Partners in Math Engagement
According to Director Pontes, “All of our numeracy work—as in all our
instruction—will ensure our practice is responsive to each student’s individual
needs. When we do this, students gain confidence in math. But they can only
develop this confidence when we believe all students can learn math. Because
they can. And they do. Especially when the learning is fun, and engaging.”
(Starting Point Speech, 2014)
Eldorado is committed to improving the numeracy skills of all students. As
partners in education, we invite the Eldorado community to support the
learning of our students at home. Please find below resources, websites, apps
and information that will engage and support numeracy development.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
(adapted from Doing Mathematics with Your Child - A Parent’s Guide
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/parent GuideNum2012.pdf)
- find real-life experiences that encourage and engage your child to think and talk
about mathematics (shopping, sorting, construction, managing time and money,
understand patterns and trends, make predictions based on patterns, analyze
data)
- encourage and provide manipulatives to explore mathematical concepts
(toothpicks, popsicle sticks, money, chocolate chips, etc…)
- be mindful of your attitude towards mathematics; strong, positive attitudes
about math increase a child’s ability to feel successful and to persevere with
challenging math tasks
- encourage risk taking
- provide a supportive, relaxing environment
- build your child’s confidence by engaging them in math activities that will allow
them to feel successful
- engage in math activities or math talk in the language you are most comfortable
with
- a math problem is not necessarily a word problem; don’t allow language to be
the barrier to the mathematical concept presented
- build on memorization of math facts by ensuring the understanding of the
concept (What does multiplication/division mean? When would we use it? Why
would we use it? How did you figure out that fact? How can you use one fact to
help you figure out another?)
- familiarize yourself with the Ontario Math Curriculum
(http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/ math18curr.pdf) in
order to understand what your child is learning and what is expected of him/her
-play Monoploy, dominoes, yahtzee, blokus, playing cards, dice games and other
fun games such as “Guess my number” - place a sticky note on your child’s back
and have them guess the number by asking only yes/no questions (eg. Is it bigger
than 10, is it less than 1000, is it odd/even)
MATH ACTIVITY SITES
*there are many more sites in the Doing Mathematics with Your Child - A Parent’s
Guide referenced above
http://www.mathstories.com - The goal of this math website is to help
elementary school (Grade 1st through 6th) children boost their math problem
solving and critical-thinking skills
http://www.hoodamath.com/games/ - A variety of math games to build
numeracy skills
http://www.mathplayground.com – Math games and learning activities by
category
http://www.funbrain.com/teachers/subj_math.html - Interactive math games
http://cemc2.math.uwaterloo.ca/mathfrog/main.shtml - MathFROG is a website
of free mathematics Fun Resources and Online Games for grades 4, 5, and 6
students, teachers and parents.
http://www.aplusmath.com - Interactive math resources for teachers, parents,
and students featuring free math worksheets, math games, math flashcards, and
more.
http://ca.ixl.com/math/ - All of IXL's dynamic math practice skills are aligned to
provincial curricula, making it easy to find the right skills to practise.
http://oame.on.ca/mathies/
This website includes games, learning tools, activities, and additional supports for
students to explore, build and enhance their mathematical thinking.
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/abc123/eng/podcast/sortingMatchingPod.html
Watch Tobias explore a variety of objects by sorting, classifying and creating
patterns. Describing what he sees and does with the objects helps him to build a
richer vocabulary.
www.prodigygame.com/canada - A free online Math game that supports mental
math strategies and helps to build confidence in problem solving.
MATH APPS










SpotTheDots,
Geometry++
Flow Free
Pick-a-Path
Math Dojo
Park Math
IXL Math
Dexteria Dots
Questimate!
Cool Math
FREE MATH TUTORING
Need help in math? Free tutoring now available online
Math students in grades 7 to 10 can access live, interactive online math help by
visiting www.homeworkhelp.ilc.org. Homework Help is free, real-time math
tutoring by certified Ontario teachers.
Students can log in from Sunday to Thursday, between 5:30 and 9:30 p.m. for
individualized confidential math tutoring. There are discussion rooms for each
grade where students can join and see what questions other students are asking,
watch the tutors draw on the whiteboard – and ask their own question for onthe-spot help.
Students will also find 24/7 discussion rooms, video lessons and commonly asked
questions. Other online math resources include math games and a virtual locker,
where students can save their work.
Homework Help is a project funded by the Ministry of Education.