Numbers and Shapes and Adding, Oh My!

I am not proud but I was well into adulthood before I realized that math was not a mystery or magical but very practical.  I am obviously a literacy/reading person.  I married a math person.  We have regular discussions about which is more important, reading or math.  He claims that math is all around us and we would not be able to do anything without it.  I maintain that if one can't read, one can't do math or anything else for that matter.  Actually, there really is no winner because both are extremely important.

The problem is is that typically we don't talk math at home and we don't use authentic math at school. Children therefore are learning math in isolation and come away thinking it is either very hard or mysterious.

My husband explained that the 'tricks' he had learned were learned in his Number Sense club.  Yes, he was that guy!   For instance, I always struggle when adding a number to 9.    Imagine my excitement when my husband told me all you do is add the number to 10 and subtract one.  Now, many of you are thinking, "well duh" but as someone who didn't automatically get math it was like a secret code!

We can do a lot at home to help small children understand math.  Children need to understand that math is all around us, we see it and use it every day.  It is important, though that you use correct terms.  It's hard to undo some terms when a child comes to school.  For example,  the diamond is not a geometric shape.  It's a rhombus.

It's really easy to do 'math' talk.  For example, when you are walking to the car, ask which car is the farthest or which is farther.  Farther describe distance.  Don't use further.

Talk about shapes around the house.  Your coffee table may be the shape of a rectangle.  Maybe your table is an ellipse.  We use the term oval but it really isn't correct.  Think egg-like shape for oval.  A ball isn't a circle but a sphere.

Point out patterns on paper towels.  Talk about how the pattern repeats.  See if they can tell you what would come next in the pattern.

When you are eating chips or cookies, after eating one ask how many are left?  Continue after another one is eaten.  Be sure and talk about zero when they are all gone.

Give it a try.  Children love math when they understand it.