Math can be a difficult subject for many students. Luckily, there are many things that parents can do at home to help foster a love for math and improve skills. 

• Familiarize yourself with what your child is currently learning. This can be done by contacting their teacher or school. 
• Let your child help with cooking and baking. This will help fractions and measurements come to life.
• Play math games at home (see your child’s teacher if you don’t have any).
• Allow your child to play math games on the computer such as www.prodigy.com and www.splashlearn.com 
• Access Kahn Academy for math lessons that can help students with their homework.
• Have your child help you with the grocery shopping (adding prices, making change, etc.).
• Encourage them to do some math every day.
• Be willing to hire a tutor if the above tips aren’t allowing your child to make progress.

Attendance is one of the most important factors in determining a child’s success in school. Absences, especially at the elementary level may seem like they are not a big deal, but as you can see by viewing the chart below, it all adds up. Please make sure to send your child to school everyday.

In today’s world, kids have ample exposure to screens and spend a lot of time sitting. This is having an impact on kids’ health and happiness. Here are some tips to help them ditch the screens and move more. 

• Be a Role Model. Children who see their parents being active, are more likely to be active themselves. 
• Play with Your Children. Take a hike together, play basketball or catch in the yard, walk the dog or sign up for a class together. 
• Use Exercise as Transportation. Walk your child to school, ride bikes to the park, park far away at stores and take stairs instead of elevators.
• Make it Fun. Children are more likely to do something if it’s fun. Turn on music and have a dance party, turn on a Go Noodle and follow along, play a movement video game like Dance Dance Revolution.
• Give Gifts that Encourage Physical Activity. Bicycles, roller skates, balls, etc. Activity tracking apps can be fun for kids as well.
• Limit Screen Time. Talk about screen time expectations and set a time limit. You can also have a set of movement activities that need to be completed before they are able to use their screen. 

Praising children is very important whether you are a teacher or a parent. Here are some tips that will help make praise mean more to the child.

1. 1. Be specific. “Good job, Johnny” is not specific and can be said to anyone for any reason. “Johnny, I noticed that reading that paragraph was tough, but you took your time and tried your best. Nice job.” This is specific enough so that Johnny knows that you mean it and it is real.
   2. Give praise when you really mean it. This teaches children that you recognize when a task is tough for them. It also helps them value the praise that you give.
   3. Quality over quantity. Praising too much can cause a child to feel belittled and actually achieve lower. Give specific praise when praise is due instead of meaningless praise often.

Education can effectively take place when parents and teachers work together as a team. Attending conferences can help create this relationship. We look forward to seeing you this month. 

Feb 9 Parent Teacher/Conferences 3:30 p.m.–7:00 p.m. 

Feb 10 Parent/Teacher Conferences 8:00 a.m.–11:30 a.m.

Reading Ideas:

• Read holiday bedtime stories.
• Have your child read the grocery list as you shop for your holiday meal.
• Bake holiday treats together and have your child read the recipe.
• Get excited to visit the library.
• Play board games and have your child read the cards.

Reading Tips:

• Don’t leave home without it! Always have reading materials available to read in the car or at appointments.
• Once is not enough. Re-read favorite stories to help build fluency, speed and accuracy.
• Dig Deeper! Ask your child questions about what they just read.
• Be patient, correct gently and praise with enthusiasm

The holidays are a great time to teach children compassion and empathy for others. It is easy for children to be excited to receive gifts, but how do we develop the same enthusiasm for giving? Here are some examples of how you can involve your child in the joy of giving.

• Let your child shop for a few gifts for others using their own money
• Do a holiday craft or bake cookies to give to neighbors or friends
• Let your children wrap a few gifts themselves
• Have your child make cards for others
• Give your child the opportunity to present the gift to someone so they can see the joy it brings
• Volunteer in a local soup kitchen or participate in Toys for Tots

PBS Kids This is a great site for kids of all ages featuring all of your kids’ favorite characters from PBS!

Random House Featuring books, activities, games and more all surrounding your favorite characters from Random House Books! This is a great way to make books come alive for little ones!

Starfall Education This is a great website for learning to read. Starfall takes your kids all the way from ABCs to Learning to Read! There are some fun games and more that surround phonics, sounds and putting sounds together in words! This is great for preschoolers learning to read!

Scholastic Kids There are tons of great videos and games about the environment and science. This is a great website for older children who want to learn about weather, geography and more.

Highlights Kids This site has games, books, crafts and of course hidden pictures.

ABCYa This is another great learning site for kids. There is everything from counting games, to graphing, patterns and more. This site is great for learning early math skills. 

National Geographic Kids  This is a great site for exploring our world and learning all you can about the ocean, animals, geography and more! There is a TON of information on this site and also some great videos, puzzles and quizzes!

Have you ever asked your child “How was School Today?” only to get an answer such as “fine”, “good” or “bad”? This could be because of how the question is phrased. It is too easy for students to just give a one word answer. Here are a few examples of ways to ask and actually get an answer!

1. What was the best/worst thing that happened at school today?
2. Tell me something that made you laugh today?
3. If I called your teacher tonight, what would he/she tell me about today?
4. Tell me one thing you learned today.
5. Where do you play the most at recess?
6. Who in your class do you think you could be nicer to?

In school, we often use the term goals with your children. How can we help our students set realistic goals and stick to them? Consider these ideas you can also support at home:

1. Make the goal specific. The target needs to be very clear for your child. Help him/her clearly articulate what it is they want to achieve. For example, instead of a goal to get better at reading, the goal could be to better understand what is being read.
2. Set a short timeframe. Many goals fail because the timeframe is too long. Set small, specific timeframes (2-3 weeks) that can be more easily monitored.
3. Make a plan. Help your child figure out actions they can take to reach their goal. How will you better understand what you are reading? Will you write a summary after a certain number of pages? Will you ask questions as you read?
4. Adjust the goal. There is nothing wrong with your child adjusting his/her goals. Adjusting will be more successful than quitting.
5. Celebrate. Celebrate the small successes like sticking to the goal’s steps. There is something about acknowledging progress, even small progress, that propels us to keep at it and work toward the next small step along the road of attaining a goal.