What's "math talk" like in your house?

[kubiac]

http://anniemurphypaul.com/2014/01/the-importance-of-talking-math-with-kids/

 

How do you guys do "math talk" at home? Lately we've been doing very basic verbal word problems while driving in the car ("If there are three bananas and you eat one, how many bananas do you have left?") but I would love some other ideas.

[RootAnn]

Oh my. I'm so guilty of this.  :001_rolleyes:  I was cutting a birthday cake earlier this week and started going into something about the fractions of the cake everyone would be getting. (The birthday girl actually got a larger fraction than almost everyone else because of how I purposefully cut it.) My math-loving birthday girl said, "Mooo-oom! No math when we're getting ready to eat cake!"

 

Math gets talked about with current events, the weather, cooking, sorting shoes during the morning's chores, throwing away paper while cleaning, doing the laundry, driving downtown, shopping, etc. I admit that I'm almost always the one to bring it up. However, this this Sunday, my ds#1 asked me if I thought a part of our church building looked like the top half of a hexagon. My dd#1 will now bring it up (current events, weather) during otherwise un-related conversations.

 

I don't usually do the "How many plates should I set out?" talk, but I do ask how many pieces I should cut of whatever dessert I'm dishing out. And fractions ALWAYS come up during baking.

[La Texican]

I was the one who brought it up more when my six year old was three, but now he's the one asking me random math questions throughout the day, or putting problems on the white board by himself to work out. Sometimes he asks me questions if he puts up a problem he doesn't know how to solve. I give him advanced math during school time, but I see that he's thinking about it a lot during his own time, by putting problems on the board and asking me questions. The other day he was watching Spongebob and he was muttering numbers. I don't what math problem he was doing, but it was obvious he was doing a problem. There was nothing in the tv about numbers or math at that point, he just gets math running through his head apparently. Good! I think education is less like filling an empty bucket with facts and more like starting a fire for learning. We used bedtime math for a long time. If the wee ones problems were too hard that day I made one up with easier numbers or a more familiar topic that studied the same concept. The hubby enthusiastically played along if he was here when I asked the question. Some times he would say, I know, I know! and let my son answer first, sometimes he would sneak behind my back and hold up the answer on his fingers so my son could see it and I couldn't. My husband would answer the big kid question after my son answered the wee ones. When my son was an emerging reader I would write the bedtime math problem in easy to read words (maybe with one or two challenge words to use context and sound it out) on the white board. My son would come to me several hours later with the answer. If Dora, or Umizoomi, or any show that asks the kids questions was on my husband and I would eagerly answer the questions to model enthusiasm. My daughter is three. She can sing along to "the big numbers song" (1-100) on youtube. I sang that and the phonics 4 babies a-a apple song from youtube endlessly for years, it seems. She'll sing large chunks of it at random. My kids have good fine motor skills and were early writers. My son got Singapore early bird math at 3. I was going to pick one up for my daughter at Barnes and Nobles, but they didn't have it. I need to order it for her, she's almost done with handwriting without tears kinder. I bought her a kumon numbers 1-30 to hold her out. I can't recommended this program for the price, but I got a deal and I'm using it for two kids. It's called CTC math. It's really plain. It's a little lecture like on khan academy and then like a virtual worksheet. At least it's introducing my daughter to counting style addition and stuff. I don't think the exact things I'm doing are helpful to you because they're more workbook and screentime than most people suggest, but at least I can tell you that mom-led math at such a young age might build a fire for learning and get math stuck running through their head. I know some people think it will kill their love of learning, but I don't think so. Of course I'm only guessing since my oldest kid is young still.

oh yeah, my three year old is doing reading eggs, which I do highly recomend for the price (find a sale). My six year old used it at that age. If the lessons get hard, reset the game. Use the playroom part.

[Lissande]

Earlier this week my 6-year-old was talking in her sleep: "Two minus one is one!" And then later, "Three minus two is one!" And so on throughout the night.

 

I guess that's what math talk looks like in our house. :)

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

These days most of our math talk revolves around me repeating the mantra "Show your work!".

 

But once upon a time I used to speak math when we were out and about.

[Coco_Clark]

Are you asking for your almost-four year old? Counting, skip counting by 2s, 5s,10s, counting starting from somewhere other than 1 (harder than it seems), basic addition and subtraction within 10 or within 5 depending on ability level, shapes, comparisons like longer, heavier, ect. Stuff that comes up playing with cuisinaire rods (hey look five two-eys make a ten!)

 

If you're just curious about other houses, my 6 year old is a big LOF fan. So we are constantly talking about how many are in the set that's our family, or the set that's the socks I asked him to pick up, or if I say I need 10 cans of tomato at the store he will announce that I already have 6 cans so 6+x=10 and x = 4 and " that's called algebra folks". I have a love/hate relationship with Fred. It definitely adds to our " math talk" though.

[73349]

Math talk is observing out loud. (12 empty muffin cups. Now 1 is full and 11 are empty... etc.)

It's DS asking me questions. (E.g., today: What's 14 x 20?)

It's connecting interesting items to numbers. (Here are six strawberries, because you're six years old.)

It's DS announcing what he knows (last night, counting by 3s to 30). Sometimes it's us asking him to extend it. (When he counted to 30 by 3s, DH asked him, "How about fives?" DS misinterpreted his intent and answered, "I believe that's six fives." But usually he answers a follow-up question as it's meant.)

 

We don't do bedtime math or anything, just keep it casual except for our school time.

[Jane in NC]

For those of you looking ahead, you might be interested in a thread that I started a few years ago over on the high school board:

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/9431-talk-talk-talk-literature-history-why-not-math/?hl=talk+talk+talk&do=findComment&comment=1131641

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Another looking ahead comment...

 

We always have a math read aloud in progress. Right now we're reading Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences.

[Tracy]

Usually, it is my kids drilling us with big numbers.  They are very impressed when we can do 20 x 20 in our heads.  

[kubiac]

Thank you guys! The verbal word problems have been such a great experience for me as a parent-teacher. A friend talked about doing them with your son and it was like a lightning bolt of "OOOooooh, this is how you create a math-rich environment!" My kid can't write and probably won't be able to reliably form numbers for at least two years, so I was stumped about how to build number experience for him. (We do have C-rods and have been using Miquon Orange, but I wanted more than just a curriculum.)

 

Thank for all these other inspiring ideas. I love the idea of counting from numbers other than one, which I wouldn't have thought to do, 

[Chrysalis Academy]

My kids are a little older, but for us math talk is all about attitude:  persistence, problem-solving, grit, stamina.  Not feeling like a failure when you can't answer a problem right away.  Trying to get out of the perfectionist, fixed mindset that says if you find something hard it means you aren't smart.  This stuff comes up on an almost daily basis.  Sometimes it's me complementing them on grappling with a hard problem before asking for help.  Sometimes it's me modelling mhy own struggles with math.  I do math in front of them.  When I get a hard Alcumus problem right, I do the happy dance and crow about it, so that they see that I believe that math is important, it's worth working hard on, and that it feels really good to get something right after struggling at it.  Sometimes it's me being slightly goofy and, when they give me a perfect paper, saying "I apologize.  I wasted your time today.  I gave you work that didn't give you the opportunity to grow and stretch and struggle to learn something new.  I'll try and do better tomorrow."

 

It's a slow process, but getting "smart" "quick" kids who are used to succeeding without a struggle to see the beauty in the struggle, in the process?  Priceless!

[La Texican]

Look in the math section of the nonfiction section of your childrens library. They'll have cute little books there. We loved a series called "math monsters" by weekly reader. They had walking math symbols (monsters) that were characters with faces and shoes on. Their names were split, multiplex, addison, and mina. They did stuff that explained matn without calling it by name. They wanted to take turns playing with a ball. They decided everybody got to take ten bounces. One person bounced it fast, one person bounced it slow, so they weren't getting to play with it the same amount of time. It ended up tnere was a faucet dripping water, so they timed their turns by bouncing the ball in time with the water. Another time they wanted to build a playhouse, but they measured by somebodys steps how big they wanted it. When the carpenter ant they hired built it that many steps it was too small.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Oh yeah, I remembered another one.  We talk about different ways to get to a solution.  I still do this with my 2nd grader, and used to more with my older, especially with mental math.  She would give her solution, and I'd say "How did you do that problem?" and if I had done it differently, I'd share mine.  We talk about how there are a lot of different ways to reach a solution, and while none is more right than the other, some are more elegant.  We like to try and find elegant solutions to problems.

 

Lately, as my 6th grader's math has been getting harder, my solutions have gotten less elegant.  Sometimes I'm just dragging my way there by the skin of my teeth.  But that's interesting, too!  :D

[FriedClams]

My kids are middle school aged, and we're math nerds here, but we talk math all the time. Yesterday the kids and I were at the grocery store. The kids and I can combine to get treats if its under $5. That includes tax. So, they have to compute the items, discount, and tax. We also sale shop a lot so they can kill percentages and sale prices. We do gas milages, distance per tank of gas - and compare cars... We compare cost per ounce at the grocery store. I coupon, so we add that in too. They now pay at self check out so they check change, count money... At the donut shop - I let the pay, but they have to figure out how much it's going to be - and they get that plus a little. No $20 to make sure it's covered. ;-) Then, they have to count change and tip accordingly. We also do baseball averages because I'm a huge Red Sox fan. :-) I also severely limit calculator use in school and in life. Yeah, math nerds here.

[Dory]

When my kids were really little, I counted 'piggies' and fingers. Once they could walk we counted going up stairs and backwards on the way down. I would bounce them up and skip count by 2's and 3's sometimes. We counted toys as we put them away. By preschool age they were helping in the kitchen and measuring for me. Now they double or quadruple recipes for me while I cook. They were adding together grocery costs and figuring out change long before they learned it in school. They learned percentages from sales. For us, it's just a natural inclusion in our day. There are many days though where I'm in a hurry or stressed and the kids have learned to just follow quickly and discussion of numbers (or anything else) doesn't really happen very well then.