Nurturing Your Child's Math and Literacy in Pre-K–Fifth Grade: The Family Connection

With recent changes in the curriculum and standards in language arts and mathematics, parents often are challenged to find ways to help their children be successful in their learning endeavors. While parents want to be involved in their children’s education, they are often unsure of their role in their children’s learning and the best ways to help their children to succeed academically. Moreover, with the changes in how math and literacy are being taught, parents often struggle with helping even first grade children with their homework. In this book we set out to alleviate this struggle, by offering parents a resource they can use to navigate their child’s education, communicate with teachers, and support their children in learning mathematics and literacy. After providing an overview of the current educational climate and tips for communication with teachers, we share strategies and suggestions parents can use to assist their children in language arts and mathematics. We provide detailed descriptions of activities, games, books, and conversations that connect with what children will be learning at each grade level.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Part I: The Importance of Parent Involvement and Home School Partnerships Chapter 1: Parent Involvement Matters Chapter 2: Today’s Educational Environment and the Parent Involvement Chapter 3: Supporting Your Child at School Chapter 4: Supporting Your Child Outside of School Part II: Strategies for Supporting Language Arts Learning Chapter 5: Reading at Home Chapter 6: Building a foundation for reading and writing in PreK and K Chapter 7: Supporting Literacy Learning: Grades 1 and 2 Chapter 8: Supporting Literacy Learning: Grades 3 and 4 Chapter 9: Supporting Literacy Learning: Grade 5 and Beyond Part III: Strategies for Supporting Mathematics Learning Chapter 10: Number Sense Chapter 11: Foundations for Early Numeracy: PreK and Kindergarten Chapter 12: Supporting Mathematical Thinking: Grades 1 and 2 Chapter 13: Supporting Mathematical Thinking: Grades 3 and 4 Chapter 14: Supporting Mathematical Thinking: Grade 5 Chapter 15: Supporting Mathematical Thinking: The Practices involved in Mathematics Children’s Book References References About the Authors

About the Author :
Mary Mueller, Ed.D, is an Associate Professor of elementary and special education at Seton Hall University who specializes in teacher preparation and development in mathematics. Dr. Mueller has combined her research on the development of mathematical reasoning, math education and teacher preparation to examine the collaboration between teachers and families in supporting children’s literacy and mathematics learning. Alisa Hindin, Ed.D. is an Associate Professor of Educational Studies at Seton Hall University where she teaches courses in literacy methods and teacher education. For over 15 years, Dr. Hindin has been involved in research on ways to build effective partnerships between home and school.

Review :
Researchers and policymakers assert that there is a need for parents and teachers to be in partnership in order for children to be successful academically. As parents strive both to help and advocate for their child, changes in the past decade owing to the adoption of Common Core Standards and Student Learning Objectives present challenging new waters to navigate. Unfamiliar content and methods in mathematics and language arts may leave parents bewildered, so Mueller and Hindin supply specific suggestions for each elementary grade level. Part 1 shows the necessity of parent involvement for growth, while parts 2 and 3 contain ideas for supporting learning through games, books, and activities. The authors also view everyday conversation and situations as a framework for exploring content-rich learning throughout the day instead of isolating educational pursuits to 'school time.' Section 3, devoted to mathematics, serves as a primer as it explains sample problems students might encounter at each grade level in a way that is comprehensible. Verdict: For parents trying to wrap their minds around Common Core for teaching math and language arts, Mueller and Hindin’s volume might prove a valuable textbook, with practical ideas and strategies. This book is intended for parents who wish to help their pre-K through fifth-grade child with literacy and math skills…. This book is a scholarly publication, well-founded on research. Each section contains FAQs, including commonly posed parent questions, followed by the authors’ recommendations. The authors have touched on the very important topic of engaging parents in their child’s learning. Being both a K–grade 8 math and reading specialist and now a preservice math instructor, I recommend this book as a supplement to a college- or graduate level education course or as a reference guide for teachers. “Mary Mueller and Alisa Hindin have written an important book about how parents can support their elementary student within and outside of school. They have carefully described complicated instruction in both literacy and mathematics so that parents can understand what is expected and how they can work with their own child. I think one of the strongest aspects of this Nurturing Your Child’s Math and Literacy in Pre-K–Fifth Grade is the questions that parents are sure to ask and how carefully the authors have crafted responses. These responses will certainly resonate with parents as they better understand how to work effectively with their child.” “Nurturing Your Child’s Math and Literacy in Pre-K–Fifth Grade: The Family Connection is an innovative and important guide that provides solid practical advice for parents to build connections with teachers. Mueller and Hindin offer explicit strategies to parents that target specific math and literacy goals, address parents’ concerns about helping their children succeed, and are respectful of what all families bring to their children’s learning.” As the father of two elementary school students, I found Mary Mueller and Alisa Hindin's book to be fascinating, innovative, and inspirational. Their methods to enhance your children's language and math skills are extremely effective yet easy to implement; My wife and I started using them immediately after reading about them, and we could not be more pleased with the results. Every parent should read this book.