At GES, our Learning Compact and Plan includes goals for student achievement.  This section of the Paw Prints will be used to share information parents can use to support their children in achieving the goals.  We hope that this information is helpful to you!

GES Goal:  Counting and mastering math facts
Math facts practice doesn’t have to mean flashcards.  Here are some fun, easy, and active ways to practice counting or math facts!  Make a set of cards with numbers (1,2,3, etc.) or math facts (for example: 2+2, 6-4, 4x5, 12÷4) to use in the games.  Customize them to your child’s needs. (You can use index cards and markers, or just pieces of paper.)
Hopscotch
Use chalk to draw a hopscotch game on the driveway or sidewalk. Put a math card in each square.  Pay hopscotch as you normally would, except each player must count or solve the math problem as they hop on each square.
Beat the clock
Set up an obstacle course in any room.  Choose actions for your child to do in the obstacle course, such as jump over a tissue box, crawl under a table, or run along a taped line.  Tape the math cards to each obstacle in the course. Use a stopwatch to see how fast your child can go through the obstacle course, counting or doing each math problem along the way.
Ball bounce
Write numbers from 1 – 12 on a playground ball with permanent marker.  Have your child bounce the ball and catch it, or bounce it to you. The person with the ball must practice a math skill using two numbers his fingers are touching.  For example, if fingers are on 4 and 5, he can add them (4+5), subtract using them (5-4) or multiply them (5x4). Also, your child can bounce the ball himself to practice multiples of different numbers.  For example, he can practice the multiples of 9 for each bounce: 9, 18, 27, 36. Then he can say them backward: 81, 72, 63, 54.
Cross the river
Use a big piece of fabric – a blanket, sheet, beach towel, etc. - and put it on the floor to be the “river.”  On the river, place math fact cards as stepping stones. Have your child cross the river by stepping on the stones.
The card game War
Do you remember this old card game?  You can use this game to practice math facts.  Divide a deck of playing cards evenly between the players.  Each player turns over a card. To make this math skills practice, the person with the highest card must perform a math operation – counting for the numbers, adding the numbers, subtracting one number from another, or multiplying the numbers – before they can collect them.  Each round is played the same. If two players turn over the same card, for example, two 7s, each player lays down 3 cards face down and the fourth card face up, and the person with the highest card performs the math operation and collects all ten cards. The winner is the person with the most cards when players decide to end the game.