PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN NUMERACY WELB The following is only a sample presentation – cut and/or edit to suit your schools individual needs.

The Government shares the widely held view that partnership with parents can be highly effective in supporting and complementing the work done in school… Schools should include in their Literacy and Numeracy policies their plan for the involvement of parents in the way their child learns….. (Pg 21 Para 2.43) This is a quote from the ‘Strategy for the Promotion of Literacy and Numeracy’ (6 pack) – use simply to emphasise why this PIN programme was first started.

Attitudes to Mathematics Personal experiences Negative feelings Right/wrong answer Fear of maths Mental Arithmetic/Tables Quick fire questions Parents unknowingly pass on these negative attitudes to their children Slide is self explanatory. Talk about the personal experiences of the parents which may have coloured their attitude to mathematics. I’m no good at Maths. I was never any good at Maths at school. ‘Don’t worry dear I could never understand Maths at school either.’ Maths was always my worst subject. The idea of maths being all about right and wrong answers Fear of doing maths problems and being wrong Not being fast enough – creates sense of failure The idea of mental arithmetic being about quick recall of tables Parents can unknowingly be modelling negative attitudes towards Maths Strategies have now been introduced in school to try and counteract negative attitudes to maths e.g. unison response, show me etc.

IN THE PAST IN CLASSROOMS TODAY Arithmetic – the four rules of number Pages of sums without any underlying understanding Drill and practice IN CLASSROOMS TODAY Taught strategies Encouraged to work mentally Think for themselves Mathematical games and puzzles Comparison with then and now. Then – emphasis on drill and practice, pages of sums, irrelevant whether or not pupils had any understanding of what they were doing. Now – pupils are encouraged to use mental methods as first resort, to think for themselves, to learn mathematics through e.g. games and puzzles. Less emphasis now on the ‘correct answer’ and more focus on ‘how did you go about finding the answer?’

Why Paired Games? Games can help to: Stimulate children Improve their mental skills Provide opportunities for children to ask as well as answer questions help to develop their potential to think creatively Develop children’s language skills Paired maths is good for children because the use of games stimulates children, improves their mental skills, and allows them to ask as well as answer questions. It can help them to develop their ability to think creatively and in turn improve their language skills.

Have Fun While You Learn Positive early experiences help children to believe that they can do maths Children can: Develop confidence and self-esteem Benefit from the experience of risk taking Develop social skills

Parental Involvement in Numeracy The informal education that takes place in the family is not merely a pleasant prelude, but rather a powerful prerequisite for success in formal education from the primary grades onward Bronfenbrenner 1974 Bronfenbrenner – Educational researcher

How will the paired games be organised? You and your child will sign a contract this evening agreeing to play a maths game NUMBER nights a week for NUMBER weeks (Photos will be taken and displayed in school) Your child will choose and take home a game on a DAY afternoon ( these games are colour coded according to the function eg yellow – subtraction). The game must be returned to school on the following DAY (Please ensure that games are returned with all the contents intact - a list of contents will be found in each bag.) Text in yellow italics indicate information that needs to be inserted by individual and/or is optional to the process. Remember to ask another member of staff to come along to take photos on the night. These photos make a great display! All games can be colour coded beforehand to enable the teacher to make sure that: each child chooses a game that is suitable for his/her ability level the children practice a variety of different functions. Stress to the parents how important it is that all parts of the games are returned as they are expensive to replace! E.g. If pieces from a connect 4/draughts game are lost then the school will end up having to replace the whole game!

The games will then be checked and made ready again for the following DAY. Your child will also receive a ‘Record Book’ for the games. In this little book they can give their own opinion of the game – did they find it easy/difficult, fun or boring, and would they recommend it to their friends. The information gathered in these record books will be used to inform the purchasing of more games in the future.

The game I played this week was called ___________________________________ This game was easy 1  2  3  4  difficult 5  This game was fun/boring I would recommend this game yes/no This game taught me to ______________________________________ Signed __________________ pupil Signed __________________ parent

Before you go Please fill in your questionnaire. Please sign the paired maths games contract with your child and have your photograph taken. This contract will then be put on display within the school. Please feel free to have a look at the games on the tables around the room. The P7 pupils will be happy to demonstrate these for you. Enjoy a cup of tea as you carry out these activities. As always, thank you very much for coming and for your continued support. Parental questionnaires can be left on their seats to complete – P7 pupils could give out pens at the start of the night or after the power-point presentation. Sample questionnaires are available on line Tables of games should be set up around the room before the meeting begins – the P7 pupils who are assisting should be given ample opportunity to play with these games beforehand in order to be able to explain them to the children/parents. Offering the parents a cup of tea encourages a more relaxed/fun atmosphere.