How to teach pre-school maths at home

[buds]

:oops: Alamak, dun kowtow 1st... :nailbite: I must find it first. :nailbite:

[botakgundul]

Dear All,


These books are authored by Stuart J Murphy. There are 3 levels. Level 1 is meant for age 3+. Level 2 is meant for age 6+. Level 3 is meant for age 7+.

The books look interesting to me. They teach math in stories. Does anybody read the books before? If yes, may I know your comments?

Cheers,

[sean wife]

HI jedamum,


I am also at the same stage as you on teaching addition to my 3.5 yrs olds….they can count concrete objects, can recognize numerals, but dun know how to progress to mental calculation…sometimes when I ask 2+2= ?, they can say 4, but I think it’s more based on experience or memorizing (as in they have been asked this question before and they already knows the answer by heart…) instead of calculating it in their minds.

For addition of +1, I tried to teach them to count up the number line like the kumon method, think they could ‘agar-agar’ get the concept, but we didn’t get beyond the first few pages of the kumon workbook as I think they dun like to write out the answers…so maybe need to restart again but entice them with pasting number stickers instead.

At the same time, I also not sure if I should perfect their writing part first or it’s Ok to go ahead with teaching the concepts of addition and subtraction…as the time I can spend teaching them is at most like 30-45 mins each day.

[phankao]

sean wife:

HI jedamum,


I am also at the same stage as you on teaching addition to my 3.5 yrs olds….they can count concrete objects, can recognize numerals, but dun know how to progress to mental calculation…sometimes when I ask 2+2= ?, they can say 4, but I think it’s more based on experience or memorizing (as in they have been asked this question before and they already knows the answer by heart…) instead of calculating it in their minds.

For addition of +1, I tried to teach them to count up the number line like the kumon method, think they could ‘agar-agar’ get the concept, but we didn’t get beyond the first few pages of the kumon workbook as I think they dun like to write out the answers…so maybe need to restart again but entice them with pasting number stickers instead.

At the same time, I also not sure if I should perfect their writing part first or it’s Ok to go ahead with teaching the concepts of addition and subtraction…as the time I can spend teaching them is at most like 30-45 mins each day.

Can use song to memorise? Like skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s. (multiplication, in effect).

[deardear07]

Just curious…addition nt taught till at least 5yrs old…if they cun grasp,itz ok mah,right?


My son can recognize numerals since 1yr plus,knws his rote counting n can count meaningfully up to 10 without much of my intervention…he likes transport n machinery though i din expose him to them n whenever he sees them on e road,he counts n tells me the total of objects he saw…like- Mummy, see, 2excavators, or 4cars,etc…

Of coz he progressed frm telling me tat hez counting by saying ‘1,2 cars’ to just counting n saying the final number- ‘2cars’…

but dun intend to teach him addition till hez older,like 3+ gg 4yrs old.

Hw do u guys judge if child is ready for more,such as addition?

[Hifive]

Hi


I need advice here:

My DS2 is K1 this year. He's ok with additions using finger counting (till +5, e.g. 10+5 or 19+5).

I would like to progress with subtraction (tried using concrete objects to let him practise and he's ok with it), so now I am thinking to progress on to using fingers, how do I do it ?

For example, if 3-1, do I ask him to show 3 fingers and then keep 1, so left with 2 (but I'm afraid in future if the number is too big, it will be more difficult for him to do it e.g. like 13-1

OR do I ask him to show 1 finger and count backwards?

Thanks in advance!

[abhcbl]

I don’t really use number cards or any fix way in teaching my son. He can count while he was about 2 and shortly after that, one day, he just came and told me … daddy, 1 cow has 4 legs and 2 cows have 8 legs. He is now going to 5 … and is studying primary 2 math because he enjoy maths. He is able to solve simple problem like "strawberries and apples added up to 13 and there are 5 more strawberries than apples".


My experience (may not be best practices) is that you have to play games with them. We uses anything from the big abacus, children monopoly, animals figurine, ben 10 (his favourite toys) … and etc. We always started with just purely playing … and slowly incorporate some maths into the game. Like snake and ladder, we started off with him just rolling the dice … then slowly, I started to wish for a number in front of him (and explaining briefly why … and cheer loudly when I get it) … he soon wanted to learn how to do it. Even with his Ben 10 figurines … I may suddenly start saying I think mine figurine is strong because it has more hands … and after awhile you can see us starting to count all the hands, wings, legs, etc. There are so many games that we played together … and each time I add a bit of maths in the game. For minus, I started off with his treats … taking few from him and etc.

Don’t push them at the beginning … play with them (have fun vs trying to really win them) … they will want to learn more themselve when they enjoy it. Yesterday, I were playing cards game with my son … finding the pairs (I started off with 6 cards … and tell him he could promote to the next level if he win me more than 3 times in a row). This teaches him number, focus, memory, etc… so have fun

[abhcbl]

by the way … if anyone has specific question … I am happy to share with you the games that we played … just pls remember to tailor it to your kids interest … what my son enjoys playing may different from yours.


Also sometime you need to use a bit of imagination to create games for them to teach them a specific idea … I have a game that teaches my son simple algebra … and he loves it.

For example, on the minus problem … there are a few games that I used to play with my son:

1. He love strawberries … so when he asked for strawberries I will ask him … how many does he want? If he said 10 (for example, I may just gave him 6, and asked him how many more should I gave him). After he got 10, when he start eating, we started counting how many left and how many had he eaten.

2. He like balls … again we started throwing the balls and counting them. Then I may asked him to throw me 2 balls, and asked him how many balls does he left with … and so on.

3. He like his ben 10 figurines … so he had about those 10 small little figurines. We usually started of by sharing 5/5 each … again I will show him how we share and how we get 5/5 (without telling him divide at all … as I am working on minus). We will play with it his way … then I may just give him 2 figurines and ask him to guess how many do I have.

You will be surprise … when I first introduced division to him, I told him division is like sharing and splitting … like you have 10 ben 10 figurines and you share equally with your daddy … how many does each of us has. He told me 5 straight away … and I act amazing asked him to teach me … he started doing you have one, I have one … and show me the whole process of how he get 5. Then I told him thanks for teaching me.

So most important fact, remember to praise a lot … and act stupid (sometime) … like tell him … how you think about this so fast? can you teach me?

[Hifive]

Hi abhcbl


Thanks for your sharing. Will try out on those games you mentioned.

[SAHM_TAN]

Hi,


Just a quick check. 2 X 3 means

2 groups with 3 items (I can’t think of what is the correct term) in each group?

How to teach odd and even numbers to pre-school kid?