3rd grader counting on fingers

[UnlikelyHomeschoolingMama]

So my DD had a huge meltdown last night because she is embarrassed that she still uses her fingers in math.  Not all the time, but for some addition/subtraction and for some multiplication (skip counting).  

 

Is this normal?  For her to to still be using her fingers?  I told her we could do some flashcards and stuff to try and work on the memorization.  Although she isn't good at memorizing things, so I think I'll just give her some other strategies for problems she doesn't know.  

 

Either way...I just want to reassure her that she isn't totally out there.  AND reassure myself that I haven't failed her in some way.   :confused1:

 

 

[Rosie_0801]

If it's bothering her, it's a problem, but I don't think it is abnormal.

 

Kate Snow's course on addition cured my dd of counting on her fingers for addition and subtraction, because it gave her something to visualise instead.

 

With skip counting, I encouraged my dd to use her fingers, but we were using Auslan (Australian Sign Language) counting while we did it. So, for example, if we were counting by fives, by the time we got to 7x5, we were saying 35 while showing the handshape of 7.

 

My dd couldn't memorise tables either. Most people struggle with that and few people learn from flashcards either. 

[poppy]

Ronit Bird (dyscalculia specialist) cautions against it, saying it  slows development of number sense. Ideally, kids should get the kids tons and tons of practice with basic arithmetic so that they don't have to use their fingers for simple calculations.  I like these games: http://www.educationunboxed.com/mental-math-addition/

[mamamoose]

My kids are loving reflex math. My son doesn't love it as much but everything memorization is difficult for him. It has a lot of games that come after the lesson that are video games. Also, the use of an abacus is helpful. My 3rd grader who was in public school uses his fingers but my dd2 who is 6 doesn't, and knows her facts as well as he does. My (now) 5th grader was still using her fingers when I pulled them out of public school (she was a new 4th grader), but a lot of drill helped her. She is a good memorizer though and for her it was just a crutch. We did right start last year and the visualization is excellent. She also enjoys reflex math. I don't think it's abnormal but I try to encourage not using them as much as possible...and encourage the AL-abacus as much as possible.

[Rosie_0801]

Ronit Bird (dyscalculia specialist) cautions against it, saying it  slows development of number sense. Ideally, kids should get the kids tons and tons of practice with basic arithmetic so that they don't have to use their fingers for simple calculations.  I like these games: http://www.educationunboxed.com/mental-math-addition/

 

 

Did she give her reasoning?

 

I haven't so much respect for her as I did, after a run in with her about the Papy minicomputers.  :glare:

[OneStepAtATime]

I love Ronit Bird and highly recommend her books and ebooks for any child struggling with math but I disagree with counting on fingers being harmful.  It is another form of manipulative.  Sometimes memorizing math facts is exceedingly hard for a child to do and they need to resort to manipulatives and other aids to make it through math lessons.  

 

OP, I would work with her on solidifying basic subitization skills and skip counting and working with manipulatives to solidify math facts separately from math lessons.  Let her use a math reference chart for math lessons so she can continue to progress in concepts while math facts have more time to solidify.  You might also help her to create her own math charts to use as reference while she gets better at math facts.  Lots of kids struggle with math facts.  Counting on fingers at her age is not abnormal.

 

If she is feeling bad about it has someone said something to her?  I would nip that in the bud.  She should NOT be made to feel bad about needing to use her fingers.  She is using a tool that is easily accessible and needed because math facts are not yet solid.  

 

FWIW, flash cards did not help me at all.  Serious waste of time.  I never did memorize all of my math facts, despite years of trying.  What has helped me (and my kids) is learning to create math charts and then doing that fairly often plus lots of skip counting and really solidifying subitization skills.  I still don't have all of my math facts memorized but I can manipulate the numbers far more efficiently to get answers in a timely fashion.

[mymomtime]

My son is 7 and he uses his fingers like a ten frame. He will use a long ten frame but when it's not available he will use his hands. It is faster then setting up the ten frame.

 

We play the games in addition Facts that Stick and he is getting better with seeing the ten frame in his head.

[reign]

I would consider it a problem if she cannot add 46+9 by breaking up the 9. Example: If she had to start at 46 and then use her fingers to count up 9 more. So If she has to count up from the number every time that's when I would make a change. Using fingers to keep track of skip counting wouldn't bother me at all.

Edited March 19, 2017 by reign

[Guest]

TouchMath touch dots saved my oldest. I still use them. Takes about a day to learn then no more fingers. All my kids used them.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited March 19, 2017 by Paradox5

[8Arrows4theLord]

We have found learning facts as triplets have mostly eliminated the finger counting. R&S math 2 introduces triplets, but there are triangle flash cards that do the same thing without having to switch curriculum. Basically a triplet is 3 #s that make several facts. (5) 2, 3  is the triplet for 2+3 = 5, 3+2 = 5, 5-2 =3, & 5-3 =2.

[letsplaymath]

The problem isn't really finger-counting per se, but finger-counting in inappropriate ways. Fingers are great for keeping track of simple but confusing situations like 29 + 3, where your mind has to juggle the change in decade (from the 20s to the 30s) as well as the basic sum of 9+3. Using fingers to keep your place frees up mental space.

 

Fingers are also good for keeping track in simple skip-counting situations, like 7 x 5. If I try to have my mind do the 5-10-15... part and at the same time count how many skips I've counted, I will get messed up. So I let my fingers keep track of how many skips I've made.

 

BUT if your child is using fingers to keep track of anything that requires cycling through the hands more than once, that's inappropriate. Now the mind has three things to keep track of: the counting or skipping, where we are on the fingers, and how many times we've cycled through the hands. That's a guaranteed recipe for confusion.

 

Memory is not the answer, because memory so easily fails. You need to learn and to teach your child mental-math strategies that will give her support when she can't remember what she needs. Strategies use less mind-space than keeping track of the fingers (except in a few instances, as I mentioned above).

 

And even more important, most of the mental-math thinking strategies are based on fundamental principles of math like the commutative or distributive properties. That makes them an excellent way to build understanding of how numbers work and a wonderful preparation for algebra (which relies on those same principles).

 

I share several mental-math strategies in the following blog posts:

• PUFM 1.3 Addition
• Mental Math: Addition
• PUFM 1.4 Subtraction
• PUFM 1.5 Multiplication, Part 2