Ideas - How to make math more fun? (1st)

[madlib1210]

Hi!

I am new to hsing and am on Day 18 of MFW 1st grade. So far we are loving it. DD6 LOVES the Complete Book of Math and enjoys the Math Reading selections. But she is starting to complain about the number of the day activities and asks why we have to do the same thing each day.

She is also just automatically answering the questions w/out thinking, because she knows the answer is going to be the number of the day (for example when we add the bean or penny to our bean or money jar she automatically says the answer w/out counting). I appreciate any ideas you all have for how to work through this.

Blessings in Christ,
Robin

[cbollin]

Number of the Day has many activities to allow for a wide variety of things to do with it besides counting beans in a cup and calling out an answer by rote (that part might be able to be skipped by your child, but not necessarily the whole category of things to do with Number of the Day.. make sense?) I do think there is value in the counting of objects so that your young child can visualize numbers larger than 10.

You might want to look back on the section of the manual that has some
extra activities to do with the Number of the Day. I have an older manual, but the pages are p. 9-11 for some of that.

There are ideas in there for expanding the story problems around the number of the day, and for doing equations that include the number of the day in the equation but not necessarily the answer. So if number of the day is 11, you make an equation such as 7 + ??? = 11. So, the number of the day is part of the equation but not the answer.

Also, there is a suggestion in the tm to use the opportunity to teach about greater than and less than for the children who are ready to move on.

-crystal

[RachelT]

Hi Robin! We are on day 5 of 1st grade. Last year we did similar number activities in MFWK.

One thing that we combine with these activities is calendar math each day. I have a magnetic calendar that we change the number on each day. I've also found some songs about the days of the week, months, etc. Last year we did the calendar and 100 chart together. This year I found great ideas on a website for a math calendar binder. We are doing some of those activities. I also write a message on our white board that incorporates the calendar math and we sometimes sing a song and I call this our "morning meeting". It's from my former teaching days.

The great site about calendar math is called Mrs. Meacham's calendar math. There are photos of examples, files to print, and fun songs at the bottom.

Anyway, I would say to vary what you are doing with the number. Maybe instead of doing all 6 steps of the math activities on page 9-10 of the TM EVERY day, just rotate them. Do the number cup things (we put colored craft sticks in a plastic peanut butter jar and bundle them in 10's) and the 100 chart every day, but then one day focus on a few oral story problems with manipulatives, the next day do the number of the day sheet, then the next day do coin activities. In other words, choose what you think looks important for each day and then select another activity to go along with it and move on. My ds likes routine, but can also say that he is "bored" if we always do things the exact same way every day. I think in time you will find this easier.

I hope you find ways to spice up your math!
Rachel

[madlib1210]

Thanks so much for all the advice. I like the idea of doing the calendar, bean counting, and 100 chart (we need lots of practice skip counting and such) each day and then rotating in the other activities.

It is so hard for me being new to homeschooling to know what to change up and what to do exactly as written. I get worried that she will miss out on something. Thanks for giving me the confidence to tweak the curriculum.

Blessings in Christ,
Robin

[kellybell]

Sounds good! There's a lot to be said about repetition (for example, it works) but it can get boring.

Lots of times when we are dealing with "boring" activities (often, we are really dealing with character things!) we spice things up. Perhaps we do it first in the day. Or last in the day. Or in our pajamas before breakfast. Or (a favorite) with a special doll or stuffed animal (with the student "teaching" her companion).

One thing that works wonders for us are chocolate chips (M&Ms work well too but they are bigger so it's easier to overdose on them). After each cheerfully done activity, maybe you can dole out a chocolate chip.

Don't be afraid to spice things up with math. One book I love (and have touted on this board before) is Peggy Kaye's Games for Math. You may not love it, so check the library before you plunk down money. It's aimed at K through 3rd graders and it has a lot of games to reinforce counting, adding, place value. They are simple games and easy to learn.

One game they have is where you get four (or three) cups and label them 1, 10, 100, and 1000. Each player takes turns throwing nine bingo chips (or large beads, whatever) into the cups and then you calculate the score. If you have four in the 1000 cup, two in the 100 cup, none in the 10 cup and three in the 1 cup you get 4,203 points. Very simple, pretty fun.

So, add some games.

[lyntley]

another good one is Family Math for young children. They usually have it at the library too. These kinds of books are great for helping you to think outside the workbook and come up with ways to incorporate math throughout the day.

[henryteachers]

Another idea, which we did last year--
my daughter was feeling the same way, so we stopped. Came back to it and did 10 numbers on one day for the 100 chart. Then we choose to do counting beans, money, place value, and fill in sheet for one of the numbers. We didn't finish up to 100, so we're coming back to it again this year for 2nd grade to make sure she has the concepts down.