If I could add to the parent teacher conferences I observed this semester, I would add information for family

members about how they can help build mathematics skills with their children. Several family members asked about what
they can do at home to help their children with mathematics. Their only official homework is to read 20 min. every night.
The families weren't asking to add math homework, but they wanted to know what kinds of extra things they could do at
home to support their child's math skills. My practicum teacher referred them to the school website which has links to
reflex math games that they can play at home. In addition to these online math games, I would provide parents with links to
other resources on my class website. Van de Walle, Lovin, Karp and Bay-Williams (2014) suggest that families use
www.nctm.org/resources/families.aspx which is the National Council of Teachers of mathematics website. According to
Van de Walle et al. (2014) the National Council of Teachers of mathematics website contains information about current
trends in mathematics and resources. Van de Walle et at. (2014) also suggest that families use the link for a math forum
http://mathforum.org/parents.citizens.html where they can read about key issues in the mathematics community, download
problems, or participate in discussion groups. Van de Walle et al. (2014) suggest that families should check out The National
Library of Virtual Manipulatives http://nlvm.usa.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html which has applets and virtual tools for learning
about different mathematics topics. Van de Walle et al. (2014) suggest that families can help their children see the
connection between literacy and numeracy, and between mathematics and everyday life. Since students are reading for 20
min every night, Van de Walle et al. (2014) suggest that parents could ask their child to tell them about what they are
reading. As the child tells them about the book, parents can ask mathematics related questions like, how many more pages
until you finish the book, how long in centimeters do you think that ship is, if that book took place in 1890, how many
years ago was that, (Van de Walle et al., 2014). I could write up sample questions for each unit we do if parents don't feel
comfortable coming up with their own math questions. I could suggest that parents share math stories with their child (Van
de Walle et al., 2014). They can share a math moment at the dinner table, in the car, or any other time they are with their
child (Van de Walle et al., 2014). The math moment can include when the parent used math that day, such as, when they
were shopping, doing laundry, figuring out a budget, estimating how long it will take to get to work, or how much
something will cost (Van de Walle et al., 2014). The family can take turns sharing math moments everyday (Van de Walle et
al., 2014). That would help children see how useful it is to have strong mathematics skills. Parents can ask mathematics
questions about their child's chores (Van de Walle et al., 2014). For example, they can ask, If it takes 45 min. to do a load
of laundry, how long will 4 loads of laundry take? Families can do scavenger hunts in the car for geometric shapes with
various properties, like a four sided polygon with 2 parallel sides (Van de Walle et al., 2014). I could type up an
informational sheet with all these strategies for helping students with math at home and send home a paper copy to families
(in English, Spanish and Arabic, which are the three languages spoken at home in my practicum class, translators are

available for both Spanish and Arabic) and post a copy on my class website. In order to inform families about the type of
mathematics skills our class is focusing on, Van de Walle et al. (2014) suggest having students write to their parents, in their
parent's first language (which all the students in my practicum class know to do) about what we are about to learn before
each new unit. According to Davis and Yang (2005), teachers should encourage families to preserve their home language,
(p. 21). Davis and Yang (2005) assert that students use literacy skills they develop on one language to learn skills in any
subsequent languages they learn. By asking students to write in their home languages, I will be encouraging them to keep
up with literacy skills in that language, and showing family members that I think it is important for students to use that
language. I will ask the family members to respond (in their language of choice) about any questions they may have. Not
only does this communicate to families the information their child will learn, but it also lets students know what they need
to learn (Van de Walle et al., 2014). I will send ideas for the four types of activities parents can do at home (connect to
reading, sharing math stories, chores, and scavenger hunts) that relate to our new unit along with the student's letter. These
ideas will be translated into Spanish and Arabic for families who prefer those languages.

In addition to providing ways families can help their child make connections between math and their everyday life,
I could also allow students to check out partner activities from their BUILD boxes. During small group math rotations,
students have a station where they do hands-on math activities that are placed in five plastic containers (one for each letter
in the word BUILD). Some of these activities are partner activities and games that students could do at home with a family
member. I could make the activities that have easily replaceable materials (the games that just use laminated pieces of
paper, and die but not ones that use expensive manipulative like fraction tiles) available for check out, like the classroom
library. I could have an extra set of these materials, so families can check the materials out for multiple days and the
BUILD box won't be missing anything if the student forgets to bring the game or activity back. I will translate the
instructions for the materials that are available for check out into Spanish and Arabic. The children know how to do all the
activities in the BUILD boxes, so they should be able to explain to their family members how to play. The games available
in the BUILD boxes are different for every unit, but an example of a good one to make available for check out is one where
they use laminated pieces of paper with numbers written on them to practice counting by various numbers. For example, the
set for counting by 2s has multiple copies of cards with the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, and 24. Each
player gets a pile of cards which they place face-down in front of them. There are four piles of cards in between the two
players with cards face up. The players have to take turns quickly placing their cards in the middle piles, if they have the
card that is 2 more than a card in the middle. This game is fast paced and the kids never seemed to get sick of playing. The
only material is laminated pieces of paper, so it would be easy to place in a plastic bag and let children carry home in their

backpack.