DEAR TEACHER
– by Peggy Gisler and Marge Eberts
Helping all parents make their
children’s educational experience
as successful as possible
The Road to Having
Children Succeed in Math
Q
uestion: Being good at
mathematics is such an
important life skill. What
can I do to help my young children have
success in math? — Very Curious
Answer: Believe it or not, there is
one major thing that parents can do to
put their children on the road to success
in math. It is your attitude toward math.
It must be a positive one that promotes a
“can do” attitude. Your young children
will then more than likely have the same
attitude. You must avoid saying that you
hated math in school and could never
handle math, as your children will also
absorb this negative attitude. And your
positive attitude must remain evident as
your children progress through school.
Once your children are in school,
you should praise your children — not
for their talent in doing math but for
their efforts, especially in using strate-
gies to solve problems. This will encour-
age them to try hard. With effort, most
children can master mathematics.
While it is true that students learn
math at school, it should also be part of
your life at home. Before your children
get to kindergarten, help them learn to
count. They can count shoes, socks and
books. This is real-world mathematics.
They can also sing counting songs with
you as well as play games that require
them to count a few spaces in order to
move around a game board.
Once your children are in elemen-
tary school, help your children develop
instant recall (three seconds or less) of
basic addition, subtraction, multiplica-
tion and division facts. Oral practice is
just as effective as flashcards. Games
34 WNY Family November 2018
and apps can provide solid practice, too.
Finally, talk about and show them
how math is used in our daily lives. And
remember that it is practice, practice,
practice that supports success in math.
So, support and encourage their efforts
to do their math homework.
School Locker Searches
Are Permissible
Question: Our school searches
for drugs in lockers using dogs. Do
they have the right to do this and other
searches? — Concerned Parents
Answer: As long as a school of-
ficial has “reasonable suspicion” that a
student has broken a school rule or law,
they can search a student or his or her
belongings. School officials have more
freedom to search a student than a police
officer who needs probable cause or a
search warrant in order to search you or
your belongings.
The use of trained dogs to sniff out
drugs in students’ lockers definitely rais-
es a threat to a student’s fourth amend-
ment guarantee against unreasonable
searches and seizures. However, schools
look at lockers as school property.
Courts have generally allowed dogs in
searches of school property, like lock-
ers, if students are given advance notice
and allowed to be there. Locker searches
cannot be performed in an arbitrary or
discriminatory manner.
Schools can do other searches. For
example, urine test for drugs can be
given to students who are participating
in extra-curricular activities. Also, many
schools are now using breathalyzer tests
before school dances. However, drug or
alcohol testing outside of voluntary ex-
tra-curricular activities could be a viola-
tion of their rights.
Science Fair Projects –
the Roles of Children & Parents
Question: My elementary school
child has to do a science fair project. I
have been looking online for guidance
along with project ideas. What are some
of the best of the many websites that will
help me? — Confused
Answer: First of all, parents need to
realize that it is the child who has been
assigned the project. So, parents should
limit their participation to the role that
the teacher has assigned to them. Unfor-
tunately, parents may need to provide
considerable guidance if a teacher has
not prescribed definite steps to be fol-
lowed by their students.
One of the most difficult aspects of
science fairs is for a child to select an ap-
propriate project. Parents can give input
that will help a child select a project that
he or she is fully capable of doing. They
should also stress the importance of find-
ing a project the child finds to be interest-
ing. Doing these two things can lead to a
child successfully completing a project.
Some children can devise their
own projects. Many rely on looking at
projects others have done. There are
definitely plenty of websites devoted to
science fair projects as well as apps, and
don’t forget about books describing sci-
ence fair projects. Here are some web-
sites to get your child started:
• www.all-science-fair-projects.com
• www.sciencebob.com
• www.sciencebuddies.org
Besides providing an abundance of
project ideas, these websites offer help-
ful advice to parents as well as scientific
resources. You can also search for sci-
ence fair project apps on your phones
and tablets. However, you need to be
aware that many apps are not truly free
but require in-app purchases.
Finally, for a project to be success-
ful, it is essential that children under-
stand the scientific principle that is key
to their experiment. Parents should ask
their children to explain the principle in
their own words.
Parents should send questions and com-
ments to dearteacher@dearteacher. com
or to the Dear Teacher website.