math for ds age 4

[ZeeMommy]

He can count to 20, up to 30 with some help. He can do simple addition and subtraction problems with unix cubes (like "you have 5 cakes, a hungry bear comes along and eats 3, how many do you have left?) He is CONSTANTLY asking me how big things are in comparison to other things. He tagged along with big sister for weight, volume, length in her Singapore kindergarten math book. So now what do I do with him? Is it time to start some kind of simple math workbook or worksheets?

[carriede]

I'm going to start my DS3 on SM Essentials and maybe some Miquon with C-Rods in the next couple months. And it sounds like your DS is farther along.

 

No harm in trying something! If he doesn't take to it, you can always put it away for later.

[edeemarie]

For my ds4 I am using a combination of Miquon and Math Mammoth. I just use them at a pace he is comfortable with. You could always look at the Education Unboxed videos and use some of those if you don't want to start a formal curriculum yet.

[stripe]

There are a lot of little activities in the MEP reception year student workbook pages, with work appropriate for very young fine motor skills, like drawing and coloring rather than writing. You can do a lot of things like making patterns with beads, for example, too, which also require pinching skills and are fun mathematically. Preparing Young Children for Math by Claudia Zaslavsky is my favorite little kid math book. There are activities and games in shapes, sorting, and numbers. It's OOP but the last time I checked, it was selling very cheaply.

[ZeeMommy]

Thanks! :hurray: Education Unboxed videos look great, and so does Math Mammoth. Maybe will switch dd 6 to Math Mammoth? Very nice too to be able to look at the sample sheets.

[The Way of My People]

Saxon K has been really fun for both my kids at age 4. No writing, tons of manipulatives.

[AimeeM]

How is his writing?

He might fit well into MM1, but that may be a stretch...

[bttrflyvld]

I'll second Saxon K. My daughter has had a great year with it. No writing is required. Everything is hands on.

[Staceyshoe]

I've done a lot of oral math with my kids who weren't fond of writing. (Putting numbers on the floor that they can jump on is even more fun!) I don't think writing skills need to be a barrier to starting a formal math program. Education Unboxed (link in my siggy) is completely play-based so there is no writing involved at all. If you prefer a program that involves writing, you can always do it orally instead.

[Staceyshoe]

I've done a lot of oral math with my kids who weren't fond of writing. (Putting numbers on the floor that they can jump on is even more fun!) I don't think writing skills need to be a barrier to starting a formal math program. Education Unboxed (link in my siggy) is completely play-based so there is no writing involved at all. If you prefer a program that involves writing, you can always do it orally instead.

[LittleIzumi]

MEP reception might be a bit light for him now. I'd do Miquon and Peggy Kaye's Games for Math and slowly add in MEP 1. My five-year-old is in the middle of MEP 1 now and it's fabulous for mathy kids and building true number sense/understanding plus logic/puzzles.

[boscopup]

I did Singapore Essential Math K at age 4 and went on into Primary Math 1A/1B for K. We'll finish 1B by the end of our school year this year (could have gone faster, but we sometimes only get to math 3 days of the week).

 

DS 3 will start EM K this summer when he's 4 and we start our new school year. He's totally ready. I use C-rods alongside it, so they can use them as needed.

 

Note that both of these kids were writing numbers pretty well before starting EM K (I used R&S Counting With Numbers right at age 4 with DS2). My writing phobic oldest son didn't do a formal math program at this age (or any formal school), but even he did ok writing numbers. It was letters he balked at. :tongue_smilie:

 

For the young ones, I scribe if needed, though I don't recall having to in EM K. There were often only 2 problems on a page. :)

[ZeeMommy]

How is his writing?

He might fit well into MM1, but that may be a stretch...

 

He can write his name, which today he did mirror-image backwards :confused1: . Told him today he probably needs to learn to write numbers and his response was "don't think I can do that, mommy". Would be a lot easier if he could write. We did do one worksheet today where he drew and I scribed the answer but made him trace over it.

[ZeeMommy]

I did Singapore Essential Math K at age 4 and went on into Primary Math 1A/1B for K. We'll finish 1B by the end of our school year this year (could have gone faster, but we sometimes only get to math 3 days of the week).

 

DS 3 will start EM K this summer when he's 4 and we start our new school year. He's totally ready. I use C-rods alongside it, so they can use them as needed.

 

 

I was looking through his sister's Singapore Earlybird K book A, and I think he already understands all the concepts presented there. Maybe I need to do more scribing for him?

[boscopup]

 

I was looking through his sister's Singapore Earlybird K book A, and I think he already understands all the concepts presented there. Maybe I need to do more scribing for him?

 

Earlybird or Essential Math? They are different books. Though either way, the early books are more like preschool level. Essential Math book B is where it gets into addition and subtraction, including missing addends. So it ramps up quite a bit. In fact, the first half of PM book 1A was mostly a repeat of what's in EM book B. :)

 

For learning to write numbers, I really, really, really liked R&S Counting With Numbers. The little sayings helped a lot and were easy to remember. A few weeks with that book, and my 4 year old was writing numbers really well.

[ZeeMommy]

Earlybird or Essential Math? They are different books. Though either way, the early books are more like preschool level. Essential Math book B is where it gets into addition and subtraction, including missing addends. So it ramps up quite a bit. In fact, the first half of PM book 1A was mostly a repeat of what's in EM book B. :)

 

For learning to write numbers, I really, really, really liked R&S Counting With Numbers. The little sayings helped a lot and were easy to remember. A few weeks with that book, and my 4 year old was writing numbers really well.

 

It's Earlybird. Am leaning towards doing a little more scribing for him, and gently pushing on learning to write numbers. I'll probably use the HWT materials I already have, since he likes the little slates and I have the practice paper too. It's going to be more a matter of what curriculum/book I pick, I think.

[AngelBee]

We have had good luck with MUS Primer.

[pehp]

I love the Education Unboxed approach and c-rod play. I would only be careful that worksheets don't kill anyone's joy (his or yours!!)...if you both ENJOY using a curriculum, go for it; if it becomes stale or joyless put it on hold.

 

We love playing shop (using only pennies in the beginning). Also baking/cooking.

[Miss Tick]

If he doesn't want to write, you might have a look at CSMP. I've been going through picking out lessons for dd4yo to do. We're doing the K program and I'm planning to move to Miquon after, but you could look at the next grades-I'm assuming they are similar...

 

http://ceure.buffalostate.edu/~csmp/CSMPProgram/Primary%20Disk/Start.html

[LittleIzumi]

We also used number stamps for one child who wasn't ready to write them.

[Peaceful Isle]

Bju press math k is very gentle and would work perfectly for k4, in my opinion. It is very colorful, has manipulatives, and goes at a slower pace. I loved using it for my dd.

[kiwik]

Get cheap little white stickers and write the numbers on them. The child gets to work out the answer, locate the correct sticker and attach it in the appropriate place. My ds3.10 does this and I am thinking of letting his older brother use them for after schooling.

[momma2three]

Another vote for MEP reception: I loved it for my mathy 4 year old, and I'm going to start it with my current 4 year old this summer. It really introduces a bunch of sophisticated topics, but most importantly it gets kids used to using relational terminology, which is so important for later math. I swear it was MEP which really solidified left/right for my daughter. I, on the other hand, STILL have to remember which hand I put over my heart during the pledge of allegiance.

 

It's a short program: only 50 or so lessons, so you can rush through it rather quickly if you want. But I think it's well worth doing.

 

After that, I recommend MEP 1. It only deals with the numbers 1-10, and I've found that my daughter has a tougher time thinking abstractly about numbers larger than that. Since abstract thinking is purely developmental, I think it's best for a 4 year old to stay to smaller numbers, unless there's real reason to push it. DD1 got through the very first book of Math Mammoth right up to the last section with no problem. The last section had to do with place values to the 100s, and she just totally lost it, and now loathes Math Mammoth (and calls MEP not-Math Mammoth). Which makes me sad, because it's a great program and she was doing so well with it until she hit that wall. We're taking a break from it but will continue this summer or fall (after we finish MEP 1), but I wish I hadn't pushed it.

 

MEP 1 is a great program too, and DD LOVES it. There's only 1 page a day, and she LOVES it, and demands to do as many pages as I'll let her get away with a day. It's teaching such a range of math skills. Not only basic numbers, and object relationships, and equation functionality, but also interesting tangents like Roman Numerals. I think DD1 now has a better understanding of Roman Numerals than I do, LOL.

 

MEP is an English program, and they start school at 4 there. So Reception is for 4 year olds, and Year 1 is for 5 year olds. So while I think it delves into more than most other math curriculum, it's still developmentally appropriate for a 5 year old.

 

This is really, really important if you do MEP, though: you MUST follow the teacher's manual. That's where all of the teaching is. The one page worksheet is practice. It doesn't really require anything special (though I found myself getting tired of cutting construction paper unit strips and bought some Cuisenaire Rods; and they present equations as a scale so I bought a little kids science one to help her visualize the concept of both sides being equal), and you don't have to do every single question (it's obviously designed for a classroom situation with many children, and there are lots of questions so the teacher can call on as many kids as possible to make sure they all understand... ask a question or two and if your kid has it, move on), but it's how topics are introduced and explained. Usually a topic is introduced with a little story or drawing one day, and doesn't appear on a worksheet for a few days. That seems to give it time to percolate a little in their heads, which I find works really well for my DD.

 

Eek, sorry for the verbose reply.

[LittleIzumi]

Yup, MEP 1 may only go through ten, but in the first half The Drama is doing things like 4+ ___ is 3 less than 2+6. It really makes them think and understand the numbers/relationships. And it's fun! Dd loves it.