Guest Question
Our daughter, who is in first grade, has trouble with math. She eventually gets it, but not right away, more like weeks later. We don't want her being afraid of it. When do you know when its time to get a tutor? We do work with her, but she gets frustrated and learns better from someone else.
Answer
You can do several things with your first-grader when she seems to be struggling with math. First, schedule a conference with her teacher. Most schools have parent conferences shortly after each report card day. If she eventually gets the math concepts, she may be right on target. The teacher will be able to tell you what her progress is and what she needs to work on. First grade is probably a bit early for a tutoring program, unless the teacher is worried that she is not achieving at grade level.
I can understand your dilemma of wanting to help her but feeling like you contribute to her frustration when you do. My kids and I are the same way! So what can you do at home to improve her math achievement at school? The Mathematics Standards for Grades K-2 from NCTM give us a strategy.
The standards for K-2 math education state, "These programs must build on and extend students' intuitive and informal mathematical knowledge. They must be grounded in a knowledge of child development and provide environments that encourage students to be active learners and accept new challenges. They need to develop a strong conceptual framework while encouraging and developing students' skills and their natural inclination to solve problems." National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Overview of Principles and Standards for School Mathematics
Parents help kids with math learning by providing a foundation of informal math knowledge and a home environment that encourages active learning and problem solving. Try these strategies to help your child achieve early math skills.
Strategy #1 - Play with Math
Purchase board or card games that require math thinking to build your child's 'intuitive and informal math knowledge'. I believe that I learned how to add and count by 5 by playing dominoes when I was a child. You can also use make-at-home and online math games; just keep it light and fun, not like a school lesson.
Strategy #2 - Present Math Challenges
Ask your child to use math thinking to answer mini-challenges about everyday activities. Get creative; as in, "How many socks are missing from this load of laundry? What is the total number of socks we would have in this load if we had a match for every sock?"
Strategy #3 - Use Money
No, not to bribe her, but for math practice. The great thing about manipulating money is the natural reward of keeping it! Put up a change jar and let her count out your spare change to put in it every day or so. Pour out the jar and stack coins by 5's and 10's. Let her calculate how much she would have left if she wants to spend money on a treat. You can think of lots of math learning with money.
Strategy #4 - Drill at Home
Math facts are just one facet of modern elementary math education. Though math facts seem to be de-emphasized, many parents believe this shortchanges their child's math learning. There's no reason that parents should not provide extra practice on addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts at home. Find printable math worksheets or online drills for your child to practice each week. Check with the Parent Center at your child's school for worksheets that are tied to her grade level and needs. This is definitely like schoolwork, so you might find a lack of interest if you don't sweeten the deal with an incentive. One tip is to use a kitchen timer and make it a race to beat her previous times.
Some of the major concepts your first grader will be learning are counting and recognizing numbers, the base ten system and place value, addition and subtraction operations, basic fractions, solving word problems by creating number sentences using +, -, and =, and using simple graphs to represent and compare data. That's a lot to learn, so don't forget that you can provide an environment and a foundation for your child to be ready to go to school and achieve her best in early math.
