Helping Children with Math Work How do I encourage my child to have a growth mindset, use strategies, persevere, and put effort into their math work? This handout is designed to provide parents/guardians/families with some helpful strategies for supporting your child in becoming an independent and confident mathematician. 1. Create a quiet, consistent homework space where your child can concentrate without the distractions of music, TV, or other family activities. 2. Encourage a growth-mindset. Let your child know that with time, effective effort and strategies, and practice they can improve their mathematical understanding. 3. Reinforce a positive attitude about learning math. It is important to not send the message that some people are good at math and others are not. 4. Provide feedback on effort (trying, not giving up, trying your best, giving it your all, keeping at it) and persevering through difficult problems. 5. Encourage your child to be independent and not dependent on you for support. All homework should be able to be completed independently by the student. Let your child’s teacher know if you are needing to provide support for your child to do the homework. 6. Helpful questions to model that help your child think through the problems and develop independence: - What do I need to find out? - I know…. (the facts of the problem) - What strategy could I try? 7. Do not feel that you need to know how to do the math. The new program has different vocabulary and strategies that the adults may not know. Use this as an opportunity for your child to teach you! 8. If you feel you need to teach your child, please… - Don’t give your child the answer. Children learn and gain confidence through working problems on their own. - Don’t give short cuts or tricks. Students may need to do work through all the steps initially to develop an understanding of the concept. - Refer to the work your child brings home to guide you and your child on how to solve the problems. 9. It helps children to use words, pictures, and numbers to explain their mathematical thinking. Children also benefit from having concrete materials like counters, beads, or Legos to do the math. 10. Take advantage of opportunities to reinforce your child’s mathematical understanding when you are at the grocery store, working on home projects, cooking etc… to see you using math to solve problems and to see the math connections in the everyday experiences helps children understand the importance of mathematics. 11. Have fun! As a family, enjoy solving math puzzles and playing math games.

Inspirational Source for this document: William Diamond Middle School Website