Ontario Early Years Centre (OEYC)
Sarnia-Lambton - Operated by Lambton College
Family Math Program
The Staff
The Program
Give Them Food and They Will Come
Math is All Around
Two for One
Lambton College’s Ontario Early Years Centre
is one of more than a hundred provincial centres that provide
free support to parents and caregivers. Ontario Early
Year Centres foster physical and mental development of children
by providing literacy programs; providing parenting skills
resources; sharing information about other community programs;
preparing expectant parents, and much more.
Family Math Program
We all know how busy today’s families are. It’s a fact of life.
We also know that children do better in school when parents
are involved in their learning from an early age. So the challenge
lies not only in attracting families to educational programs
for young children, but also in deciding which learning activities
parents would be able to incorporate into their daily lives.
After all, repetition is the key to successful learning – especially
in a subject such as math, which can be seen as boring book
work or hard.
These are the challenges that the Family Math Program in Sarnia-Lambton
faced and overcame. In fact, the program is so successful that
we are unable to keep up with demand. That is why we also train
ECE and other professionals to deliver it. What started out as
an OEYC offering has turned into a community undertaking, with
local funding from the United Way and Esso.
The Staff
In August 2003, three staff and a parent volunteer attended an
Early Years Esso Family Math training session at the University
of Western Ontario and there has been no looking back since!
As Early Childhood Educators, the program facilitators recognized
that activities would work just as well with families as in
a classroom setting, connecting home and school. So in May
2004, two staff went back to take the Coordinator Training
so they could also offer "Train the Trainer" sessions.
The Program
Funded by Esso and developed by the University of Western Ontario,
this six week free program offers a family dinner, books to
explore math and literacy, songs, and activities using familiar
materials to help parents realize that “math is everywhere”
and can be taught at anytime of day. The program was developed
to include the math strands in the JK-Grade 1 Ministry of Education
curriculum. For many parents the learning in the family math
program reinforces and explains the learning taking place in
their child’s classroom.
Give Them Food and They Will Come
It’s not so much about the food as it is about creating time.
Each session kicks off at 5:30 with a meal. This allows working
parents to pick up their children, get to the program, and
wind down over supper. The added perk is that parents don’t
have to cook that night, allowing them to focus their energies
on the tasks ahead. The evening is over by 7:30 leaving plenty
of time for the bedtime routine.
Math is All Around
Recognizing that families are busy, program staff help parents
see that math can be taught anytime, anywhere. Sorting, counting,
or talking about shapes are all math concepts that each of
us do every day. So counting cars, sorting them by size or
colour or looking for and identifying shapes on a walk, measuring
water in the bath, and sorting groceries and toys are all math
related.
Two for One
The program also helps build on family relationships, helping
to build stronger families. Facilitators and volunteers model
positive parenting skills, demonstrating worthwhile strategies
to help parents relate to their children without being judgmental
of parents. As well, staff promotes literacy, helping families
develop a love for reading and connecting them to community
resources such as the library.
For more information, please visit www.ontarioearlyyears.ca