How to Help at Home

Have your child study for math primarily by practicing problems and then have him or her immediately check the answer in order to gain timely feedback. This will allow your child to recognize his or her error(s) within a matter of seconds and adjust accordingly.

Encourage your child to study 10-15 minutes each night, regardless of whether or not he or she has a quiz or a test the next day. The cumulative effect of studying on a daily basis always outperforms “cramming” the night before.

Talk about math when it arises in everyday life! Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: having your child calculate the tip at a restaurant; having your child double measurements for a recipe; and, having your child calculate the total bill when shopping. This not only helps your child practice important math facts, but it also allows him or her to apply math in meaningful, real-life situations.

Encourage the use of interactive, yet informative, math websites. Three helpful websites that include tutorials and practice problems, include the following: –         
 

• The Khan Academy (khanacademy.org)
• Cool Math (coolmath.com)
• The Math Forum (mathforum.org)
• Learn Zillion (learnzillion.com)
• Sumdog (sumdog.com) 
• Explore Math with Desmos (desmos.com)
• Thirteen.org/get-the-math (thirteen.org/get-the-math)
• www.ixl.com (ixl.com)
   

Last, but certainly not least, please keep in mind that math can tend to be an area of struggle for a lot of students. Further, with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, the rigor of the math classes at our middle school has increased in order to meet the demands of these standards and adequately prepare our students. Therefore, please encourage your child to stay after school for homework clinic and/or pursue any available one-on-one or group tutoring opportunities. While studying and hard work are certainly not always fun, the benefits always outweigh the cost!

Math 8:  Please click on below link for additional Math tips. Click Here

1. Use the QVCIPC reading strategy with your child. Each letter in this acronym stands for an important reading skill that your child should be using while reading.  Have your student teach you the meaning of each letter as an extra way to check their understanding of the strategy. This can be done with books, magazines, and even movies!
    

• Question: What is happening in the story? Who is did what? Where is the story taking place?
• Visualize: What does your child imagine while reading the text?
• Connect: What connections can your child make between the text and their life, the real world, or another story?
• Infer: Have your child make an inference about something in the text and support it with evidence.
• Predict: Have your child make a prediction about an event in the text.
• Conclude: Have your child draw conclusions about information read in the text.

2.   Review literary terms using note cards. Spend some time quizzing your child on the definitions or have them repeat specific examples from their reading at school.

3.   Reread selections that are confusing. Write down questions your child may have about confusing parts of the reading and bring them to class.

4.   Encourage reading during car rides or before bedtime.

5.   Find what your child likes to read and then branch out into new topics. If your child loves to read zombie or monster themed books, ask them what they like about the books. Is it the struggle of the characters to survive, the thrill of the adventure, or the chance for characters to be heroes? Once you find out what interests your child, find similar books that deal with the same idea.

Please encourage your child to do the following to be successful in his/her Science class: 
 

1.  Create and use flashcards for key terms/concepts with the term on one side and the definition on the other. Keep the information simple so studying is more efficient and you can move quickly.

2.  Reread notes every night instead of waiting until the night before a quiz or test.

3.  Use some of the following links to review key terms and concepts: –   http://quizlet.com/math-and-science/ –   http://visual.merriam-webster.com/

4.  Ask questions and participate often in class.

5.  Tell you what they learned in Science class today.

6.  Use their homework sheets, notes, and study guides to ask them questions nightly, or at least weekly, about what we are currently covering in class.

7.  Help them stay organized.  Most teachers have binder cleanouts several times throughout the year.  Make sure he/she is keeping up with these so there isn’t an overwhelming amount of materials in their binder.  And periodically check that they are keeping their things organized in some way.