Welcome
This newsletter aims to bridge the gap between the classroom and your home, helping you to support your child’s numeracy development in a fun and engaging way. Numeracy goes beyond just addition and subtraction. It’s about applying maths concepts to solve problems and make sense of the world around us. Through this newsletter, we hope to provide families with some helpful hints and tips to increase their numeracy skills.
Long Weekend Fun!
Are you hitting the road this long weekend?
Many families will be travelling near and far to enjoy the long weekend. But even if you’re staying put, there are fun ways to incorporate numeracy skills into your plans.
Numeracy while you’re out and about:
- Calculating Travel:
- Plan your route together and estimate the travel time. Count the number of towns you’ll pass through or time how long it takes to drive between landmarks.
- When you pass a speed sign, calculate the distance you will go if you travel for 1 hour (or 30 min or 4 hours) at this speed.
- Try estimating the distance of your trip and have your child compare it to the actual kilometres on the odometer.
- Fuel Efficiency:
- Discuss petrol prices and estimate the cost of petrol for your trip. Let your child help you calculate the total cost based on distance and fuel efficiency of your car.
- For electric vehicle owners, explore apps that calculate charging stops based on battery range and plan your route accordingly.
- Budgeting:
- Set a budget for the weekend, including activities, meals, and souvenirs. Involve your child in planning how to spend it wisely – you could use Excel or Google Sheets to help keep track of this.
- Let them track expenses and calculate how much is left in the budget throughout the weekend.
Numeracy at Home:
- Board Game Night:
- Revisit your classic board or card games. Many involve counting, adding, and following game rules.
- Or find a newer board game that involves the concept of engine-building that encourages strategic thinking, planning and logical reasoning. Engine-building board games create systems you add to with each turn and become more powerful as the game progresses.
Remember, the key is to make it fun!
By incorporating numeracy skills into your long weekend plans, you’re helping your child develop a positive association with maths and build a strong foundation for future learning.
Happy Travels (or staycation) and have a wonderful long weekend.
Mrs Tijtje Keatley and Ms Cassie Morris
Learning Specialists