simple sums!!!!

[strictlovingmum]

DD is 4.11 and I would like to do with her some maths(adding and subtracting), at the moment she uses her fingers to + and -, and up to ten she gets it right.
She is good at counting, recognises numbers and number bonds.
Anyone still uses number line? and can I use a ruler as number line?
Should she rely on number line, or they are different strategies?
She will start Y1 in September, her YR report did not give me much info. in regards to how she is doing in numeracy, nor what she should know?

Why will she be in year one if she turns 5 in September? Or does she turn 5 later this month?
I'd leave her to enjoy her summer tbh at that age

talk to her teacher for the schools' strategies, they should have a maths policy which details the different strategies for each year group. I use number lines with children as old as 11 as they are very easy to use, especially to visualise in your head for mental maths. You should also be able to make an appointment to discuss the school report.

dear cjbartlett she will be 5 end of this month, so yes very young, reason I am keen to do little bit more along the lines of maths is, there was a wide gap in her report between her ability in literacy and numeracy.
Report listed some of the things she could do in numeracy, but it was very bland and sort of not positive nor negative.

I would leave her be, and see how she gets on when she starts back at school in September. We live abroad and dd never started this stuff til nearly 7. They catch up very quickly. She is still quite little - I would not be panicking about her maths ability just yet.

At that age the teachers in my DDs school just recommended talking to the children about numbers/maths as situations presented themselves naturally.

So walk down the road and talk about the number on the doors - going up or down; the fact that no.1 is on this side of the road but no. 2 is on the other side of the road - so where are no.s 3 & 4?

Do some cooking and talk about the numbers while you weigh and measure, count the number of cup cake cases then talk about how many cakes you will have each (so 12 cakes and 4 people coming to tea means 3 cakes each).

Count the shells you collect on the beach, may be group them into different shapes/colours etc. Can she guess which group has the most shells?

Don't turn the holiday into a maths lesson - but just let her know that she is surrounded by numbers and that they can be fun, useful and interesting.

Thank you all, I will try not to panic , I guess i feel she is little overshadowed by DS 16 now, who at the age of 5 could do a lot more and understood maths and it's core, albeit now will start A level double maths.
She is a bright spark, but bless her has zero interest in maths and how things add up.

if you want to do counting on on a number line, ask her to write numbers on pieces of paper and lay them out in a line. she can then do the jumping up and down the line. chalking numbers outside is even better as less slippery! you then get to use language like forwards and back (take aways) make it fun aand stop at the first sign of tiredness/boredom.

It sounds like you are expecting too much too soon from your DD and if she isnt interested then you are likely to make this worse.

Some good recommendations from other posters.

Dont mention the word maths at all, just do them as part of a daily life.

Best recommendations are numbers when playing games, whether board games, counting with sweets etc.

When at the shops, ask her to select your groceries that cost xx amount but dont tell her the brand, so she starts to recognise numbers in real life scenarios. If it is too hard, leave it til she is older.

Fully understanding number bonds to 10, then to 10 is the most important. Being able to recognise that 6 is 5+1, or 9 is 5+4 or that 13 is 10+3 is also really helpful for when they start counting numbers that dont add up to 10 or 20.Work on subtractions as well so she fully understands the families of numbers
ie
6 + 4 = 10
4 + 6 = 10
10 - 6 = 4
10 - 4 = 6

A lot of children (early years) dont recognise that they are all the same numbers being used, just in a different way.

Number lines are still used, and yes rulers work.

There are lots of differnt strategies and your DD will be shown them all through school but she will decide what suits her. Quite often our children do not follow the same method or logic we as an adult would use, so it needs to be the child's choice, they just need to be aware of all the strategies and over time be able to explain how they worked something out.

To move away from fingers, teach her to visualise that 7 is 5 + 2, so five fingers plus two fingers, but not use her fingers. Counters and sweets are great for this.

Breaking numbers down, lending/borrowing, moving up/down is done all the time and children learn to instantly recognise this. (They dont call it this though). So for example 19 and 11, 19 plus 1 is 20, to take 1 off 11 to make 10 so the answer is 30.

Thanks roadart I am not going to over do it, we usually do it while riding on the train, bus or while shopping.
It is very informal, I would like her to grasp the basics and not struggle with them later in the year.
Also I vaguely remember when DS was this age that I was doing similar things with him, him being more responsive then DD is, I hope she will get there in her own time.
I am optimistic regarding her further development in numeracy, she does know her left from wright, understand less and more, further and backward, out of interest Why not use proper mathematical terminology?

Hi Strictloving mum. I think schools do use proper terminology, but there are also lots of fancy names now. I think using words like lending/borrowing can be confusing to some children, but I cant remember the correct language used.

We are now using Mathletics, and I have been surprised at the language used for children from aged 5. I know the kids havent been taught many of the proper language words whilst in school (up to 11 year olds) but they are now being exposed to it on Mathletics.

I am relearning maths through my kids, and am amazed at how much they are now taught from an early age. One of my DC is doing stuff in Year 5 that I didnt cover until Year 9

Precisely, as I said at the age of 5 or 6 yes maybe it's a good idea to sugar coat it, and explain it any way they best understand it, but past that age I think it's a good idea to start using proper mathematical language and start preparing them for more complex staff, time tables, divisions, frictions etc.
Don't get me wrong, all I want it, is for to get those basics right and have a sound foundation for later, and not struggle, that is why I would like to do small chunks of it in timewith her.
I certainly would not like to get 8 year old on my hands who can't do maths because "girls can't do maths".

She's probably still at the age where real things make most sense to her rather than the concepts of numbers. Physically manipulating objects is the best way to teach maths at that age - beads, buttons, pieces of fruit or chocolate.

I got a packet of a hundred straws and bundled them into tens. With these, when you're talking about numbers she can actually manipulate them. Give her 3 and ask her to make it up to a fresh bundle of ten. Give her one bundle and aks her to see what happens when you take 5 away. count in twos up to twenty etc etc.

When my child gets stuck I still say - remember the bundles of straws, what would that look like.

I would avoid doing sums. Counting on fingers to get the right answer to written sums seems to be going through the motions, rather than developing understanding. I would do a lot of counting of real objects in real situations and follow other posters', especially piprabbit's, suggestions. Games are good, especially snakes and ladders, ludo and dominoes. Your daughter is very young and a generation or so ago, a child her age would just have been starting school in September.

I've had very good recommendations for these games:

Bus stop by orchard toys www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B0006HBERA/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending#R19U772G636I9E

Sum swamp www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Resources-Swamp-Addition-Subtraction/dp/B00004TDLD