While it may seem like math and French are polar opposites, nothing could be further from the truth! Good reading skills are essential to understanding math word problems. Conversely, being comfortable with numbers makes it easier to do many reading-related activities, such as following a recipe. Here are five interdisciplinary activities that will allow your child to practise both math and French.
Is your child having trouble memorizing their multiplication tables? Are they struggling to remember the names of the different geometric shapes? Nothing beats music when it comes to improving memory! Follow these simple steps to create a math nursery rhyme:
Stuck inside on a rainy day? No problem! You can still see the world—without getting soaked—by travelling the globe virtually! For this activity, ask your child to put together a travel itinerary using Google Maps. Start by choosing a small area to explore. It could be a neighborhood in your city or someplace completely unknown in a different country. For each destination your child explores (you can choose a maximum number of destinations in advance), have them write a brief description of the place, as if they were writing a newspaper travelogue.
Once the itinerary is complete, encourage your child to practise their math skills by asking them to add up the distances between the destinations, to determine the total number of kilometres. They can also calculate how long it would take to travel those distances based on the average speed of various means of transportation (e.g., on foot, bike, bus, cab).
For this activity, you’ll need a book that has both text and illustrations. Here are some examples:
As you read the story with your child, ask them to find and name different geometric shapes in the pictures. In addition to encouraging your little one to appreciate the artwork on each page, this exercise will help them realize that math is everywhere, even in storybooks!
Psst! You can also use page numbers to practise math operations. For example, ask your child if they can calculate how many pages are left before the end of a chapter.
Mathematicians are often the most overlooked scientists. Yet without them, we probably wouldn’t have all the knowledge and technology we enjoy today! With your child, do some online research to learn more about the life of a famous mathematician. There are many to choose from:
Writing : The Alloprof Parents' team