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CEFAM's Family Math Resources

 

Research shows that everyday math conversations add up, creating better school and life outcomes for children. In fact, every child can be good at math when every family explores math concepts with their children from the day they’re born until the day they graduate high school.

Below are resources that orient families and educators to what family math is, why it is important, and key strategies for engaging families in fostering children’s learning and love of math. Educators will find comprehensive toolkits for engaging families in math, while families will find guidance and resources for supporting their children’s math learning through playing games and puzzles with their children, and by using “math talk” during everyday tasks at home, through shared book reading, and out in the community. The resources are drawn primarily from the Center for Family Math’s esteemed steering committee of research, practice, policy, and parent leaders.

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Learn how family math helps students succeed

Reviewing the Math Literature: Recommendations for Practice, Policy, and Research (The Family Math Roadmap Implementation Project): This report explains why early math is important, what role families play, and what educators should keep in mind to best support families’ engagement in math learning.

Use family math in the classroom

Family Math Toolkit (PBS SoCal): This comprehensive toolkit offers 350 multimedia resources in English and Spanish for educators, including simple overviews of family math; games, videos, and activities across many math topics; and resources for leading your own family math workshop.

Host family math nights and other school events

  • School Event Engages Families in Early Math Learning (Erikson Institute: Early Math Collaborative): This video offers testimonials from teachers and school leaders about the benefits of hosting a family math night.
  • The Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival (JRMF): This organization focuses on bringing math fun to schools, libraries, and other venues through math festivals and math exploration. JRMF hosts festivals, offers a math-festival-in-a-box option, and shares online math puzzles and games. MathFests are offered free of charge to Title I schools upon request.

Play math games at home and at school

  • Young Mathematicians (EDC): This initiative offers 50 math games for home and school, with printable materials, directions, and videos available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
  • Early Family Math: This website offers dozens of free family math games, puzzles, and activities developed by math educators.

Promote math talk by reading books

Find math in everyday activities at home

Explore math virtually and in your own backyard

  • Measure! Everything! (MathTalk): This app can be downloaded free on the Apple App Store, is available in English and Spanish, and uses Augmented Reality experiences to help young children and their families explore math in their own homes, backyards, schools, and communities.
  • LearnLead: This organization offers resources for finding math in the built environment and with museums (preK-3rd).
  • What is a “Math Trail”? (The Futures Channel): For older students, this video illustrates the practice of a Math Trail, where students observe their surrounding community and create math problems for others to solve.

Practice talking about math

  • Tips to help you create math habits (Zeno): This collection of one-pagers in multiple languages offers quick strategies for families to build math habits with their children.
  • Why do people get so anxious about math? (TedEd): This 5-minute video on math anxiety and growth mindset is a great visual explainer.
  • The Math Narrative Project: This comprehensive messaging research project shares perspectives on math learning from adolescents, their parents, and their teachers, and offers recommendations, including for a parent audience, on how to communicate about math with their teenagers.

Understand math standards and school math learning

Promote learning through play

Family Math Kits (Development in Research in Early Mathematics Education): This kits support families that want to promote their young children’s math learning through playful activities at home. Kits are also available in Arabic and Portuguese versions that you can share on request.

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