Math Mammoth 1 issues with addition facts

[hollyhock2]

I have my 5yo daughter starting MM1. She's done fine with the first chapter and now we're onto the second chapter of addition facts up to ten. She is not getting it the way MM teaches it. It seems that MM spends a lot of time on missing numbers, like 1 + __ = 4. She can do those to a point (like when the sums are 5 or less) but it moves very quickly into sums with 7 and sums with 8. It is not clicking. (For the record, I have done MM1 with 3 of my sons and they all had no problems.) I think maybe she needs a different approach but I'm not sure what that is. What is a more traditional way to teach addition facts? Should I get out marbles and make little groups of them and put them together?

Any suggestions for games or strategies or workbooks (she loves workbooks) are appreciated.

[Sarah0000]

Ten frame 

First make sure she can recognize all the numbers with counters from 1-10. Show her by filling up the first five then the second five. In other words she should be able to see that 8 is 5+3 and 10-2. Then work on each fact one at a time starting with 9 (because one empty space is easiest to visualize). Ask her all the facts with just 9 counters (10-1=?  9+?=10, etc). Then remove the nine counters and ask her to look at the empty ten frame and Ask her the same nine facts questions. If she can't do it ask her to point to where the nine counters would end on the empty ten frame and ask her all variations of the facts questions again with her finger there. Then try again without the finger or counters. Repeat as necessary until she can visualize and answer the questions without the counters Or the ten frame (ask her to visualize it in her mind). Then move on to the 8s, 7s, 6s. You can also easily do through 20 with a double ten frame if she picks this up quickly. Each day review the previous fact at whatever level she can do (with counters, finger, empty frame, or pure visualization).

[carriede]

I used cuisinaire rods in conjunction with MM1. Any base 10 block would help.

[ByGrace3]

We used a lot of manipuatives at this point. We played the "Some went hiding" game with marbles A LOT. 

[sweet2ndchance]

She sounds like she gets the idea, since she can do it with smaller numbers, but she needs more practice with the fact families for numbers larger than 5. The Some Went Hiding game from Math Mammoth is good for figuring out fact families. Cuisenaire rods are also a very visual way for young learners to see how numbers work together if it isn't intuitive for them.

Say she has the problem, 4 + __ = 7. Have her get 7 marbles or whatever you are using for a manipulative. Tell her to hold on to 4 of them and hide the rest under a cup or whatever you are using for hiding the manipulatives. Make sure she understands she started with 7 and why she started with 7 and why she kept 4 and hid the rest. Now ask her how many she had to hide. That is the missing number in her equation.

With Cuisenaire rods, I would have her find the 4 rod and 7 rod because those are the numbers we know. Then ask her what can she add to the 4 rod to make it as long as the 7 rod. That's her missing number.

I like tens frames as well but I don't have as much experience teaching with them as I do the Some Went Hiding game and Cuisenaire rods.

You can also work this kind of math into every day life fairly easy. "Dd, I have 4 plates on the table. Can you add more plates until we have 7 plates on the table for dinner?" or "I picked 5 flowers for our tea party but teddy says we need 9. Can you pick more flowers so we have 9 flowers for our tea party?" Just silly little things like that can add some math practice to their day with just a little effort on your part to remember to do it.

It really just sounds to me like she needs some more time with the idea and practice with larger numbers. At 5yo, I wouldn't worry too much, but I would play with lots of manipulative and math games so that she has lots of experience with numbers and fact families. She will get there and it's not at all unusual for a 5 year old to need more time with this.

[hollyhock2]

Thanks for those suggestions. They are all helpful. I guess I am wondering if I should maybe forget the missing number problems for now and first focus on just regular addition problems. Then I can add in the missing number stuff later. We do play the "some went hiding" game. She likes that one, so we'll continue. 

2 minutes ago, sweet2ndchance said:

She sounds like she gets the idea, since she can do it with smaller numbers, but she needs more practice with the fact families for numbers larger than 5. The Some Went Hiding game from Math Mammoth is good for figuring out fact families. Cuisenaire rods are also a very visual way for young learners to see how numbers work together if it isn't intuitive for them.

I think you're right that she just needs more time and practice. It feels like MM 1 moves really fast this time around! And of course, she's not in Grade 1, so I don't feel bad ditching it for 6 months if I have to.

[Sarah0000]

I personally wouldn't hold off on the missing number problems. I would supply the answer for her though until she starts getting it on her own.

[wendyroo]

10 minutes ago, square_25 said:

I really think we miss out on an important educational opportunity when kids don't immediately know how to do things :-). 

It's easy for us to see 5 + ___ = 9 and think "Oh, that's easy! We've done addition already, she can do it." It's OK that she can't! That doesn't mean something is wrong. It means that we need to respect a conceptual leap. It means that a child should be allowed to play with it and guess, and use her fingers, and get stuck. That's how we learn. All of mathematics is a giant playing field for logic and numbers. Even if a child flies through arithmetic (and most will get stuck on SOMETHING along the way) they'll eventually see concepts that they can't figure out immediately. And they should know that it's OK, and that guessing is not wrong, and that sometimes we get a sense for things by experimenting. 

Frankly, I think that's a more important thing to learn than how to fill in missing numbers. 

I agree.

Also, my kids typically go through a stage where 5 + ___ = 9 is too abstract, but they can quickly figure it out if I rephrase it as "You know you have 9 red cars, but you can only find 5 of them!  How many are missing?"  As we work problems, I keep my wording exactly the same: "You know you have # [type of toy], but you can only find # of them!  How many are missing?"  After a couple problems I start letting them make up the types of toys for the problems.  Then after another couple problems I pause expectantly to see if they can also fill in the appropriate numbers.  It might takes days, or even weeks, but eventually they can turn 3 + ___ = 8 into their own concrete word problem and then solve it.

Wendy

[Sarah0000]

1 hour ago, square_25 said:

 

I think turning these symbols into word problems is exactly my goal in early math. This create conceptual scaffolding for things that are quite abstract and allows kids to reason :-). 

That's why I love Mep Reception for an introduction to semi formal math lessons. 

[knitgrl]

21 hours ago, Sarah0000 said:

That's why I love Mep Reception for an introduction to semi formal math lessons. 

We love, love, love MEP reception. It's only twice a week. We do Right Start games, and play with cuisinaire rods or an abacus on in between days.

[Targhee]

You might consider the teaching methods and games from EducationUnboxed.com - it is free, all you need is a white board and c-rods, and it is a great way for visual and kinesthetic learners to get these concepts. Plus it’s fun, interactive, playful.

[Jess4879]

I didn't read through all the replies, so forgive me if this has been mentioned - but for missing number problems, we used the MUS blocks.  They are amazing, because it's a visual of those problems and helped everything click.