervention 
•  What Works Clearinghouse  https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguides