Learn And Grow: January 2008

Saturday, January 12, 2008

EXAMPLES OF JOBS REQUIRING COLLEGE PREPARATION

Examples of Jobs Requiring Technical/Community College
Preparation:

Electrician
Draftsman
Dental Hygienist
Computer Service Technician
Bookkeeper
Commercial Artist
Film Technician
Medical Illustrator

University (Bachelor's Degree):

Accountant
Teacher
Engineer
Journalist
Diplomat

More Than Three Years of College (Various Graduate Degrees
Required)

Lawyer
Doctor
Architect
Scientist
Some teaching posts
Economist
Psychologist
Sociologist
Dentist

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Vehicle License Plates

License plates have numbers and are fun to use to play games while on the go.

What you'll need

License plates

Paper

Pencil

What to do

1. Copy down a license plate. Read it as a number (excluding the letters). For example, if the license is L706 KKY, the number would be seven hundred and six.

2. Find other license plates and read their numbers. Is the number less than, greater than, or equal to yours?

3. Estimate the difference between your number and another license plate. Is it 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 or more?

4. Record the initial letters of as many different license plates as you see. Which letters do you see the most? Which has the fewest? Prepare a chart or graph to show your findings.

These activities encourage reading, recognizing numbers, noticing symbols, writing, counting, and graphing.

APPENDIX 3: What We Can Do To Help Our Children Learn

Listen to them and pay attention to their problems.

Read with them.

Tell family stories.

Limit their television watching.

Have books and other reading materials in the house.

Look up words in the dictionary with them

Encourage them to use an encyclopedia.

Share favorite poems and songs with them.

Take them to the library -- get them their own library cards.

Take them to museums and historical sites, when possible.

Discuss the daily news with them.

Go exploring with them and learn about plants, animals, and local geography.

Find a quiet place for them to study.

Review their homework.

Meet with their teachers.

APPENDIX 2: What Should I Expect from a math Program?

The National Curriculum and current educational thinking make certain assumptions about the way math should be taught and what parents might see when visiting the classroom. Here are some examples:

1. Children will be engaged in discovering mathematics, not just doing many problems in a book.

2. Children will have the opportunity to explore, investigate, estimate, question, predict, and test their ideas about math.

3. Children will explore and develop understanding for math concepts using materials they can touch and feel, either natural or manufactured.

4. The teacher will guide the students' learning, not dictate how it must be done.

5. Children will have many opportunities to look at math in terms of daily life and to see the connections among math topics such as between geometry and numbers.

6. Children will be actively involved in using technology (calculators and computers) to solve math problems.

APPENDIX 1: Parents and the Schools

Here are a few ideas that might help you support a positive math environment in your child's school:

1. Visit the school and see if the children:

* Are actively engaged in math;

* Are talking about mathematics;

* Are working together to solve math problems;

* Have their math work on display;

* Use manipulative (objects that children can touch and move) in the classroom.

2. Explore the math program with your child's teacher or head. Here are some questions you might ask:

* Are there manipulate able objects in the classroom?

* How are the national curriculum standards being applied in this school?

* What can I do to help foster a strong math program where children an explore math concepts before giving the right answer?

3. If you would like to help out, here are some suggestions for parent groups:

* Make games for teachers;

* Help seek out sponsors who believe in a strong math program for the school and who might provide materials and resources;
* Support math classes for families at your school.

4. Keep a positive attitude even if you don't like what you see. Work to improve the math curriculum by doing some of the things mentioned throughout this book.
5. Share this book with your child's teacher.

Guess If You Can

When children practice asking questions about numbers, they can develop an understanding of the characteristics and meanings of numbers.

What you'll need

Questions about numbers

What to do

1. Let your child thinks of a number between a stated range of numbers while you try to guess the number by asking questions.
Here is a sample conversation.

Child: I am thinking of a number between 1 and 100.

Parent: Is it more than 50?

Child: No.

Parent: Is it an even number?

Child: No.

Parent: Is it more than 20 but less than 40?

Child: Yes.

Parent: Can you divide this number up into 3 equal parts?

And so on...

2. After you have guessed your child's number, let your child guess a number from you by asking similar questions.

The questions asked demonstrate many different levels of math. They can serve as learning tools for explaining concepts. For example, you can take the opportunity to explain what an even number is if your child does not know.

How Long? How Far?

Many times when you are on the go, you are heading somewhere that requires you be there by a certain time.

What you'll need

Information about how far you're traveling and how long it will take

What to do

1. Ask your children how far they think you are traveling. Meters? Kilometers? Miles?

2. Talk about how long it takes to get there. If it is 3:15 now, and it takes 45 minutes to get there, will we make it for a 4:15 appointment? How much extra time will we have? Will we be late?

These types of questions help children see the usefulness of understanding distance and time.

Total It

This is a good game for practicing quick mental computation.

What you'll need

License plates

What to do

1. Call out the numbers on the license plate.

2. See who can add the numbers up correctly. What strategies were used? (Were the numbers added by 10's like 2 + 8; were doubles like 6 + 6 used?)

3. Try different problems using the numbers in a license plate.

For example, if you use the plate number L706 KKY, ask, "Using the numbers on the plate, can you:

Make a 1 using two numbers? Yes, 7 - 6 = 1.

Make a 1 using three numbers? Yes, 7 - (6 + 0) = 1

Make 13 using 2 numbers? Yes, 7 + 6.

Adapt the calculations necessary according to the license plates, and the child's ability.

The problem solving and computation going on in your child's head is very important. It helps your child be creative with numbers.

Number Search

The object is to look for numbers around you: on cars, buses, and on foot.

What you'll need

Some type of transportation or

A place from which to observe

Paper

Pencil

Ruler

What to do

1. Create a chart that lists the numbers from 1-50.

2. Write down each number as family members locate that number
on a car, a sign, a building.

3. Write down phrases that have numbers in them such as "one-stop shopping," "two-day service," or "open 24 hours."

This is a great challenge for family members of all ages, because even young children can learn to recognize numbers.

Math on the Go

In this busy world, we spend a lot of time in transit. These are some projects to try while you are going from place to place.

While you're moving, have your children keep their eyes open for:

* House numbers;

* Phone numbers on the sides of taxis and vans;

* Dates on buildings and monuments; and

* Business names that have numbers in them.

Put It Away

Now, the sorting begins as you put away the groceries.

What you'll need

Your bags of groceries

Counter top or table to group items on

What to do

1. Find one characteristic that is the same for some of the products. For example, some are boxes and some are cans.

2. Put all the items together that have the same characteristic.

3. Find another way to group these items.

4. Continue sorting, finding as many different ways to group the items as you can.

5. Play "Guess My Rule." In this game, you sort the items and invite your child to guess your rule for sorting them. Then, your child can sort the items, and you can guess the rule.

Sorting helps children develop classifying and reasoning skills and the ability to examine data and information.

It's in the Bag

Here's some fun estimation to do with bags full of groceries.

What you'll need

Bags of groceries

What to do

1. Have your child guess how many objects there are in a bag. Ask: Is it full? Could it hold more? Could it tear if you put more in it? Are there more things in another bag of the same size? Why do some bags hold more or less than others?

2. Estimate the weight of the bag of groceries. Does it weigh 5 pounds, 10 pounds, or more? How can you check your estimate? Now, compare one bag to another. Which is lighter or heavier? Why?

This activity exposes children to the experiences of counting items and comparing qualities, as well as to judging spatial relationships and capacity. It shows how to estimate weight by feeling how much the bag weighs, comparing it to a known weight (such as a bag of sugar),

Check Out

The check out counter is where we commonly think about math in the grocery store. It's where the total is added up, the money is exchanged, and the change is returned.

What you'll need

All the items you intend to buy

What to do

1. Have your child estimate the total.

2. Ask, if I have 10 one-dollar bills, how many will I have to hand over at the checkout? What if I have a 20-dollar bill? a 10 dollar bill ? How much change should I receive? What coins will I get?

3. Count the change with your child to make sure the change is correct.

One way to make estimating totals easy is to assign an average price to each item. If the average price for each item is 25 cents and if you have 10 items, the estimate would be about 2.50

Get into Shapes

The supermarket is filled with geometric shapes.

What you'll need

Items from the supermarket

What to do

1. Show your child pictures of the different shapes -- cubes, rectangles, squares, cylinders, etc., -- before going to the supermarket. This will help to identify them when you get to the shop.

2. At the supermarket, ask your child questions to generate interest in the shapes.

Which items are solid? Which are flat?

Which shapes have fiat sides?

Which have circles for faces? Rectangles?

Do any have points at the top?

3. Point out shapes and talk about their qualities and their use in daily life.

Look to see what shapes stack easily. Why?

Try to find some cones. How many can you find?

Look for pyramids.

Determine which solids take up a lot of space and which ones stack well.

Discuss why space is important to the shopkeeper and why the shopkeeper cares about what stacks well.

Boxes, cans, rolls of toilet paper or paper towels, ice cream cones, lush produce such as oranges, grapes, and tomatoes are all geometric shapes. Recognizing these shapes helps children connect math to the real world.

Weighing In

One fun place to try out estimation and measurement skills in the supermarket is the produce section where everyone can have the opportunity to participate.

What you'll need

The grocery scale

What to do

1. Help your child examine the scale. Explain that pounds are divided into smaller parts called ounces and 16 ounces equal a pound.

2. Gather the produce you are purchasing, and estimate the weight of each item before weighing it.

3. Use sample questions to foster thinking about measurement and estimation. You might want to ask your child:

How much do you think 6 apples will weigh; More than a pound, less than a pound, equal to a pound? How much do the apples really weigh? Do they weigh more or less than you predicted? How about the potatoes? Will 6 potatoes weigh more or less than the apples? How much do potatoes cost per pound? If they cost ___ cents per pound, what is the total cost?

Some grocery stores have scales that tell all the answers to these questions, so in that case, estimate using the same procedure to make sure the machines are accurate.

Activities like this help children develop number sense for weight and foster the ability to compare items when measuring.

Scan It

Shopping is a part of life, which really necessitates our being mathematically informed to be good consumers.

What you'll need

Prices

What to do

1. Notice whether the supermarket has prices on the items or whether the pricing is dependent on scanners.

2. If there are no prices on the items, notice the prices listed on the shelves.

3. Assign each child the job of remembering the price of a few items, particularly those listed as being on special offer.

4. Being aware of the prices of items will help you verify that the scanners are working properly and that the total is accurate when you go to the checkout.

The ever-increasing use of technology in the supermarket puts the burden on you to beware. Your protection lies in having strong mental math skills.

Mathland: The Supermarket

The supermarket is one of the best examples of a place where math is real. Since food-shopping trips usually affect everyone in the family, the following activities include various levels of difficulty within the activity. All of these activities can take place over many visits to the store.

Get Ready

Getting ready to go shopping can help parents and children share their thinking strategies about math with one another.

What you'll need

Paper

Pencil

Coupons (if you use them)

What to do

1. Involve the family in making a list. List each item and mark each item to indicate the number required.

2. Look at the price of an item you bought last week and intend to buy this week. How much did it cost last week? How much does it cost this week? Do you want to?

Pay this week's price?

Wait until the price comes down?

Or, stock up if it is reduced?

3. Involve the group in deciding how much milk or juice will be needed for a week. You might decide to estimate by cups. Use a liter drink container to show how many cups it contains.

4. If you collect coupons, organize them. Choose the coupons that match the items on the grocery list. Discuss how much money will
be saved on various items by using coupons.

Practicing measurement and estimation will help improve your children's ability to predict amounts with accuracy.

Family Portrait

Have your child get to know members of your family by collecting information and picturing it on a graph.

What you'll need

Paper

Pencil

Crayons

What to do

1. Choose an inherited family characteristic: hair colors, for example.

2. Count how many people in the family have the different hair colors.

3. Make a graph. For example, if 5 people have brown hair, draw
5 heads (side by side) to show; these five people. Do the same for the other hair colors.

Graphs help everyone including adults understand information at a glance. By looking at the lengths of the lines of heads, your child can quickly see which hair color, for example, is most common.

Treasure Hunt

Everyone's house has hidden treasures. There is a lot of math you and your child can do with them.

What you'll need

Buttons

Screws

Washers

Bottle caps

Old keys

Seashells

Rocks

Or anything else you can count

What to do

1. Find a container to hold the treasures.

2. Sort and classify the treasures. For example, do you have all the same sized screws or keys? How are they alike? How are they different?

3. Use these treasures to tell addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division stories. For example, if we share 17 buttons among three friends, how many will we each get? Will there be some left over? Or, if we have 3 shirts that need 6 buttons each, do we have enough buttons?

4. Organize the treasures by one characteristic and lay them end-to-end. Compare and contrast the different amounts of that type of treasure. For example, there are 3 short screws, 7 long screws, and 11 medium screws. There are 4 more medium screws than long ones. This may also provide an opportunity to talk about fractions: 7/21 or 1/3 of the screws is long.

Finding a container to hold the treasures gives your child practice in spatial problem solving. The treasures may help you to explain the concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division because they can be moved around and grouped together so your child can count the items.

Newspaper Search

Search through the newspaper for mathematical data.

What you'll need

Newspaper

What to do

1. Numbers in the news. Find the following things in the paper:

A graph

A number less than 10

Something that comes in 2s, 3s, 4s

A number more than 50 the days of the week

A number more than 100

A number that is more than 100 but less than 999

A symbol or word for inches, feet, or yards, or centimeters and meters

A schedule of some kind

A triangle

A weather symbol

A percent sign

Sports statistics

2. List it. Provide your child with supermarket advertisements in order to make up a list of food that will feed the family for a week and meet a budget of a certain amount of money. Have your child make a chart and use a calculator to work out the cost of more than one item. If the total for the groceries is too great, talk about which items can be eliminated. Could the list be cut down by a few items or by buying less of another item? What will best serve the needs of the family?

3. For a fraction of the cost. Give your child a few coupons and supermarket ads from the paper. Help your child match the coupons to some of the items in the advertisement. What fraction of the cost is the coupon? For example, if an item costs 79 cents and the coupon is for 10 cents off, what fraction of the cost can be saved? (About 1/8.) What percentage are you saving on the item? (About 12 1/2 percent.)

One of the main ways people use numbers is for planning. Knowing how to plan how much things will cost before going to the shop and how to read schedules and weather information from the paper will help your child understand the world.

Look It Up

These activities help children understand how items can be organized and grouped in logical ways.

What you'll need

Newspapers

Paper

Scissors

Glue

What to do

1. Section selection. Show your child that the papers are divided into different sections and explain that each section serves a purpose. Show how the pages are numbered.

2. Ad adventure. Provide your child with supermarket ads from the newspapers. Help him see how many items are listed and the prices. Compare the prices at different stores. Ask which store has the best bargain and why. Talk about the difference in prices between items bought at regular price, items at sale prices, and items bought with money-off coupons. What happens when an item is bought at sale price and bought with a coupon?

3. Solid search. Look at the ads or coupons for pictures of all the cylinders, boxes, or cubes you can find. What are their different uses? Paste the pictures on paper and make a "book of geometric solids." Have one page for each solid.

Understanding that there is a logical order to the way things are arranged in the newspaper, and in the book of solids, helps show that math skills can be used in organizing written material. Comparing information, such as the sale prices at stores, also helps children see logical relationships that can be applied to writing.

In the News

Young children love to look at the newspaper. It is fun for them to realize that there are things for them to see and do with the paper.

What you'll need

Newspaper

Glue

Paper

Scissors

Pencil or crayon

What to do

1. Newspaper numbers. Help your child look for the numbers 1-100 in the paper. Cut the numbers out and glue them in order onto a large piece of paper. For children who cannot count to 100 or recognize numerals that large, only collect up to the number they do know. Have your child say the numbers to you and practice counting. Collect only numbers within a certain range, like the numbers between 20 and 30. Arrange the numbers on a chart, grouping all the numbers with 2s in them, all the numbers with 5s, and so on.

2. Counting book. Cut out pictures from the newspaper and use them to make a counting book. Page one will have one thing on it, page 2 will have 2 things that are alike, page 3 will have 3 things that are alike, and so on. All the things on the pages have to be the same. At the bottom of each page, write the number of items on the page and the word for the item. Have your child dictate a story to you about what is on the page.

Being able to read and understand the newspaper involves more than just the ability to read the words and understand what they say. It also involves the ability to read and understand numbers.

Money's Worth

When children use coins to play games, it may help them use coins in real life situations.

What you'll need

Coins

Coupons

What to do

1. Coin clues. Ask your child to gather some change in his or her hand without showing what it is. Start with amounts of 25 cents or less. Ask your child to tell you how much money and how many coins there are. Guess which coins are being held. For example, "I have 17 cents and 4 coins. What coins do I have?"

2. Clip and save. Cut out coupons and tell how much money is saved with coins. For example, if you save 20cents on detergent, show how this amount could be made up using different coins. Ask your child what could be purchased using the savings from the coupon. Sweets? A pencil? How much money could be saved with 3, 4, or 5 coupons? How could that money be counted out in coins? What could be purchased with that savings? A notebook? A magazine? How much money could be saved with coupons for a week's worth of groceries? How would that money be counted out? What could be purchased with that savings? A book? A movie ticket?

Counting money involves thinking in patterns or groups of amounts: 1s, 5s, 10s, and 25s. Start these activities by having your child first separate the coins or coupons by types: all the pennies together, all the nickels, all the dimes, all the quarters; the coupons for cereals, the coupons for cake mixes, the coupons for soap, etc.

Money Match

This game helps children count change. Lots of repetition will make it even more effective.

What you'll need

A die to roll

10 of each coin (penny, nickel, dime)

6 quarters

What to do

1. For young players (5- and 6-year-olds), use only 2 different coins (pennies and nickels or dimes and quarters). Older children can use all coins.

2. Explain that the object of the game is to be the first player to earn a set amount (25 cents or 50 cents is a good amount).

3. The first player rolls the die and gets the number of pennies shown on the die.

4. Players take turns rolling the die to collect additional coins.

5. As each player accumulates 5 pennies or more, the 5 pennies are traded for a nickel piece.

6. As each player accumulates 2 nickels or more, the nickels are traded for a dime. And so on.

7. The first player to reach the set amount wins.

8. Add the quarters to the game when the children are ready.
Counting money, which involves counting by 1s, , 5s, and 10s, is a challenging skill and usually does not come easily to children at first.

Name that Coin

Children love to look at coins but sometimes cannot identify the coins or determine their value.

What you'll need

Penny

Nickel

Dime

Quarter

What to do

1. Look at the coins and talk about what color they are, the pictures on them, and what they are worth.

2. Put a penny, nickel, and dime on the floor or table.

3. Tell your child that you are thinking of a coin.

4. Give your child hints to work out which coin you are thinking of. For example, "My coin has a face on one side, a building on the other."

5. Let your child think about what you have said by looking at the coins.

6. Ask, "Can you make a guess?"

7. Add another clue: "My coin is silver."

8. Keep giving clues until your child guesses the coin.

9. Add the quarter to the coins on the table and continue the game.

10. Have your child give you clues for you to guess the coin.

This guessing game helps young children learn to recognize coins and develop problem-solving and higher level thinking skills.

Half Full, Half Empty

It is helpful to explore whole numbers and fractions through measurement and estimation. Children can see relationships and the usefulness of studying fractions.

What you'll need

Clear container with straight sides, that holds at least 4 cups

Masking tape

Marker

Measuring cup with 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 cup measures on it

Uncooked rice, popcorn kernels, or water

Other containers with which to compare

What to do

1. Have your child run a piece of masking tape up the side of the container so that it is straight from the bottom to the top.

2. For younger children, use a 1-cup measure. For older children, use a 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8 cup measure. Pour the chosen amount of a substance listed above into the container.

3. Mark the level of the jar on the masking tape by drawing a line with a marker and writing 1 for one cup or 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8 on the line.

4. Follow this procedure until the container is full, and the tape is marked in increments to the top of the container. Now, the jar is marked evenly to measure the capacity of other containers.

5. While filling different containers, ask your child "thinking" questions.

How many whole cups do you think this container will hold?

How many 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8 cups do you think the container will hold?

How many 1/2 cups equal a cup?

How many 1/4 cups equal a 1/2-cup? A cup? How many 1/8 cups equal a 1/4-cup? A 1/2-cup? A 1/8-cup?

This activity provides a "hands-on" opportunity for children to experience fractions while making connections to the real world.

Fill It Up

Children enjoy exploring measurement and estimation. Empty containers can provide opportunities to explore comparisons, measurement, estimation, and geometry.

What you'll need

Empty containers in different shapes (yogurt cups, margarine tubs, juice boxes with tops cut off, pie tins)

Rice, popcorn kernels, or water

Marker

Masking tape

Paper

What to do

1. Have your child choose an empty container each day and label it for the day by writing the day on a piece of masking tape and sticking it on the container.

2. Discover which containers hold more than, less than, or the same as the container chosen for that day by filling the day's container with water, uncooked rice, or popcorn kernels; and pouring the substance from that container into another one. Is the container full, not full, or overflowing? Ask your child,

"Does this mean the second container holds more than the first, less, or the same?"

3. Ask your child questions to encourage comparison, estimation, and thinking about measurement.

4. Put all the containers that hold more in one spot, those that hold less in another, and those that hold the same in yet another. Label the areas "more," "less," and "the same?

5. After the containers have been sorted, ask, "Do we have more containers that hold more, hold less, or hold the same? How many containers are in each category?"

The process of predicting, filling the containers, and comparing how much each will hold, gives your child the opportunity to experiment with measurement without worrying about exact answers.

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