1st grade math frustrations

[CookIslandsMommy]

I choose something my kids like and make it a word problem, for my son it is toy cars. You have 1 toy car, how many do I have to give you for you to have 2 toy cars. They always get it then ;)

 

 

LOL I do the same. We have goats that we raise and love...and whenever we have word problems my DD cannot "get it" until I talk the problem with goats :lol:

 

It is crazy...

[JessReplanted]

I don't know if someone has mentioned this, but I would write out the math families:

 

1 +2 = 3

 

2+1 = 3

 

3 - 1 = 2

 

3 - 2 = 1

 

We spent a lot of time working with math families - and now we are going over multiplication & division families.

[Halcyon]

I am going to create a number bond lapbook pdf today; I will let you know when it's done if you'd like to use it.

[Jane Elliot]

Has anyone's child ever has troubles with math problems like 1+?=2. My dd is doing great with addition but she is gettin hung up on these each time they come up. I give her beans or anything available to work the problem out. She is able to do I but o don't think she is understanding what she is doing at all. We are using MM 1A and it is coming up over and over. Also, dd just turned 6 in Sept so maybe she is just not ready. Should I just keep plugging along and she will get it eventually?

 

This is a very abstract concept and many, many 6 yo are not ready for that kind of thinking. It also happens to be a concept that is easy to learn in one sitting once that child has reached the right developmental milestones. I have several kids who thrive with math-intuitive programs (like Singapore) and several who become very frustrated by them. These children are concrete thinkers and have needed something like Saxon or R&S math in the early years. If this were me, I would try the suggestions given in the other responses, but if she still doesn't get it, I'd switch to a more concrete program at the first sign of frustration.

[buram]

I just wanted to say thanks again for all of the suggestions. Next payday I will order some c-rods. Until then we will play the games. Today we worked from a workbook that we had not finished last year and she was very happy. Thanks so much everyone.

 

Halcyon, I would be interested in the number bod lapbook if you want to share it. Thanks.

[Spy Car]

This is a very abstract concept and many, many 6 yo are not ready for that kind of thinking. It also happens to be a concept that is easy to learn in one sitting once that child has reached the right developmental milestones. I have several kids who thrive with math-intuitive programs (like Singapore) and several who become very frustrated by them. These children are concrete thinkers and have needed something like Saxon or R&S math in the early years. If this were me, I would try the suggestions given in the other responses, but if she still doesn't get it, I'd switch to a more concrete program at the first sign of frustration.

 

It really isn't a difficult concept to teach if one uses concrete means. C Rods are perfect for finding the missing "part" (or missing addend).

 

If a child has 6+[ ]=8 and some C Rods, they lay down an "8" Rod (that is the "whole") and then lay down a "6" rod below. How much is the other "part"?

 

A child can solve this easily.

 

No need to ditch whole-parts math programs like Singapore for ones like Saxon. All one needs to add are tools that help bridge the concrete>pictorial>abstract stages of learning.

 

Bill

[Spy Car]

Why do they need so many?

 

I is good to have at least (10) Ten Rods so one can model numbers. Add base-10 "flats" and one can make 3 digit numbers concretely.

 

Your explanation of how these are used to facilitate the understanding of whole/part, addition and finding the missing addend makes much sense to me. So, how do you get them to play with them? When I had them, my sons would play with them for all of a couple of minutes and then they would move on to something else. I definitely didn't have enough, from what you all are saying. But can you explain further why they need so many, how they use them in play, etc.? Is there a way to facilitate this kind of learning without using Miquon?

 

I used Miquon, and used my imagination. Almost any basic arithmetic topic can be taught with rods.

 

I have not used Mathematics Made Meaningful, but Ellie likes it. It seems like a very straightforward guide to using C Rods to show math concepts.

 

Bill

[Walking-Iris]

I got the intro kit to have the rods instruction booklet and then got more. You definitely want a lot of orange 10 value rods. After a child internalizes the value and has a good grip on basic operations you can play with them a little.

 

We sometimes say our 10 rods represent a value of 100---so you can see quickly why you would want at least 10 orange rods to get to 1000. A base ten set is awesome but rods can fill in for one as well. We've also used the centimeter white 1 value rods to learn about finding the area of a square. They are useful for mult. when you lay out several red (2 value) rods and a child can quickly count 2 4 6 8 and other skip counting skills. You can divide by asking how many red rods (2 value) will go into the purple (4 value). They learn their doubles quickly by knowing things like two yellows (5 value) are orange (10) etc etc.

 

My 4 year old makes stairs and that helps him internalize number sense. And he also makes simple patterns out of them (red, green, red, green, red, what comes next)