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National PTA > Topics > Parent Involvement > The PTA Parent Newsletter > Thursday, September 11, 2008

Thursday, September 11, 2008

How to Help Your Children with Math

Your child's math class might appear different from what you recall as a student. Not only do they learn that 7 x 8 = 56, but they are learning when to use multiplication to solve a problem. In this way, children understand that math is useful in their daily lives. Review this quick Q & A developed by PTA and the National Education Association for ways you can best help your children with today's mathematics.

Q: My child's teacher says that the mathematics curriculum is problem-based. What does that mean?
A: Teachers want your children to understand how important math is and how it helps them solve everyday problems. Students are now solving problems that may take them more than an hour to solve. And there may be different ways to solve the problem. By allowing students to think flexibly about numbers, teachers encourage them to "own" the mathematics instead of "borrowing" the math until class is over. By owning it, students will carry it with them in their everyday experiences.

Parents can help by showing their children when they use math. That may be as simple as

Helping your child estimate in the grocery store,
Deciding together how many plants can fit into a garden and drawing a scale plan of your garden, or
Discussing how the interest works on a mortgage.

Q: How do I help my child when the homework is so different from what I did in school?
A: Even if the math looks different, practice is still important—you can encourage your students to continue working on complicated problems. Teachers will also expect students to memorize basic facts and you will still see homework that asks you to help them commit these facts to memory.

Q: I see fewer graded papers coming home than I remember bringing home to my parents. How are my children evaluated?
A: Teachers still use traditional paper-and-pencil tests to help them assess your child's progress. They also use district and statewide test results to help make assessments. Watching and listening to students while they work in pairs or groups also reveal a lot about your child's progress.

Children may be asked to tell their teacher what they know in different ways. They may have to keep a math journal and write about the math skills they are learning. For example, after learning a new skill, your child might be asked to describe how they would teach what they've just learned to a younger child. Teachers want to use as many ways as possible to evaluate what their students know.

For more tips, go to the homework help section at PTA.org.

Q: How else can I help?
A: Math is everywhere. Look for it with your kids.

Football—Is it possible for a team to score 22 points? How many ways can they do it? Is there an impossible score?
Driving to school—What does "miles per hour" mean? How does it help us know how long it will take to get to school? What else may influence how long it takes to get somewhere in the car?
Consumers—Is it more cost effective to lease or buy a car?
Home—How much paint is needed to paint the front hall? What measurements are needed to figure out how much paint to buy?

For more information, download the full guide at nea.org/parents.

PTA Asks You...

What has your PTA done to boost student achievement?

One of the fundamental missions of PTA is to help children succeed in school. Some schools face great challenges in educating their students for a variety of reasons, from lack of funds to large class sizes. Others may have adequate funds but are challenged to combat bullying or get very busy parents involved.

We want to know what successes you've had in overcoming challenges to student achievement. How did you do it?

If your response is selected for publication in the December 2008/January 2009 Our Children magazine, PTA will send you a $25 gift card.

Deadline for submission: Monday, October 6, 2008.

When submitting your response to forum@pta.org, please include

Your name,
The name and town of your PTA,
Your position in your PTA, and
Your home mailing address so we can send you a gift card if your submission is published.

By sending an e-mail, you'll be granting PTA the right to publish your response, which may be edited for grammar, length, and/or clarity.

PTA Briefs

Increase Family Dinners; Decrease the Risk of Drug Use
The more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink, or use drugs, finds research by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. The conversations that go hand in hand with dinner can help you learn more about your children's lives and better understand the challenges they face.

This September 22, on Family Day—A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children™, see how Dinner Makes a Difference!

Your family can participate in Family Day by

Signing the Family Day STAR Pledge.
Participating in CASA's placemat coloring contest for kids. (The contest will run from September 22 to October 22. Watch this newsletter and casafamilyday.org for more information, starting September 22.)
Encouraging friends to participate with their families.
Having a healthy dinner together on September 22! Take a look at the Family Dinner Kit for a list of conversation starters, and check out CASA's tips for talking to kids about substance abuse.

Go to casafamilyday.org to learn more.

Family Day, created by CASA in 2001 and celebrated each year on the fourth Monday in September, is a national movement to inform parents that the parental engagement fostered during frequent family dinners is an effective tool to help keep America's kids substance free. For more on the research about parents' role in preventing drug and alcohol abuse, visit casacolumbia.org.

PTA is proud to be a Family Day partner.

Three for Me Wants You! For Three Hours This Year
When all families contribute to helping a school succeed, the school environment improves—to the benefit of not only the students, but parents, school staff, and community members. Make the PTA Three for Me promise—a promise to dedicate three hours to serving the needs of your child's school—and support your child's education.

With Three for Me, busy schedules and other barriers to involvement are overcome. You can get involved from home, at the school, or in the community—at times that are convenient to you.

Here are a few ways you can fulfill the Three for Me promise:

Sign up to read to your child's class.
Attend parent-teacher conferences.
Ask your employer to donate supplies to the school.
Talk to your coworkers about how they could dedicate three hours to the school.
Help write or publish the school newsletter.
Work with the school office or teachers to translate information for parents.
Mentor a new family at the school.

If you don't have PTA Three for Me at your school, there's no time like the present to get it going. Visit three4me.com to learn more.

Make Sure Your Family Is Prepared
Stories in the news about floods, hurricanes, and other large-scale disasters make our hearts go out to the families in the affected areas. But do they also make you consider whether you're prepared for emergencies?

No matter where you live, you need to think about what your family and community would do in case of an emergency. It's unpleasant to think about the things that might bring harm to your family, but the best way to protect them is to be prepared.

This September, PTA is again supporting National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Ready campaign. For preparedness tips, see the full article online.

Make sure your family would be ready for an emergency:

Assess your preparedness by taking the Readiness Quotient (RQ) assessment. You’ll be directed to targeted resources and tools based on your needs.
Put together an emergency supply kit.
Make a family emergency plan.
Be informed about the different types of potential emergencies in your area and the appropriate responses.
Get involved in preparing your community for emergencies.
Explore the Ready Kids website with your children and talk about their role in your family’s emergency plan.

Visit PTA.org’s Child Safety resource for more information.

100 Ways to Help Your Child and School Succeed

There are many ways that you can help your child succeed! A few small activities each week will pay huge dividends over the course of the year. Here are a few that you can do this week:

Share expectations and set goals for your child with his or her teacher.
Comparta las expectativas y establezca objetivos para su hijo junto con el docente.
Make appointments as needed to discuss your child's progress or concerns.
Solicite citas segun su necesidad para hablar sobre la evolucion o las inquietudes de su hijo.

Member Benefit Provider Message

Sharp's educational marketing division has developed a fundraising program that gives local PTAs a unique way to raise money for their activities. Sharp offers "Fundraiser Packs" of 40 calculators at a discount to local chapters for resale. By buying in bulk directly from Sharp, the local PTA chapter can re-sell the calculators at a substantial profit.

It's an innovative type of fundraiser using products that parents are already purchasing.

Sharp is also offering PTA members the ability to own a variety of other audio, video, home appliance, and home office products and accessories. All of the products on the Sharp Electronics/PTA Member Benefits site are offered to PTA members at a level below retail pricing.

To learn more about Fundraiser Packs or other discounted Sharp Electronics products visit the PTA/Sharp Electronics member benefits area at http://www.pta.org/benefits

Member Benefit Provider Message

PTA Schools are Eligible to Participate in Two Kidz IDz programs:

(1) The FREE Kidz-IDz Child Photo ID Card Program

Each student gets these four (4) products for free!

FREE hard plastic School Photo ID Card.
FREE Electronic ID.
FREE Photo IDs for all brothers & sisters.
FREE Renewals on all ID Cards, forever!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FREE SCHOOL ID CARD PROGRAM!

(2) Fundraiser Program

There are no upfront costs
You can raise up to $10,000 – $50,000
It only takes two weeks!

The Ultimate Fundraiser enables students at participating schools to sell their local "Enjoy the City" coupon book. Each book is loaded with more than $2,000 in savings and more than 300 valuable coupons, including free pizza, free movie tickets, free oil changes, and so much more.

PTA schools keep $10 per book, and can raise funds, plus win valuable school and individual prizes (such as pizza parties, free coupon books, and gift cards).

Schools can earn $500 – $5,000 with the Success Guaranteed Program, whether they sell 1 book or 1,000 books!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ULTIMATE FUNDRAISER!