Helping Your Second Grader Learn Outside of School

1. Play math games with your child. For example, “I’m thinking of a number. It has 5 tens, 3 hundreds, and 4 ones. What is the number? 354.” Or, using a deck of cards, deal two cards and ask your child to add the two numbers. You can also identify a target number and ask your child to either add or subtract to obtain that target number (use a target of 20 or less).

2. Have your child explain the relationship between different numbers without counting. For example, 147 is 47 more than 100 and three less than 150.

3. Encourage your child to stick with it whenever a problem seems difficult. This will help your child see that everyone can learn math.

4. Praise your child when he or she makes an effort and share in the excitement when he or she solves a problem or understands something for the first time.