Every trimester I write a note home to 6th grade parents promoting mathematics. It is my attempt to sign them on as partners in demystifying math.
Here is my latest email.
Hello families,
Every now and then I feel compelled to share a way that I believe math can be demystified for kids. This week they did a project called Tax and Tip (you can ask them to show you in Notability). I got to thinking that these days I rarely use cash opting instead for credit and debit cards and apps on my phone.
Among other things (you can see the whole list here), February is the national month of grapefruit, embroidery, American Heart and of course love. Let’s also make it the month of ‘letting our kids deal with cash’ month. Calculating helps with decimals. Tax and Tip, percents (they can use calculators or find a good app for you). And PBS even gives a great idea for a higher order thinking guessing game to be done during those long car rides when you start to hear “She did it, no he did it.” And if you’d like to get a jump on negative numbers, let them borrow $1 and have to pay it back to you in installments to get back to zero.
One final idea, Superbowl LI this weekend! I’m still not sure who to root for but the game itself with yards and statistics and even roman numerals is a math extravaganza just waiting to happen.
Enjoy the weekend and happy ‘kids using cash’ month.
I'm curious how you create learning partnerships with parents at home. Please share in the comments.
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