Ask your child to teach you how to do any of the activities that have been practiced in class.

* Parents are encouraged to participate in these activities with their son or daughter, in order to help supervise and monitor their progress. As well, they should establish rules for website usage (e.g., whether or not to allow their son or daughter to publish their work on-line).






Click on the newspaper to read articles about education from the News.


December:
Make Christmas Goodies--

• Bring out a family favourite recipe or discover a new recipe on the Internet.
• A great way to spend family time PLUS get a chance to work with fractions and measuring!

Read a Christmas Book--

• Moosletoe
• The Legend of the Candy Cane
• Santa Kid
• These are only a few suggestions and they are all kids' books rather than novels. Read them aloud to practice expression! Read them to a younger sibling or friend or cousin!
  

Wrap Gifts--

• A true art form! Find out how much wrapping paper is needed for the various sized gifts you are giving (measurement, area)

Make a Christmas Card or Write a Christmas Letter

• Get into the spirit of the holiday by making a card for someone special. Be creative! If you're stuck for ideas, click here!
• Write a "What's Been Going on in Our House" recount of the past year's news in your family. Send them in your Christmas cards so others can catch up on your family.
  

November:
Write A Narrative--

Visit an Educational Link--

• Try a website that has been suggested. Jot down what you have discovered and share your "expertise" with others!

Write a Letter to a Soldier--

• Let someone know how important your freedom is to you and your gratitude for it.
  
• Write a letter to a soldier. Click on this site for more information -- http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/commun/message/index-eng.asp
  

October:
I Spy...

• Give 3 clues to see if someone can guess your "mystery object". Clues can be any attribute: colour, size, taste, texture, shape, where it is in the house, etc.
  

Dice Game for Multiplication Practice (up to 6x6)--

• Take turns rolling a pair of dice.
  
• If one of the dice is a 2 and the other is a 4, this is like the math fact 2x4=?
• First person to shout out the answer gets a point.

*If adults are playing, look away when the rolling happens. Count to an agreed upon "head start" (about 5) and then look at what was rolled before giving your answer. This keeps the game on a level playing field!

Card Game for multi-digit Multiplication--

• Each partner takes half of a deck of cards. Each player turns over the first 3 cards from his/her deck.
• The player with the higher number gets to take all the overturned cards.
• Keep playing until someone had won most of the cards or play for 10 minutes.

*NOTE: Jacks, Queens, Kings, Jokers and 10s = 10, A = 1
Therefore, if I turn up K x 8 x 4, It is the same as 10x8 (80) x 4= 320

Times Table Practice--

• Throughout October, 50 house league points will be awarded for every times table that is written out. If you write the ones time table (1x1=1 through to 1x12=12) it will get you 50 points.
• Write them out at home. Bring them in. Get 50 points for every table. It's that easy!

Shopping List--

• Write out a shopping list the next time you have to go shopping. Eg., 2 cans corn, 2 bags of milk, 4 lbs hamburger, etc.
• Let your child look through the Grocery store fliers for the items on your list.
  
• Have him/her round your purchases to the nearest dollar before you go to the store.
• Bring back the receipt and see how close your child's estimate was.

*By the same token, bring your child along while you shop. In order to keep him/her occupied, have him/her try to estimate the cost of the groceries as you shop. Simply bring a notepad and pencil and your child can have an estimate ready when you reach the checkout. How close to the register's total can he/she get? With practice, your child will get to become a seasoned shopper!

September:

Number War--

• Create 4 or 5 digit numbers using a deck of cards.
  
• Who has the biggest number? Start revealing the cards digit by digit, starting with the ones column.
• Ace = 1; 10,J,Q,K and Jokers = 0
• Winner gets all the cards

*Have your child read the number to you (e.g., 8, 10, J, 3 = 8, 003 or eight thousand three)
*Ask what digit is in the ones, tens, hundreds or thousands column (in the above example, 3 is in the ones column)

Dirt Dessert--
Allow your child to make the dessert for your supper one night. He or she will practice portions and measuring and you'll get a break in the kitchen! Here's what you will need:

• chocolate pudding package (1 package feeds 4 people)
• Sandwich cookies (like Oreos)
• milk
• gummy worms

--Measure 1 oz of powder into 4 clear glasses
--Add 125 mL (1/2 cup) of milk into each glass
--Stir with a spoon until mixture is a pudding consistency
--Add 4 cookies into a baggie. Crush them!
--Divide the crumbly cookie evenly on top of each glass of pudding
--Don't forget the worm! (Keep in fridge until ready to eat)

Book Talk--

• Read your novel (at least 100 pages) and get ready to do your book talk
• Do your book talk project (see book talk page for acceptable projects)
• Practice what you will say in front of a family member. You will need to summarize the book's story