Addition help for 6yo new in 1st grade

[Princess5]

My dd goes to Montessori school and she can do simple math addition like 3+4=7 etc but she tends to count on her fingers. When I asked her how she does at her school she said they use gems to count and then pool for answers. How do I teach her how to do additions in her mind without using fingers? She just started 1st grade now but we are still stuck in Singapore essentials B book. She is finding it hard to understand concepts like 5 is 3 less than 8 or 4 is 2 more than 2 etc.. She is also having a hard time with 7+ ?= 10 so on. Is this normal for a new first grader? How can I teach her to move on. She is frustrated sometimes. We have 1A 1B of Singapore math waiting to get started. So far I have not used any manipulatives to teach at home. Ty

[AuNaturel]

With my daughter I used an abacus. That broke her from using her fingers and gave her something to visualize later when she didn't have it in front of her. At six there is nothing wrong with counting forward or backward to add or subtract, but I feel that relying on fingers can make larger numbers seem intimidating when they inevitably progress into double digits. But not with the abacus.

 

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[Tanikit]

The concepts of less than and more than are difficult for young children as are the 7 + ? = 10. Rephrase these for your child and use story problems to explain it - you are collecting precious gems - you have 7 of them but you want to have 10 - how many more do you need. Then explain that that can be written as 7 + what you need = the 10 you want. I have also used cups with small counters in - you put the correct number of counters in the cup and then give them 7 counters and tell them when you uncover the cup and give them what is in it they will have 10 counters - how many counters do you think are in Mom's cup?

 

Use a brother or sister to teach more than and less than.

 

1. Give two children a different amount of sweets - 4 for one child and 2 for the other.

2. The one with fewer will complain.

3. Ask: what is the matter? And usually the child will say either - he has more than me! or I need some more!

4. Then you can ask - how many more do you need to make this fair? and give the child the extra - adding 1 at a time and asking each time if it is fair now.

5. Then tell the child that she had 2 and you had to give her 2 more for it to be fair and now you both have 4.

 

Eventually the idea does stick, but it has to be seen many times and explained in a way that makes sense to them and not only one way of verbalising it should be used - this is often a language issue and not a maths issue which is why using as many ways to say it as possible can help. MEP1 works with this concept quite a bit - I taught greater than and less than as a crocodile eating the larger number and then asking why does he want to eat that number - how much bigger/how many more did he get to eat than if he had eaten the other number. 

 

Don't try to get her away from manipulatives - that comes with time and a real understanding. I know children who can recite that 2 + 3 = 5 and write it down, but if asked to show what it means they have no idea.

[HomeAgain]

Use a ten-frame and/or double-sided manipulatives (ours are red and yellow).  The ten-frame gives her something to visualize and you can make it out of anything.  Plus it's still working with multiples of 5 so it's an easing away from the fingers.

 

In addition (haha!) there's also an app called Archimedes' Roost.  it goes through a Montessori classroom teaching basic math sequentially with the tools she's used to.  Many you can make at home to flesh out the digital lesson if need be, but it lets you see what is already available to her.

[OneStepAtATime]

Agree with pps.  Until the concept is solidly in her head and she can manipulate the numbers without needing manipulatives keep using manipulatives.  She needs to be able to break apart and move around those numbers and understand what she is doing.  Rushing her through will only cause sorrow later as she gets into higher math.  Get an abacus and train yourself on how to use it, then teach her.  Grab other manipulatives around the house and watch you tube videos for how to use those.  Help her to see groupings of numbers and how many ways there are to break up the number 5.  This is really important but is frequently rushed through or skipped over entirely because some children can do this very early.  Many can't, though, and need more time and more intentional, targeted exposure.  Don't rush her into rote memorizing number facts or just regurgitating the words without basic understanding.  Basic subitization skills are paramount to the ability to function effectively in addition/subtraction/multiplication/division.

 

You might look at the Ronit Bird e-books.  Really good for an electronic way to show how to manipulate and understand numbers.

[Moonhawk]

Agree with abacus.  Also, block manipulatives.  We use MUS so we have those manipulatives, but probably any similar blocks would do.  It especially seems to help with the 7 +x=10 type of question because you can put the 10 and the 7 next to each other and visualize how much more you need, and you can play with 2 and 4 to show how they don't work.  Also, building walls of 10 helps them understand that 6+4, 7+3, 8+2, etc, all equal the same thing.  And blocks standing next to each other are great to show less than, greater than. 

[RKWAcademy]

We use an AL abacus or snap-together blocks for Singapore 1A (just now finishing, moving to 1B).  Once you get into 1A there are many more opportunities to learn counting on or making 10s for addition.  Particularly over 10, the abacus is working well.  Plus, there are mental math problems in the back of the HIG.  That really helped my kids memorize facts to 10.  Also, we use a 100 chart to show relationships like doubles, evens.  You can pick a number at random and do the "what is +1, -1, +10, -10."  It has taken my kids time to get a sense of numbers. 

 

And some days I still don't think they have a clue :001_rolleyes:

 

Don't sweat Essentials, it will all be covered in depth in 1A.  Hope this helps. 

[RKWAcademy]

Oh, and we played "go to the dump" from RightStart games many, many times before they learned what makes 10 backwards and forwards! 

[Sk8ermaiden]

The manipulatives are SO important. The teacher's guides for Singapore 1 are very good. Typically, every concept, you teach with manipulatives, then progress to visual representations (pictures), then to mental math. If my DD ever had trouble, we went back to the manipulatives and did variations on the concept, with explanations and encouraging her to tell me how or why we knew that....it always got through in the end. 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Another option which makes breaking the counting habit easier is Cuisnaire Rods.  Take a look at the videos at Education Unboxed to see how they are used.

 

I love this video in particular before attacking the others.  Fact Family Failure

 

We LOVE cuisinaire.  For my dd (SM1b) we take them out for each lesson, but she usually *gets it* with a few tries with rods and does the rest mentally.  For my son (SM4a) I take them out when I see he's not quite getting something.  One demonstration and he's good.  

 

Up until recently, I always had my dd read these problems out loud:  5 + __ = 8 as "Five plus something equals 8."  Then we'd build the problem with the rods and find the missing piece.  Asking questions like "Which number is the total all together?  Which numbers are the pieces?" can help.  

 

 

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

On the 6+__=8 front, we were also driving home the number bonds pretty hard, so I could say, 8-6=what? Or 6 needs how many more to be 8? A lot of times phrasing the question differently can help. But I always went back to the book phrasing at the end. OK, so 6 needs two more to be 8. That means 6+__=8 and have them fill in the blank with the answer we found. 

[zoobie]

Are you afterschooling on top of Montessori? Montessori is big into manipulatives. I'm surprised her teachers aren't redirecting her to those when she finger counts. Six is young! Using manipulatives is good until the concepts solidify and abstract in their brains. My older two went through Montessori primary and are very strong in math. I didn't supplement at all. They had excellent teachers though.

 

+1 for Cuisinaire rods, though they may be different colors than what she is used to with Montessori math. It might confuse some kids, or at least be another mental hurdle while they're working on the concepts. If you've pulled her out of Montessori, no big deal, but if she's going back and forth each day that would be a consideration.

[Princess5]

ty for all replies.  we do have cuisseinaire rods and abacus so we can use them.  i just didnt want her to form a dependence on manipulatives but from all your posts looks like once concept is concrete in mind the manipulatives/fingers are not needed.    

 

What are linking cubes?snap-together blocks? you guys said singapore is more into manipulatives?  but i didnt see any for sale?  did i miss anything?

 

my daughter goes to a charter montessori and gets no homework, no material to take home, no books of any kind are sent home ever, so i have no idea what she does at school.  well know her progress through quarterly reports that she is on grade level,  She says that so and so is in division already, multiplication already  but if we dont do something extra at home, i will be totally lost as to what she knows, does etc..  and i dont understand some of the materials she talks to me about working in school..

[Princess5]

Are you afterschooling on top of Montessori? Montessori is big into manipulatives. I'm surprised her teachers aren't redirecting her to those when she finger counts. Six is young! Using manipulatives is good until the concepts solidify and abstract in their brains. My older two went through Montessori primary and are very strong in math. I didn't supplement at all. They had excellent teachers though.

 

+1 for Cuisinaire rods, though they may be different colors than what she is used to with Montessori math. It might confuse some kids, or at least be another mental hurdle while they're working on the concepts. If you've pulled her out of Montessori, no big deal, but if she's going back and forth each day that would be a consideration.

 

 

Another option which makes breaking the counting habit easier is Cuisnaire Rods.  Take a look at the videos at Education Unboxed to see how they are used.

 

I love this video in particular before attacking the others.  Fact Family Failure

 

We LOVE cuisinaire.  For my dd (SM1b) we take them out for each lesson, but she usually *gets it* with a few tries with rods and does the rest mentally.  For my son (SM4a) I take them out when I see he's not quite getting something.  One demonstration and he's good.  

 

Up until recently, I always had my dd read these problems out loud:  5 + __ = 8 as "Five plus something equals 8."  Then we'd build the problem with the rods and find the missing piece.  Asking questions like "Which number is the total all together?  Which numbers are the pieces?" can help.  

 

just saw the education unboxed videos linked and a few more, very interesting.  I now see what zoobie is saying about color of rods and confusion.  I will ask my daughter to check at school and she what colors they are using.  so we can match that at home.  thanks

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

ty for all replies. we do have cuisseinaire rods and abacus so we can use them. i just didnt want her to form a dependence on manipulatives but from all your posts looks like once concept is concrete in mind the manipulatives/fingers are not needed.

 

What are linking cubes?snap-together blocks? you guys said singapore is more into manipulatives? but i didnt see any for sale? did i miss anything?

 

my daughter goes to a charter montessori and gets no homework, no material to take home, no books of any kind are sent home ever, so i have no idea what she does at school. well know her progress through quarterly reports that she is on grade level, She says that so and so is in division already, multiplication already but if we dont do something extra at home, i will be totally lost as to what she knows, does etc.. and i dont understand some of the materials she talks to me about working in school..

 

Do not worry about dependence on manipulatives! Fingers can be a problem, but I've never heard of manipulative dependence.

 

I would not expect consistent manipulative-free work until SM3 or so, with their use slowly tapering off during SM2. To help, when and only when she firmly grasps the concept, add in an addition fact review game. My dd loves the app xgerms addition. Xtramath.org is less fun but also works great. And do lots of the cuisinaire puzzle game from EU.

[hermione310]

I used reflexmath.com with my daughter. An individual license was about $30 at the time. You can choose either the addition/subtraction multiplication/division track.

 

It teaches kids basic math facts using animated characters showing them the fact families, then reinforces retention using game-based play. The child's progress is recorded and each session's play bases games on facts that have not yet been mastered.

 

I'd like to throw in here that I was very skeptical of reflexmath as I'm not a fan of video games or too much screen time. But I moved past that when I saw how well and quickly my daughter learned her facts. I understand that you want understanding, not just my mimicry, but as a partner in learning, after a few months with this, she'll probably have her facts down cold.

[kiwik]

Fingers are fine. She just isn't ready to do things without manipulatives. She needs to be solid on smaller, bigger, more, less etc before she can deal with abstract numbers. Most kids crawl before they walk and most kids need manipulatives.

 

Education unboxed has good ideas though. Ds6 loved the 'i want to be 10 video'. I think it is called fun with numbers. We played a lot of Go to tge Dump too.