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Giving your Child the Best Start in Math Before School Even Begins!

Which subject gave you the most difficulty in school?  Most parents say math.  As a teacher of 32 years, I heard time and time again, “Well, I was never good at math . . .”  Recently, Mathnasium, the Math Learning Center, had its 4th Annual Trimathlon event.  A past friend contacted me after seeing an article in the newspaper about the event.  To our pleasure, we had Vincent, her 3 year old son (soon to be 4) participate with our second grade participants.  What a joy it was when he completed his first challenge, The Counting Game, prior to the 15 minute time limit and squealed, “I finished it!”  His enthusiasm and desire lasted the rest of the competition and to our joy he captured second place! 

Vincent loves doing math.  For him it is like participating on a sport team, learning dance or karate or some other hobby.  How did this happen?  How can you get your child interested in math when they are young so that love of learning continues throughout their life?  Emily, Vincent’s mom, knows that music and mnemonic riddles help students put facts to memory.  Vincent knows all of his times tables.  I even challenged him by writing the numbers in words!  A calculator for him is a fun toy like games on your Smart phone or tablet.  He states the answer and then uses the calculator to check his answer.  Hap Palmer has a CD called Multiplication Mountain.  Instead of listening to just any music in the morning, Emily played Hap Palmer’s CD’s. That is how Vincent learned his math facts.  Multiplication Mountain was his favorite.

How else can you motivate your child’s love for math?  Play games.  Lakeshore Learning, one of Mathnasium’s Trimathlon sponsors, has sets of games in folders for easy storage and playing.  Vincent plays these.  Other favorites at our math center are Fraction Formula, Countdown, Spot It, Quoridor, Set and 24.  Vincent reads math books and looks at the games they provide with their series.  He makes the cards himself and plays the games.

If you have a child that has a love for math and is ahead of his peers in school, Mathnasium the Math Learning Center can offer your child the supplementary experiences he may crave to keep the spark glowing!

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Did you have a good time at our annual Trimathlon? We sure did, check out the fun!

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Help your child become a math hero!

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Join us for our 4th annual Trimathlon!

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Common Core - 8 Standards for Mathematical Practice

Besides looking at the Common Core Math Content Standards, parents need to be familiar with the Standards for Mathematical Practice since your child will be measured on these as well.  These describe the processes that students utilize to be proficient in math.  Although these Mathematical Practices may appear to be new they are derived from practices that have been long standing.  The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) had 5 process standards for demonstrating proficiency in math.  These were Problem Solving, Reasoning and Proof, Communication, Representation, and Connections.  The second document that the current Standards for Mathematical Practice were derived from is strands of mathematical proficiency outlined in the National Research Council’s report “Adding It Up”: Adaptive Reasoning, Strategic Competence, Conceptual Understanding (comprehension of mathematical concepts, operations and relations.) Procedural Fluency (procedures carried out accurately and efficiently) and Productive Disposition.  The last one has the most impact on our ability to be successful in math.  

There are 8 Standards for Mathematical Practice.  In the simplest form possible, I will explain how you can help your child with each:

1.  Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

Can your child pick out important words and know the operations they stand for?

Does your child carry with them a “mathematical tool box” just as a mechanic has a tool box to do his job?  Do they know what to choose to see if it will solve the problem?

Can they determine if their answer makes sense?

If it doesn’t, can they go back to their “tool box” and try another way?

2. Reason Abstractly and Quantitatively

Students learn properties and operations for math and how to use them.  If they can’t multiply 79 X 8 mentally do they know that (80 x 8) – (1 x 8) will yield the same answer?

They can write expressions or equations for written words.  They know things like “of” often means multiply or “is” means an equal sign

3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others

Can your child prove or disprove conjectures by offering examples or counter examples? Ex: even + even = even

When discussing how they came up with their answers they can defend their reasoning verbally or by using manipulatives, visuals, or actions.

4. Model with Mathematics

Can your child use approximation or estimation to simplify a complicated task?

Does your child use visuals, diagrams, graphs, formulas, etc. to simplify tasks?

5. Use appropriate tools strategically

Does your child use technology to help understand concepts?

Can your child choose a “tool” from their “mathematical tool kit” that will help them solve a problem (ex: ruler, protractor, calculator)?

6. Attend to precision

This isn’t just calculating accurately.  It is about labeling answers correctly as well.

It is also about communicating precisely when explaining to others

7. Look for and make sense of structure

Can your child find a pattern or a structure that holds true?

Can your child break down a complicated problem into smaller simpler pieces?

8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

Does your child see if calculations repeat in regularity?  Ex: 10% of a number is always equivalent to moving the decimal point in the number one place to the left.

Do they look for shortcuts or general methods? Ex: 200 x 40 = 2 X 4 plus three zeroes on the end

If one believes they can do something and they have the determination and dedication to stick with it and practice, then they will succeed.  As a volleyball coach I saw this year after year.  I was fortunate to have a 10 year winning streak.  My girls were not the tallest, the strongest or the quickest.  But, we believed that we could beat any opponent we faced!  We worked at it!  We figured out how to get at the best and we did.  If students apply that same efficacy to math, they will become great mathematicians too.

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Geometry can be delicious!

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When's the last time you saw A+ Man?

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Start them early.

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The myth: You can't fold a paper in half more than eight times.* The reality: Given a paper large enough—and enough energy—you can fold it as many times as you want. The problem: If you fold it 103 times, the thickness of your paper will be larger than the observable Universe: 93 billion light-years. Seriously.

Don't try this at home.

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Visualization of the first 1000 digits of pi.

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The great tree of math!

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College students in Nevada who do not complete college-level introductory math courses early on in their studies are far less likely to graduate than those who do, a new report shows.

Is your child ready to take on college math?

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A new study proves that people who are good at reading are also quite naturally talented at math.

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Warning: contains minor spoilers for The Fault in Our Stars. I recently read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, now a major motion picture that ...

Wait, how many infinities?

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A great example of the Wallace–Bolyai–Gerwien theorem.

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A plan to help your child not just improve their math skills, but to make math fun.

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The Pigeonhole Principle is a really simple concept, discovered all the way back in the 1800s. It has explained everything from the amount of hair on people's heads to fundamental principles of computing. Here's how it works.