# data[].attributes.headline
7 Tips to Help Your Child Understand What They Read

# data[].attributes.subject
7 Tips to Help Your Child Understand What They Read

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Ginny Osewalt

What helps kids understand what they read? Being an active reader is key. That means focusing on the text, questioning it, and taking mental notes. You can work on these skills with your child at home. Use these seven tips to help improve your child's reading comprehension.

When kids connect what they already know to what they read, it helps them focus. Show your child how to make connections when you read aloud. If a book mentions places you've been to with your child, talk about those memories. Then have your child give it a try.

Asking questions encourages kids to look for clues in the text. When you read together, ask questions to spark your child's curiosity. Ask things like "What do you think will happen?" or "How is that character feeling?"

Visualizing helps bring a story to life. That's where mind movies come in. When you read with your child, describe what the scene looks like in your head. Talk about how it makes you feel. You can use other senses, too. For example, if the scene takes place outside, what does it smell like?

Then invite your child to make a mind movie, too. Point out how your child's movie is different from yours. If your child likes to draw or color, encourage your child to make a picture of the scene, too.

4. Look for clues.

When you combine what you already know with clues from a story, you can make guesses or predictions. These are inferences. And making them is a great way to build reading comprehension.

For example, when we read "Kim's eyes were red and nose was runny," we can infer that Kim has a cold or allergies. Help your child do this as you read. If a character is wearing gym clothes and sweating, ask your child what the character might have been doing before.

5. Figure out what's important.

Ask your child: Who are the main characters? What's the most important thing that has happened in the story so far? What problem are the characters trying to solve? When kids can point out what's important, they're more likely to understand what they read.

Your child can also use a tool called a graphic organizer to do this. A "story element" organizer keeps track of the main characters, where the story is taking place, and the problem and solution of the story.

It helps to encourage kids to stop and ask themselves, "Is this making sense?" If your child gets stuck, suggest rereading the part that didn't make sense. What about it was confusing? Were there specific words that tripped your child up?

7. Try new things.

The more kids know about the world, the more they can get meaning out of what they read. You don't have to take an expensive trip or go to a museum to do this, though. You can expand kids' background knowledge and vocabulary in lots of ways.

Shooting hoops or watching a baseball game can help your child connect more with books about sports. Riding the subway might make your child interested in books that take place in big cities.

Tell us what interests you

About the author

About the author

Ginny Osewalt is a dually certified elementary and special education teacher with more than 15 years of experience in general education, inclusion, resource room, and self-contained settings.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Help Your Child With Reading Comprehension

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What helps kids understand what they read? Being an active reader is key. That means focusing on the text, questioning it, and taking mental notes. You can work on these skills with your child at home. Use these seven tips to help improve your child's reading comprehension.

# data[].attributes.headline
Helping Your Child Become a Better Writer

# data[].attributes.subject
Helping Your Child Become a Better Writer

# data[].attributes.body
Tips from the National Council of Teachers of English

# data[].attributes.body
From the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

# data[].attributes.headline
Video Games to Strengthen Math and Reading Skills

# data[].attributes.subject
Video Games to Strengthen Math and Reading Skills

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
4th, 5th & 6th Grade Games | Free Educational Computer Activities for Elementary Students

# data[].attributes.body
A FREE site with dozens of math & reading activities - including full-length books available for online use.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Information and resources for teachers and parents

# data[].attributes.headline
Practical Ways to Encourage Your Child to Read

# data[].attributes.subject
Practical Ways to Encourage Your Child to Read

# data[].attributes.body
This is geared toward middle school parents, but the information is still relevant!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Reading can become an even bigger battle in middle school, especially for kids with learning and attention issues. Your child may need more encouragement than ever. Use these strategies to motivate her to read more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Ways to Encourage Your Middle-Schooler to Read

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Reading can become an even bigger battle in middle school, especially for kids with learning and attention issues. Your child may need more encouragement than ever. Use these strategies to motivate her to read more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In sixth grade, students read and understand a wide range of high-quality texts, including stories, plays, and poems from across cultures and time periods.

# data[].attributes.body
1-877-ASK-ROSE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Home page: Need help with homework? Just AskRose! AskRose is a fully funded, free math & science tutoring service for 6-12 grade students.

# data[].attributes.body
FREE online tutorials, lessons, videos, and more to help your child with Math, Science, and Humanities

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

# data[].attributes.headline
Parent Strategies for Improving Their Child’s Math 

# data[].attributes.subject
Parent Strategies for Improving Their Child’s Math 

# data[].attributes.body
from NWEA's education blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In a previous blog, we shared some parent strategies for improving a child's reading and writing with some tips that they can use throughout the school year. In this post, we'll share some strategies that parents can use to help their child with math. As holiday and winter breaks approach, these strategies are some ways to continue learning even while everyone is away from school!

Choose two or three of the following strategies and use them throughout the year. They are intended to help increase your child's understanding of math skills and to develop confidence in learning.
General Mathematics Improvement Strategies:

Provide activities that enrich and relate mathematics to daily life:

Talk about how many bowls to put out for dinner

Fold napkins in different shapes

Have your child count similar items as you put away groceries

Have your child help measure ingredients for recipes

Give your child change to count out to pay for small purchases at the store; have older children calculate the change

Ask your child to compare prices of items by asking things like, "Which can of beans costs more?"

Allow your child to weigh the fresh produce; have older children calculate the price by multiplying the price per pound by the number of pounds

Read the days and dates on a calendar, talk about the number of days in the month, the number of days remaining until a special event, etc.

Draw a scale map of your home and determine the best escape route in case of an emergency

When traveling, write numbers on a grid and have your child color in the box as they see the numbers on signs or license plates

Check your child's assignment list daily

Monitor daily work and be aware of the content being studied

Use computer software or online games or apps to practice math skills at home

Provide some math activities at home:

Each person rolls the dice and adds, subtracts, or multiplies the numbers

Dice and Money. Each person rolls a die and gets the number of pennies as dots shown. When someone gets five pennies they trade it in for a nickel, dime, and so forth, until they're trading for a dollar

For two people, give each person 13 cards from a deck of cards, have each person flip a card, then have your child decide whose card has the higher value to determine who wins the set of cards. In a tie, place three additional cards face-down, then turn the last card up; the higher card on that turn wins all the cards. Play until one person has all the cards in the deck

Newspapers and Magazines. Find numbers in print and cut them out, then glue them in the correct order onto a larger sheet of paper

Keep empty containers, write different prices on them, then play Store by using a calculator to add up the prices for different purchases

Computation:

Count orally by twos, fives, or tens

Complete connect-the-dot pictures

Have your child make a number book which contains a page for each numeral from one to ten. On each page, have your child glue clippings from newspapers and magazines illustrating that number concept (two dogs, three ducks, or four horses). As your child progresses with number recognition, they can add to the book and add numerical figures used in various ways

Count and pair objects found around the house and determine whether there's an odd or even number of items

Review math facts at home, in the car, waiting in line, or during other downtime

Provide your child with verbal math problems. "Take the number five; add six; multiply by three; subtract three; divide by five. What's your answer?" Speak slowly at first until your child gets better at solving these mental problems; then speak more quickly

Help your child identify ads in signs, newspapers, and magazines that use percentages

Encourage your child to read nutrition labels. Have them calculate the percent of protein in each item

Geometry:

Fold a sheet of paper in half and have your child draw a shape along the fold; cut out the shape and unfold the paper to see a symmetrical shape

Look around the house for different geometric shapes, such as triangles, squares, circles, and rectangles

Use household items (such as toothpicks, marshmallows, straws, twist-ties, sticks, or paper) to construct shapes

Help your child recognize and identify real-world examples of right angles (the corner of a book) and parallel lines (railroad tracks)

While driving together, direct your child to look for objects with the same size and shape

Measurement:

Teach your child how to set the kitchen timer when you're cooking

Draw an analog clock face with the hour and minute hands showing eight o'clock. Ask your child to write the time shown

Arrange various objects (books, boxes, and cans) by various size and measurement (length, weight, and volume) attributes. Talk with your child about how they are arranged using comparison words like taller, shorter, narrower, wider, heaviest, lightest, more, less, about, and same

Use a standard measuring tool (a ruler, a tape measure, or a yardstick) to measure objects located in the house

Gather a tape measure, a yardstick, a ruler, a cup, a gallon container, and a scale. Discuss the various things you and your child can measure with each

Review equivalent names for measurements. For example, "How many cups in a pint?"

Encourage your child to incorporate such terms as whole, halves, thirds, and fourths into his or her everyday life

Statistics, Probability, Graphing:

Open a pack of Skittles® or M&M's® and make a bar graph showing the number of each color found inside the pack

Look through your science textbook and find three examples of different types of graphs

Find the coordinates of places on a map

Watch the news for a week, write down the temperatures for each day, then graph the weather temperatures for the week

Track the scores of ball games played by your favorite team, then graph these scores over a period of several weeks

Have your child make a list of things that could never happen, things that might happen, and things that are sure to happen

Problem Solving:

Encourage your child to figure out answers to real-life situations: "We have one can of tuna, and we need five. How many more do we need to buy?"

Ask questions that involve equal sharing. For example, "Seven children share 49 baseball cards. How many cards does each child get?"

Help your child look up the population and land area of the state and city in which you live and compare these facts with those of other states and cities

Visit the web site for the U.S. Bureau of the Census at cgov and have your child write three interesting pieces of information that he or she learned from the web site

Algebraic Concepts:

Encourage your child to count and recognize pattern and color in the environment by discussing what they see:

What color is the wall in the hallway?

What color is your math textbook?

What is the number on the house across the street?

How many objects are left on the table if I take one away?

How many exits are there from the school building?

How many swings are on the playground?

Have your child look for patterns on building, rugs, floors, and clothing

Parents play an integral role in education, and these tips can help move your student along in their learning. If you have other math tips, please share them on Twitter with us @NWEA.

Kara brings 15+ years of marketing communications experience to her role as the Senior Manager of Digital Content at NWEA. She is passionate about learning and creating opportunities to share NWEA partner stories on a variety of platforms. For the past year, Kara has been creating content for Assessment Literacy.org, working on the NWEA-Gallup assessment perceptions study, and collaborating with the Task Force on Assessment Education for Teachers. Prior to that, Kara held communications and consulting roles in a variety of industries. She completed her undergraduate work at the University of Notre Dame and earned a master's degree from Northwestern University.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Parent Strategies for Improving Their Child's Math

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In a previous blog, we shared some parent strategies for improving a child's reading and writing with some tips that they can use throughout the school year. In this post, we'll share some strategies that parents can use to help their child with math.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you're the parent of an elementary schooler, you've probably already figured out that your child's math class is different from math class when you were young. Kids today are engaged in hands-on activities, technology, and small group teaching. They're not learning to "borrow" numbers and "carry the one." In fact, one of the major changes in how math is being taught now involves the use of language. Your child is probably using new math terms daily and focusing on building number sense, decomposing numbers, and using different models to show her thinking. She's using 100 charts, ten frames, and building fact fluency every day - terms that may leave you scratching your head and wondering why you can't figure out a 1st grade worksheet. (Trust us, you're not alone.)

But understanding what your child is being taught in class will help you to have deeper conversations about his learning, and stay informed of (and be able to help with) his daily lessons. Below are 10 frequently used terms your child may be exposed to in math class that will help you stay tuned in - and that's a (math) fact.

1. Mental Math: This is the ability to see, solve, and calculate math problems in your mind without the use of a pencil, paper, or calculator. It's very important to build strategies for your child to increase their mental math skills.

2. Number Sense: Think of number sense as your child's overall understanding of numbers and flexible thinking about them. (Read more about number sense in our helpful article.) The ability to understand, relate, and connect numbers to each other and see numbers in many different ways. Developing your child's number sense is imperative to mathematical success.

3. Decompose: This is the ability to break apart numbers into smaller parts. For example, your child will learn in kindergarten and first grade to decompose the number 10 - this number can be broken apart into the numbers 9 and 1; 8 and 2; 7 and 3; etc. See an example below:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 New Math Terms Every Parent Needs to Know

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you're the parent of an elementary schooler, you've probably already figured out that your child's math class is different from math class when you were young. Kids today are engaged in hands-on activities, technology, and small group teaching. They're not learning to "borrow" numbers and "carry the one."

# data[].attributes.headline
20+ Math Games to Play with a Deck of Cards

# data[].attributes.subject
20+ Math Games to Play with a Deck of Cards

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Looking for simple and fun math card games to engage your learners? This list includes a huge variety, organized by skill, will help you find a "just right" game to practice math skills. And the best part? All you need is a simple deck of cards and perhaps some dice!
A great way to engage kids who would otherwise loathe math practice (and also just a fun way for anyone to review important skills!) is to play a game. My son has a hard time getting motivated to do school work, but he is always more excited and engaged when I turn whatever we're doing into a game. Here you will find some of my favorite math card games, organized by topic!
*Please Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and help support the work of this site. Read our full disclosure here.*
Benefits of Math Card Games:

Sometimes, board games can be cumbersome, have a lot of pieces, or require a lot of money. One thing you can always use that is easy, portable and cheap is a simple deck of playing cards . Just one set of cards can be used for countless games! And if you have two decks, it just adds to the challenge!

To help you, I have been searching for awhile to find the best math card games and round them up into one giant post so you can find something for virtually any math skill! I hope you find something just right for your kids!

And if you don't have time to wade through this list, grab my "quick start" set with 15 different simple and fun math games, sent right to your inbox!

20+ of The BEST Math Card Games:

Sorting & Counting Card Games:

Helping young kids learn how to sort and count can be fun with a deck of cards. Although you probably don't even need formal games, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Fan Tan (with multiple variations) - 2+ players (best with 4-6 players)

Builder's Paradise (number sequencing)- 2+ players

Counting On - 1+ players

Here are some other simple ideas for letting your kids learn counting and sequencing through play:

Let your kids sort the deck by suit. Then have them put each suit in order from least to greatest.

Have your kids draw 5 cards. Then ask them to put them in order from least to greatest, or sort them between "less than 5" or "greater than 5".

Let your kids gather and sort a collection of various objects into piles (such as pennies, stuffed animals, cups, marbles, etc.). Then let them use cards to label each pile with "how many" are in each stack.

Addition & Subtraction Card Games:

What kids couldn't use some extra practice with addition or subtraction? These are such essential math facts to master and grow in confidence that having a deck of cards handy is a simple way to review. There's a wide variety of games listed below, so check them out and figure out which ones are your favorites!!

Pyramid - 1+ players (Found in Games for Math by Peggy Kaye)

Close Call (adding 2-digit numbers and mental math) - 2-4 payers

Addition War (and so many variations, your kids can practice math skills from Kindergarten through high school!) - 2 players

Once Through the Deck - 1 player

Blackjack Math - 2+ players

Gain or Loss - 2-4 players

Make Ten - 2+ players (This is also found in Games for Math )

Practice with Double Digit Subtraction - 2+ players

Hit Me! - 2+ players (addition and subtraction, absolute value)

Simple Place Value Card Games:

Place Value Game (with rounding) - 2+ players

Beat the Teacher (similar, but with a different point scale) - 2+ players

Hold the Line - 2+ players

Triple Digit Dare- 2+ players (easily adapted)

Prime Numbers Card Game:

Prime Number Challenge - 2+ players

Fractions and Decimals Card Games:

My Closest Neighbor - 2-4 players

Fraction Flip It (multiplying fractions) - 3-5 players

Make a Buck- 2-4 players (adding decimals)

Fun Multiplication Card Games:

Just like addition & subtraction, multiplication facts are so important and require lots of practice and review before kids gain mastery. These math card games are easy to set up and play again and again.

Spiral is especially useful because you rebuild the game board each time, so every game is different!

Spiral- 2+ players ( can also be adapted to practice addition or subtraction)

Integer Flash (multiplication with integers) - 2 players

Once Through the Deck - 1 player

Practice Exponent:

Exponent Battle - 2 players

Order of Operations:

24 Math Game - 2+ players

Target - 2-4 players

OrdOp - 2+ players

Metric Conversions:

Let's Convert- 2+ players

Plus, this post includes 6 more easy card games, covering a variety of concepts. 🙂

And don't miss my resource, Math in the Cards, a huge collection of math card games! You'll never pull out a boring worksheet again!

Purchase PDF Download | Purchase Print Book on Amazon
Enjoy playing with math!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 20+ Best Math Card Games That Are Easy To Learn | K-8

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What do you get when you mix math and card games? An excellent way to learn math facts. Check out this list of 20+ math card games for fun and learning.