Pegs Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Hi there! This is my first thread over here, and I'm a little nervous. I'm not sure whether DS is gifted, bright, autistic, just odd, or a combination of these. I figure many here will have seen it all, though. :) I'm doing lots of math play with DS, and have discovered that he has quite an aptitude for graphs and the like. After he enjoyed a simple bar graph activity I had printed off for free, I introduced him to the x and y axes, and Cartesian coordinates. Well, he easily and joyfully identified the ordered pair for each point that I had plotted in the first quadrant, then moved on to the others like they were no big deal. Where to next?! His computation is exactly where I'd expect a nearly-5-year-old's to be, and he is not particularly driven to study - he just enjoys the board games and kitchen table style math play we do. He is a bit of a delight-driven dabbler, I suppose. He finished the lite version of dragonbox, so I'm making him a Hands on Equations equivalent. He really likes maps, and remembers anything that I point out to him once or twice. Maybe some kind of orienteering project? I bet he'd take to using a compass with a little exposure. Is there a particular style of geometry I should look into? His fine motor coordination is lacking, so origami is unlikely to be much of a hit. Please throw ideas at me! I'm sure others here have provided stimulation and inspiration for kids who are big thinkers, but unlikely to benefit from significant acceleration in certain areas. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks in advance, Pegs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space station Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Here is a useful website that would let him play with making all kinds of graphs. http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/ You would have to help him, especially at first, but I bet he would figure some things out on his own too. The neat thing about it is that once the data is entered you can then select different options to show the data graphed in different ways. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethel Mertz Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat (and other similar books which will show up when you type the title into the Amazon search bar). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 My daughter is 4 and a bit advanced. Books that she likes are the Penrose one already mentioned, the Time-Life I Love Math series (out of print, but easy to find used online), Stuart Murphy's MathStart series, and a couple of the Sir Cumference books (All the King's Tens is probably the easiest out of these). Some math games that work for her are Toss Up! (keeping score on an abacus), Math Dice Junior, and the RightStart games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Don't worry about the fine motor skills for origami. It will improve with age (says mom of kiddo who still has fine motor issues at 12). The more you do the better he will get. Kiddo loved graphs of all sorts too. When you are giving him coordinates, ask him if he can identify the relationship between the x and y coordinate. Plot another few along a straight line and ask him if he sees patterns. I strongly suggest looking into modular arithmetic, also known as clock arithmetic in some circles. Playing with mod really helped my son to understand some finer points of cryptography and group theory. The nrich parent site of the link I included has lots of good stuff for all ages by the way. Play binary/ trinary (other number system) verbal games in the car. We assigned numbers to alphabets (and he also did some reverse alphabet ones) and had him crack codes in base 10, base 2, base 4 etc. Prime numbers of course. And introduce the pascal triangle (have him make his own and stop at a point where he is comfortable) and see what patterns he is able to see in them. See if your library has the out of print Young Math books. These are gems for kids your son's age! Some PDF versions here: https://naturalmath.wikispaces.com/Young+Math+book+series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskra Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Quark has posted some excellent suggestions (as always). I was not aware of the "modular arithmetic" website. Thank you so much! I don't know how you find this stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 You should look into geocaching or letter boxing! My DD was super into it when she was 3-6 years old. She and DH went all over the place. Lots of good things to learn and get outside doing it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 My DD loved the Critical Thinking Company's "Think a Minute" books-they had a mix of puzzles and problems she really enjoyed. Prufrock press has some good ones, too. In both cases, the grade level printed on the book is where you'd use them with a classroom. For home, I'd suggest going up a grade level or two, so for a preschooler, I'd look at 1st-3rd grade labeled books. They will probably be a good fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegs Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 Wow! These are all so wonderful! Thanks people. I'm really glad I asked. :) Here is a useful website that would let him play with making all kinds of graphs. http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/You would have to help him, especially at first, but I bet he would figure some things out on his own too. The neat thing about it is that once the data is entered you can then select different options to show the data graphed in different ways.Hope that helps! That looks fun. I might show him how we can enter data from observing the growth of a sunflower, or similar. Take a look at Cub Scout materials for -mathematics belt loop and pin -1-2-3 Go! and Swing! the materials for math and engineering respectively They go thru some fun stuff that appeals to lads, and you'll have friendly resources for codes and map & compass. Here is also a fun morse code site: https://www.nsa.gov/kids/games/gamemorse.htm You have a box of lego w/gears, right? I had not seen any of this stuff. And what? There is Lego with gears?! I am sooo out of touch. He would love that. He is inheriting a sizeable Lego collection, a portion at a time, from my brothers. I bet they'd get right into scaffolding some dynamic builds with him. Thank you. The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat (and other similar books which will show up when you type the title into the Amazon search bar). I saw this recommended on one of Quark's threads, but it's hard to sift through long lists of resources and figure out what might be suitable for where a particular child is at, so it's helpful to see that you have suggested this here. My daughter is 4 and a bit advanced. Books that she likes are the Penrose one already mentioned, the Time-Life I Love Math series (out of print, but easy to find used online), Stuart Murphy's MathStart series, and a couple of the Sir Cumference books (All the King's Tens is probably the easiest out of these).Some math games that work for her are Toss Up! (keeping score on an abacus), Math Dice Junior, and the RightStart games. I'll follow up on those books also. Thanks for sharing what your 4yo has enjoyed. We love keeping score with an abacus or c-rods too. I'll go and read more about the games you have suggested. Don't worry about the fine motor skills for origami. It will improve with age (says mom of kiddo who still has fine motor issues at 12). The more you do the better he will get. Kiddo loved graphs of all sorts too. When you are giving him coordinates, ask him if he can identify the relationship between the x and y coordinate. Plot another few along a straight line and ask him if he sees patterns. That's reassuring, ta! Yes, he can keep plotting if I give him a few points to start with. And if I change the gradient he thinks I am being extra funny. "Whaaat? Go up two every time? That's just no deal. Hilarious!" I'm not sure what that means, exactly, but he's obviously having fun. Maybe he can do his pre-writing practice with dot-to-dots he has to plot first. I strongly suggest looking into modular arithmetic, also known as clock arithmetic in some circles. Playing with mod really helped my son to understand some finer points of cryptography and group theory. The nrich parent site of the link I included has lots of good stuff for all ages by the way. He does read analogue time quite comfortably, so would probably really enjoy this. It looks like it would go beyond him fairly quickly, but he may not be far off catching up. We'll play around and see what happens. Play binary/ trinary (other number system) verbal games in the car. We assigned numbers to alphabets (and he also did some reverse alphabet ones) and had him crack codes in base 10, base 2, base 4 etc. Prime numbers of course. Both of these might need to wait until he is multiplying and dividing with ease? We'll see. I'll be curious to watch whether he takes to it intuitively. He counts in base 2 with an abacus a little way. It's slow, but he seems to get it. And introduce the pascal triangle (have him make his own and stop at a point where he is comfortable) and see what patterns he is able to see in them. What a fun way to practice adding, for a start! See if your library has the out of print Young Math books. These are gems for kids your son's age! Some PDF versions here: https://naturalmath.wikispaces.com/Young+Math+book+series Thanks! I'll see what I can find. You should look into geocaching or letter boxing! My DD was super into it when she was 3-6 years old. She and DH went all over the place. Lots of good things to learn and get outside doing it! Yes, he would love it! I don't have the best mobility, so I'll outsource this one if I can. I have a little brother who would probably be thrilled to do something other than minecraft with him. My DD loved the Critical Thinking Company's "Think a Minute" books-they had a mix of puzzles and problems she really enjoyed. Prufrock press has some good ones, too. In both cases, the grade level printed on the book is where you'd use them with a classroom. For home, I'd suggest going up a grade level or two, so for a preschooler, I'd look at 1st-3rd grade labeled books. They will probably be a good fit. I have wondered about some of the materials on that site, but like the book recommendations, it's hard to assess their suitability without actually flicking through them. I'll take your word for it, though. Thanks for your note on the grade levels, too. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 My son loved Balance Benders by the Critical Thinking Company at that age. Math analogies were fun for a bit, but he quickly tired. He would still do balance benders if they made more. Sitting down and reading Euclids Elements while playing with this website is a lot of fun. You could read them in the formal language and then translate them to him. He could play with the applets and see the postulates so that it made sense to him. http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/toc.html Baking and food with fractions is ideal at four or five. Some kids love to do it with money as well. Mine was all. About eating :) Base systems are nifty as someone mentioned above. The PBS show Cyberchase introduces all sorts of fun math concepts in a very enjoyable cartoon way that might appeal. He could then play with the ideas as an extension. Some kids love probability, but multiplication/division are needed to really extrapolate. However, you might be amazed at what he can understand in the right circumstances. I have no idea where I got most of my math knowledge. I just always remember knowing intuitively quite a bit. Platonic solids are fascinating. There are just a bajillion things you can do with them. Check out your library for various kids books discussing all the ways they are used from architecture to chemistry. Fibonacci numbers, the Golden ratio, and fractions are also great because all of them are present in nature everywhere. Rivers branching, nerves and blood vessels, trees, flower petals, they are everywhere. It is like you begin to see math in the world everywhere. But then, I am a bit of a pure math geek.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 This is very simple, but have you had him color in any graph paper pictures? I don't know what they are called, but we did them in school when I was a kid. You get a coordinate and a color, and after a while it takes shape as a picture. The coordinate can be the solution to a math problem, but in his case you could just have it listed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3littles Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 Stuart Murphy Mathstart books cover things like perimeter, negative numbers, etc. in a gentle way. Eventually I would also explore Penrose (and others in that series) as well as Sir Cumference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in SA Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 How does he like Lego? If it's a hit, there are lots of activities beckoning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegs Posted November 21, 2014 Author Share Posted November 21, 2014 My son loved Balance Benders by the Critical Thinking Company at that age. Math analogies were fun for a bit, but he quickly tired. He would still do balance benders if they made more. Sitting down and reading Euclids Elements while playing with this website is a lot of fun. You could read them in the formal language and then translate them to him. He could play with the applets and see the postulates so that it made sense to him. http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/toc.html Baking and food with fractions is ideal at four or five. Some kids love to do it with money as well. Mine was all. About eating :) Base systems are nifty as someone mentioned above. The PBS show Cyberchase introduces all sorts of fun math concepts in a very enjoyable cartoon way that might appeal. He could then play with the ideas as an extension. ^ All of this looks great. Thanks for the suggestions! Some kids love probability, but multiplication/division are needed to really extrapolate. However, you might be amazed at what he can understand in the right circumstances. I have no idea where I got most of my math knowledge. I just always remember knowing intuitively quite a bit. Platonic solids are fascinating. There are just a bajillion things you can do with them. Check out your library for various kids books discussing all the ways they are used from architecture to chemistry. I shall. Ta :) Fibonacci numbers, the Golden ratio, and fractions are also great because all of them are present in nature everywhere. Rivers branching, nerves and blood vessels, trees, flower petals, they are everywhere. It is like you begin to see math in the world everywhere. But then, I am a bit of a pure math geek.... I still remember the moment that I figured out the next few terms of a Fibonacci sequence which a relief teacher had written on the board in grade three. Then when I learnt more about its significance, I was outraged that it had been kept from me for so long. I went through a pure math geek phase at 15/16, completely out of nowhere. You make me want to feel it all again! This is very simple, but have you had him color in any graph paper pictures? I don't know what they are called, but we did them in school when I was a kid. You get a coordinate and a color, and after a while it takes shape as a picture. The coordinate can be the solution to a math problem, but in his case you could just have it listed. I feel a little daft here, as I'm not sure how a worksheet could ask one to colour a coordinate? I'll see what I can find on google. I'm sure it will make more sense when I see it. He'd probably enjoy something like this, especially with a surprise picture. Stuart Murphy Mathstart books cover things like perimeter, negative numbers, etc. in a gentle way. Eventually I would also explore Penrose (and others in that series) as well as Sir Cumference. The mathstart books don't look like something we'd get much value out of, at this point, but I appreciate the suggestion. They look like a great way to introduce concepts which aren't coming entirely intuitively, so I'll definitely keep them in mind. How does he like Lego? If it's a hit, there are lots of activities beckoning. He loves Lego. I have no idea whether he's particularly skilled with it, though. He seems to really get in a zone with it, so I could strew activities and concepts, but I'm reluctant to be providing any formal instruction via Lego if he would rather be exploring it his own way. Though, he does ask me to play Lego with him, so I guess I could just try things out and see what sparks an interest. I'll see what I can find online. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 You can have the coordinates where different lines meet be dots along a dot to dot line, with coloring in different areas between the lines. I was meaning, however, coordinates where you would say (3,1) for instance, and mean 3rd square up, one to the left. Then color that square red (or whatever color). So the #'s are corresponding with the block locations, not the line intersections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegs Posted November 21, 2014 Author Share Posted November 21, 2014 Oh, I see! Thanks for explaining it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in SA Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Even at that age, with Lego, you can do visual multiplication and division. Legos are great for understanding whole division (with remainders). One of my favorites is set theory -- you can create "operations" with pieces, then test your operation out... Break some pieces into a couple of sets with different characteristics (all separated vs not separated, or yellow versus red, or little versus big, etc). If your operation can take two pieces from set A, and the result still belongs in A, then you have a closed operation. If the result belongs in B, then you have an open operation. This is the basis for all arithmetic. Addition, subtraction, and multiplication x are all closed for integers, but division is not (which is why you have remainders, instead of fractions!). Legos work with whole and rational numbers only, so the results are a little different. Legos show this wonderfully, and at that age, the learning process is a real joy. If math wasn't your personal strength, then you have some learning fun, too. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegs Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 Oh I think I see what you mean! Math is definitely not my strength, no! I honestly have no idea how I made it through high school math with such poor number sense. Looks like Lego arithmetic and sets will be on the menu shortly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 my students at epsilon camp enjoyed making platonic solids out of cardboard, but some needed help with the cutting and measuring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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