Math Strategies for Preschool Kids

to your child over other children and lay a solid

HOW DOES THIS BOOK WORK FOR YOUR KID?

You will have given young children a great start to Mathematics if you perform these activity suggestions before introducing them to numbers. It's often difficult support to find commercial activities to classification, one to one matching, number conservation, conservation, as many as/more than/the same as etc. and you will probably need to rely on typical toys and household items. These concepts underlie the important mathematical concepts that children will eventually become involved in when they begin school. Here are some tips you can use to nurture your childs natural number sense, preclassification and analytical skills to help him or her get ready for kindergarten math. These are the cognitive skills which would give edge

foundation in math.

Before Children Count Children need to 'match sets' before they will understand 'number conservation' and that counting is actually referring to sets of items. Children are guided by their perceptions and will think that there are more grapefruits than lemons in a pile due to the actual size of the piles. You will need to do one to one matching activities with young children to help them develop conservation of number. The child will move one lemon and you can move the grapefruit. Repeat the process so that the child can see the number of fruits is the same. These experiences will need to be repeated often in a concrete manner which enables the child to manipulate the items and become engaged in the process.

Ask them to tell you how many things are made of wood, plastic, metal, etc.

Pre-Number Activities

Sense More Activities Draw a number of circles (faces) and put down a number of buttons for eyes. Ask the child if there are enough eyes for the faces and how they can find out. Repeat this activity for mouths, noses etc. Speak in terms of more than and less than or as many as and how can we find out. Classification Activities Extend classification activities to include more than one attribute (heavy and small, or square and smooth) Arrange two rows of toys or other objects. Ask your child if there are more objects or fewer objects in the second row. Instead of counting, help your child find the answer by matching Pre-Number

Most children develop a sense of numbers when they are very young. Even at two years old, some children can identify one, two, or three objects. Encourage your child to separate toys or other objects into groups. For example, Ask your child to separate blue toy cars from red cars. Ask young children to sort the silverware or the laundry based on color. Ask children to think of everything they can write with, ride on, that swims and flies etc. Ask children how many items in the living room are square or round or heavy etc.

each object in the second row to an object in the first row. Weigh and measure your child, and tell him or her results. Talk about how some things are taller or shorter and some things are lighter or heavier than your child is. Ask your child to find things in your home that are both tall and heavy or short and light. Teach your child to look for patterns in things. For example, you could arrange different colored stuffed animals so they repeat the pattern red, blue, and green.

Department of Education (Office of Communications and Outreach; Washington, D.C.; 2005):

Point out that counting lets your child know how many things there are in a group.

Point to the object as you recite each number name.

Counting Numbers Talk to your child about numbers. Teachers would like children to be able to recognize the numbers 1 to 10 and to be able to count to 20 when they start school. To help your child learn to count accurately and efficiently, use these tips from Helping Your Child Learn Mathematics, a publication of the U.S.

Use fingers to count. Put up a finger one at a time. Tell your child that fingers are tools we always have with us.

Help your child count without skipping numbers or counting something twice.

Help your child learn the names of such shapes as squares, circles, and triangles. Point out toys and other items in your home that have these shapes.

Sing songs, recite rhymes, and read stories that have numbers in themTen Little Monkeys: Jumping on the Bed, for example. You also can read stories highlight that groups

Arrange items on a tray (toothbrush, comb, spoon etc.) ask the child to look away, rearrange the items to see if they realize the number of items is still the same or if they think it's different. Encourage your child to work simple connectthe-dot puzzles. Help your child develop a sense of time. For example, you might say, Well go to the grocery this eveningafter we eat dinner. Teach your child how to say his or her telephone number and address. Your child may learn them more quickly if you set them to the melody of a familiar song, such as Mary Had a Little Lamb.

of three, such as The Three Little Pigs Three Reading stories children a sense of number groupings. and Bears. these gives Goldilocks and the

Use stickers to make patterns on a page or classify them by attributes. Arrange a row of a set number of stickers, arrange a second row with more spaces between the stickers, ask your child if there are the same number of stickers or more or less. Ask how they can find out - DON'T COUNT! Match the stickers one to one.

Websites for Pre-school Kids Visit these websites to get your childs interest in math started. Math Game Time Math Game Time provides visitors with a great selection of fun online math games, for Pre-K to 7th Grade students. Also included are worksheets and videos, created by educators.

Rick's Math Web Pre-kindergarten to high school students looking for a better understanding of math will find over 4,800 problems to help them improve their skills. Problems can be printed in worksheet form and tips and tricks are included for each area of study. Teach R Kids Math Learn number basics, addition, subtraction, fractions, and much more with these interactive online math worksheets. Exercises are designed for preschool through 3rd grade students. Sheppardsoftware.com Free online kids math games make learning fun. The kids master all the math skills with this free software. Easy and fun to use www.pbs.org Browse through these games for ages 4 and 5 and check out the Parent Pointers and Hints sections for ways to adjust these preschool and kindergarten math games Sample Math worksheets for you to download and practice with your Pre-K Kids Have

Fun!

Training vs tutoring. Tutoring is often a band-aid solution that may treat specific symptoms of a learning struggle, but does little to correct the root cause. Unless this root cause is addressed, the learning struggles repeat themselves. An old proverb says that if you give a fish to the hungry they survive for a day but if you teach them how to fish they become independent and never go hungry. Kids need to be taught strategies of problem
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solving and the logic behind every concept to give better understanding. There is a special hands-on approach to every subject so kids can relate and apply what they study from the books. There are diagnostics tests developed that help us identify what causes the learning struggle and to develop a customized training to strengthen the skills that your child needs to learn better. We hope you found this booklet useful in providing you with some tips and references to allow your child to achieve the success he or she deserves. Please contact us if you have

any questions about your childs education or overall development. We at SMARTS Club are "Making Kids Smarter" everyday