From learning to reading to becoming a critical thinker, the key to school success starts in a child’s early years. That is why early childhood education is goal one of Collier County Public Schools’ strategic plan and why we are focusing our first-ever Virtual Town Hall Meeting on early learning. Click Here to View Information & Resource Guide Click Here to View the Early Childhood Education Virtual Town Hall Meeting

Tips for Parents of Elementary School Students

• Read to and with your child, and have your child read to you.
• Encourage your child to keep a journal of daily events.
• Have books, magazines and other reading materials available to your child, and make regular trips to the public library.
• When you shop for groceries, have your child help you find items and then estimate the cost of the purchase.
• Discuss different kinds of jobs and careers in your community to help your child understand that school prepares them for a career.
• Visit museums, zoos, concerts and art exhibits with your child.
• Help your child identify and set goals for staying fit.
• Make walking, hiking or biking a family activity.
• Talk to your child about the importance of education.
• Meet with your child’s teachers regularly to monitor their progress.
• Compliment your child’s work and success in school.
• Make sure your child does each day’s homework assignment.
• Set aside a quiet place for homework and set a regular time each day for it.
• Listen to music together, and have art materials (crayons, paint, brushes, pencils, paper) available at home.

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Top Ten Ways Parents Can Assist Students in Grades K-3 
to be Great Mathematical Thinkers

1. Believe that your child can learn mathematics and expect them to work hard to learn it.
2. Share how you use math every day and provide opportunities for your child to interact with math at home. For example:
   • Grocery shopping – “How much do you think our groceries will cost?” and “How much change will we get back if we pay with $20 bill?”
   • Going to the post office – “How many stamps are on a sheet?” and “How much will it cost to buy 8 stamps?”
   • Driving or walking – “About how long will it take to get to school?” and “How many dogs do you think we will see before we get to soccer practice?”
   • Doing laundry – “Can you sort the clothes into whites and darks?” and “How many pairs of socks can you make from 14 socks?”
   • Cooking dinner – “If we double the recipe, how much flour will we need?” and “How many plates and cups will we need?”
3. Play games that make learning fun with your child.
4. Support your child’s homework by encouraging your child to take his/her time and think through problems. Be open to learning different ways of thinking about math. When you see a strategy you don’t understand, say, “I want to learn from you. Can you explain your strategy to me?” Ask your child questions about his/her work such as:
   • “What do you think about …?”
   • “Why did you …?”
   • “Why did you solve the problem in this way?”
   • “Will your strategy always work?”
   • “What else did you try?”
5. Become familiar with the new math standards in Florida for your child’s grade by visitingwww.cpalms.org .
6. Help your child learn his/her single-digit math facts. By the end of second grade, students should know addition and subtraction facts by memory. By the end of third grade, students should know multiplication and division facts by memory.
7. Help your child to know the names of coins and their values. Help your child know how to tell time and to measure using a ruler.
8. Work with your child to create a math tool box that can be used to help with homework or to practice math. It can contain items such as: hundred chart, number line, ruler, manipulatives (shapes, counters), whiteboard and marker, flash cards, and copies of game cards, materials, and/or directions that have been sent home from school.
9. Become familiar with the District online resources that are available to help your child with math, such as: Students Online, Pearson Successnet (especially the Student Math Handbook), FASTT Math Stretch to Go.
10. Ask your child’s teacher about other ways that you can support your child in math.

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Reading and Math:  How Parents Can Help

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