Mathematics

Children need a deep and broad understanding of mathematics from the beginning of their education in order to be competent and mathematically literate. Activities that parents can do to encourage mathematical literacy are not complicated or expensive. Encouraging your child's mathematical knowledge and understanding is similar to what you may already be doing to encourage reading. Here are some general principles.

Do Math With Your Child Every Day.

Doing math with your child is as powerful as reading together. Catch a few minutes whenever you can during the day to do math. One advantage of math is that you can pull a little of it out of many of your regular activities. Let your child lead the process. As a parent, your goal should be to build confidence, skills, understanding and enjoyment so your child wants to keep doing math throughout his/her life. Learn to do mathematics with your child with a sense of adventure, surprise, challenge and togetherness.

Capitalize on your child's questions and explore a variety of mathematical subjects including number, computation, time, money, measurement, probability, statistics, geometry, pattern and mathematical vocabulary.

Let Your Child See and Hear You Doing Math.

Your child needs to see you doing math as much as he/she needs to do it with you. Talk aloud to yourself when you are doing math. Show your child what you are doing and how you are thinking. Even if your child is too young to understand your mathematical reasoning, he/she is observing you doing math and will want to emulate you.

Don't Play Math Camouflage.

Your child needs to know the relevance of math, it helps you in the numerous things that you do, and it is enjoyable. Real mathematics isn't worksheet pages, it's figuring out how to solve problems. Make math a part of your family's life. Look for the math that is underneath the surface of everyday happenings. Bring mathematical problems to the table, as well as, the backyard and wherever else you go.

Have A Positive Attitude Toward Math

If your child sees you being positive about math, he/she is likely to take on the same sort of attitude. Remember children look to adults for guidance in life. If we show an enthusiasm towards math and learning in general, so to will our children.

Explore Math in Books You Read With Your Child.

Mathematics exists in children's literature and can be a vehicle for communicating mathematical ideas. Children's books use math as a language for describing and framing our world. They are a non threatening way to explore a variety of mathematical concepts. The story situation could be measuring pigs, calculating profits, counting money, weighing elephants, dividing cookies, comparing distances, sizes or solving problems. In stories, math becomes relevant and less abstract.

The enjoyment of the story is always important. Don't destroy the magic by interrupting the story with a mathematical question or lesson. Each story is an unique experience and should be enjoyed for its own sake. Math should evolve as a spontaneous, unstructured response.

Click For A List of Children's Books Specifically About Math

Value the Quality of Your Child's Thinking and Problem Solving.

Keep your child invested in math and show that you respect his/her cognitive skills and opinions. Compliment your child on his/her thinking and problem solving. Ask how he/she got the answer. As you work together, focus on how your child arrives at answers.

* How are you figuring that out?

* I saw you were thinking hard about that. What were you doing?

* How did you put those numbers together?

Value Mistakes.

Neither children nor adults do mathematics without making mistakes. Figuring out the mistake and how the problem could have been solved is essential to learning mathematics. Ask your child to explain his/her reasoning. A child who has gotten a wrong answer usually begins to see the faulty reasoning during the explanation. Keep in mind that sometimes a thorough or accurate solution is beyond the level of your child's mathematical skill. Use mistakes as another opportunity to help your child reflect and clarify thinking. Mathematics is about making sense of things.

Do these principles sound easy to make, but impossible to keep? The hard part is changing your perspective, so that you begin to see the mathematics that is right underneath the surface of your everyday family life. Many situations arise in daily life that afford opportunities for the application of math skills. Problems will surface that spark your child's natural curiosity and allow those skills to be used in a safe and supportive environment. You will be teaching through encouragement, by raising interesting mathematical questions, asking your child to explain his/her thinking and engaging in discussions about different ways of solving problems.

Second Grade Math Skills

Practice counting by 2's, 5's, 10's and 100's and writing numbers to 1,000.

Memorize addition and subtraction facts to 18. These facts should be mastered by the end of second grade. Mastery comes with repeated practice. It requires the desire and effort of the individual child, but it is the parent's role to provide a variety of approaches and activities to encourage memorization. You need to spend substantial time and effort practicing math facts in order to help your child become proficient.

Use flash cards for 5 to 10 minutes on a daily routine. Divide flash cards into three piles, facts under 12 that are not memorized, facts under 15, and facts under 18. Work with the first subdivision until your child is able to quickly retrieve the answers, then move on to the next section.

Write difficult to remember addition and subtraction facts on a yellow sticky "post-it-note" and "post it" on the bedroom door, refrigerator, mirror, closet or any place that it would be regularly observed. The math fact becomes the password to open the refrigerator or enter the room.

Practice with just one number fact on a given day. For example, several times in the morning, repeat together, "seven plus eight equals fifteen". Repeat the same number sentence whenever possible, all day long. Repeat the "fact of the day" in as many voices as possible: shout it, sing it, say it in a rumbling voice, go up the scale or down the scale, and so on. Use your imagination. "How would a dog say 7 + 8 = 15?" Usually by the end of a few days, that particular fact will be memorized or easier to recall the next time your child encounters it.

Encourage your child to practice writing math facts in horizontal and vertical form.

Brainstorm by picking a number and writing it in the middle of a piece of paper. Circle the number and think of different combinations that have the same value as that number. Example: 18 (9 + 9, 10 + 8, 22 - 4)

Have discussions about numbers. "Tell me six things about the number 9." "What three things could you say to help a kindergarten student understand all there is to know about 1/2 or 3/4?"

Allow your child opportunities to use money and make change. Give your child a pocket full of change and have him/her identify the different coins, sort and classify them and count out specific amounts.

Play math games using a deck of playing cards, dice and dominoes together as a family. Play games that encourage the use of strategies.

Provide your child the opportunity to use measurement by assisting you with meal preparation and other household projects. Help your child follow the directions on a recipe to make a batch of cookies, a cake or the family dinner. Use measurement vocabulary; such as: cups, pints, quarts, gallons, litter, pounds, etc..

Encourage your child to think and communicate mathematically. Encourage the use of mathematical vocabulary; such as: sum, difference, equals, less than, greater than, etc..

Discuss "time" throughout daily activities. Provide your child with access to traditional analog and digital clocks and watches.

Provide your child with a calendar to record information.

Point out charts and graphs in the newspaper.

Observe and discuss attributes (color, size and shape) found in clothing, nature, buildings, art, etc..

Help your child look for patterns in music, nature, science, art, clothing, poetry, stories and the world around them. Encourage your child to think, seek and discover ideas, look for patterns and relationships and form generalizations. The ability to recognize patterns is a key to mathematical thinking. Patterns are basic to the understanding of all concepts in mathematics. Patterns are the basis of how our number system is structured. Searching for patterns is a way of thinking that is essential for making generalizations, seeing relationships and understanding the logic and order of mathematics.

Children who look for patterns become more persistent and flexible problem solvers. They expect a problem to be solvable and when the first solution is not correct, they keep looking until they find the solution that works. Their calmness is based on the knowledge that there is an answer to be found. Children who don't see patterns and don't expect the world to make sense, give up in frustration at the first difficulty.

Practice estimation with your child whenever possible. Estimation skills are a vital part of logical thinking and important in every area of mathematics. As a parent, model how you use estimation in your daily life and ask your child to join you by making estimations. Estimation or "educated guessing" is a constant part of your everyday life. A large portion of real-world application of mathematics involves estimation or mental computation. "What time do we need to leave to get to the theater on time?" "Do we have enough cash to pay for these items?" "How long will it take us to finish this project?" "How many trash bags do we need to clean up the raked leaves?"

Estimation can be a powerful tool in giving students control over more formal mathematics. When students stop to estimate before solving a problem, the problem itself takes on more sense and becomes more manageable. Students also learn to use estimation to check if the solution is reasonable. Estimation is an important sense-making strategy that runs throughout mathematics.

Thank You For Helping Your Child Discovery The Joy Of Mathematics.

Games That Reinforce Addition Facts

"Pig" An Advanced Addition Game

"Pay The Difference" A Subtraction Game

Strategies For Learning Addition Facts

Learning Through Fact Families