Parents Matter

Parents are social factors in children’s lives that can positively influence math achievement; and one does not need a degree in math to provide support! What one needs is a guidebook filled with good questions to pose, tips for supporting math thinking and general attitudes about math, and an “insider’s view” into what math teaching and learning looks like in today’s classrooms. This book serves as that guidebook, and its author invites parents to use it while making sense of math with children. Parents and children are encouraged to share and celebrate multiple ways of solving math examples, rather than debate over the better approach. Chapter 1 includes a description about how and why math teaching has changed through the years. The big math ideas taught through the grades are outlined in Chapter 2. Chapters 3 through 5 offer detailed descriptions about how big math ideas develop in Grades Kindergarten through 2, 3 through 5, and 6 through 8, respectively. In conclusion, Chapter 6 offers tasks that provide additional entry points for engaging in conversation about math at home.