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How & when to teach the RightStart/Asian way of saying numbers….If I’m not using RS


rachelpants
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I was inspired by this blog post about teaching place value using a 100’s chart, C-Rods, and an abacus. Reading it made me want to teach my DS the RightStart way of saying numbers. The blog post called them the “math namesâ€

 

http://justfivemoreminutes.ca/2012/06/teaching-place-value/

 

We will be using Singapore & Miquon for Kindy math. Will it be confusing to add in the “math names†for numbers when we get to 11+? Any ideas about when/how to add this element into our math mix??

 

Thanks!

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I do it first before they learn the "regular" English names.

 

Too late...LOL. DS counts accurately to about 60 independently. Although, he is still working on number recognition past 10.

 

Maybe I will just use the "math names" as part of the 100's chart exercise and then randomly quiz him using the names when numbers greater than 10 come up in our Singapore books. Like I said, I'm just a little worried about confusing him.

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I used a 100-chart, straws, and coins. I taught place value along with the regular names, and my son who doesn't pick up the basics quickly got it by time we were in the 30s.

 

If we were on 23, we'd pull out our 2 bundles of straws (tens), 2 individual straws, and then one more to make it 23. I'd then reiterate that it was 2 tens, 3 ones - twenty-three. By using both repeatedly, it sunk in and became second nature.

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We started from the beginning and I think it was very (very) helpful.

 

We combined "math names" with concrete manipulatives at the beginning of early math exposure, in our case this was base-10 "flats" representing 100 values, Orange Cuisenaire Rods representing Tens and the other C Rods being Unit/Ones Values.

 

Our "math name" scheme gave every place its own name, so 365 was 3-Hundreds 6-Tens and 5-Units (or Ones). Pretty simple. We also discussed the funny names we have in English for numbers like 1-Ten 1-Unit, like "eleven."

 

This lead to no difficulties picking up the "English names" and to my mind really helped make place value more clear in my child's mind.

 

I believe it was extraordinarily helpful to my child when first starting out in his math adventure, and many postulate that much of the early success Asian students have in math flows from the fact that Asian languages have regular name schemes for numbers, unlike the notoriously irregular names in English.

 

Bill

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What on earth are math names? :confused:

 

I taught/teach place value. I haven't encountered any confusion. And even that alone has been magical because believe it or not, I was not explicitly taught the concept of place value when I was in school. A lot of things clicked for me after going over it! (pretty sad, but true)

 

If you take a typical 4 or 5 ( or maybe even 6) year old and ask the what five hundred thirty-seven minus three hundred and twelve is, most would balk at the question.

 

But ask the same child to model 5-Hundreds 3-Tens 7-Units/Ones with manipulatives they are familiar with, and then to subtract or remove 3-Hundreds, 1-Ten, and 2-Units, and I don't think too many of those same children would have any difficulty doing so. Or in figuring out the result.

 

Bill

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In addition to the ideas already given, my children's favorite math game is using the base ten blocks to build a tower. Once completed, they tell me the total of the blocks in the tower using the "math name," the English name, using place value cards, etc.

 

They enjoy building the tower so much that they rarely take the easy way out with a number like 35. They usually end up with numbers like 970. :001_smile:

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