10 year old counts with her fingers for simple maths

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My 10 yr old has always struggled with maths. She is now going into year 6 and is still counting on her fingers (even more now than let's say before the summer) for very simple sums - 9+5. Opinion seems to be split as to whether or not this is a problem. I think it would help her enormously if she could get past this. Any tips on how to help her? Any good online programmes? Many thanks.

What kind of resources are you looking for?
Is she not secure with her number bonds to 10, 20, 100?
How are her times tables? Understanding of fractions? Decimals? 2D shapes, 3D shapes? Time? Measurement? Place values? Negative numbers?

My view would be that if she can do the maths without using her fingers (even if it takes longer) then it's OK.

I would be worried if she can only manage simple sums (like 9+5) by counting on her fingers. Not worried in a dramatic way, just concerned that she will struggle with Year 6 maths and the dreaded SATS.

I've never been good at maths & still (at 42) have to really think about some pretty simple sums (such as 6x7, 7x8 etc.) Some people just need a bit longer to work out the answers I guess!

Could you help her learn her tables? That might help with the simple ones.

I've taught many Year 6s who do this, most of which did very well in their maths exams. Is she quite a visual learner, then? Lots of people, adults included, struggle with mental maths. I do myself. Make sure she knows her basic number bonds inside out, as this will really help.

This is my standard advice:

Practical things are best for grasping number concepts - bricks, Lego, beads, counters, money, shapes, weights, measuring, cooking.

Do adding, taking away, multiplication (repeated addition), division (sharing), using REAL OBJECTS as just 'numbers' can be too abstract for some children.

Number Bonds of Ten forms the basis of much maths, so try to learn them. Using Lego or something similar, use a LOT of bricks (of just TWO colours, if you have enough) lay them out so the pattern can be seen of one colour INCREASING while the other colour DECREASES. Lay them down, or build up like steps.

So:
ten of one colour none of other
nine of one colour one of other
eight of one colour two of other
seven of one colour three of other
etc,
then of course, the sides are equal at 5 and 5; after which the colours 'swap over' as to increasing/decreasing.

To learn TABLES, do them in groups that have a relationship, thus:

x2, x4, x8

x3, x6, x12

5 and 10 are easy

7 and 9 are rather harder.

Starting with TWO times TABLE, I always say: "Imagine the class is lining up in pairs; each child will have a partner, if there is an EVEN number in the class. If one child is left without a partner, then the number is ODD, because an odd one is left out."

Use Lego bricks again, lay them out in a column of 2 wide to learn 2x table. Go half way down the column, and move half the bricks up, so that now the column is 4 bricks wide. That gives the start of 4x table.

Then do similar things with 3x and 6x.

With 5x, try and count in 'fives', and notice the relationship with 'ten' - they will alternate, ending in 5 then 10.

It is important to try and UNDERSTAND the relationships between numbers, and not just learn them 'by rote'.

An inexpensive solar powered calculator (no battery to run out!) can help learn tables by 'repeated addition'. So: enter 2+2 and press = to give 4. KEEP PRESSING = and it should add on 2 each time, giving 2 times table.

There are good web sites, which can be fun to use :

www.ictgames.com/

www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/index.html

Practical things are best for grasping number concepts - bricks, Lego, beads, counters, money, shapes, weights, measuring, cooking.

Do adding, taking away, multiplication (repeated addition), division (sharing), using REAL OBJECTS as just 'numbers' can be too abstract for some children.

Number Bonds of Ten forms the basis of much maths, so try to learn them. Using Lego or something similar, use a LOT of bricks (of just TWO colours, if you have enough) lay them out so the pattern can be seen of one colour INCREASING while the other colour DECREASES. Lay them down, or build up like steps.

So:
ten of one colour none of other
nine of one colour one of other
eight of one colour two of other
seven of one colour three of other
etc,
then of course, the sides are equal at 5 and 5; after which the colours 'swap over' as to increasing/decreasing.

To learn TABLES, do them in groups that have a relationship, thus:

x2, x4, x8

x3, x6, x12

5 and 10 are easy

7 and 9 are rather harder.

Starting with TWO times TABLE, I always say: "Imagine the class is lining up in pairs; each child will have a partner, if there is an EVEN number in the class. If one child is left without a partner, then the number is ODD, because an odd one is left out."

Use Lego bricks again, lay them out in a column of 2 wide to learn 2x table. Go half way down the column, and move half the bricks up, so that now the column is 4 bricks wide. That gives the start of 4x table.

Then do similar things with 3x and 6x.

With 5x, try and count in 'fives', and notice the relationship with 'ten' - they will alternate, ending in 5 then 10.

It is important to try and UNDERSTAND the relationships between numbers, and not just learn them 'by rote'.

An inexpensive solar powered calculator (no battery to run out!) can help learn tables by 'repeated addition'. So: enter 2+2 and press = to give 4. KEEP PRESSING = and it should add on 2 each time, giving 2 times table.

There are good web sites, which can be fun to use :

www.ictgames.com/

www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/index.html
Practical things are best for grasping number concepts - bricks, Lego, beads, counters, money, shapes, weights, measuring, cooking.

Do adding, taking away, multiplication (repeated addition), division (sharing), using REAL OBJECTS as just 'numbers' can be too abstract for some children.

Number Bonds of Ten forms the basis of much maths, so try to learn them. Using Lego or something similar, use a LOT of bricks (of just TWO colours, if you have enough) lay them out so the pattern can be seen of one colour INCREASING while the other colour DECREASES. Lay them down, or build up like steps.

So:
ten of one colour none of other
nine of one colour one of other
eight of one colour two of other
seven of one colour three of other
etc,
then of course, the sides are equal at 5 and 5; after which the colours 'swap over' as to increasing/decreasing.

To learn TABLES, do them in groups that have a relationship, thus:

x2, x4, x8

x3, x6, x12

5 and 10 are easy

7 and 9 are rather harder.

Starting with TWO times TABLE, I always say: "Imagine the class is lining up in pairs; each child will have a partner, if there is an EVEN number in the class. If one child is left without a partner, then the number is ODD, because an odd one is left out."

Use Lego bricks again, lay them out in a column of 2 wide to learn 2x table. Go half way down the column, and move half the bricks up, so that now the column is 4 bricks wide. That gives the start of 4x table.

Then do similar things with 3x and 6x.

With 5x, try and count in 'fives', and notice the relationship with 'ten' - they will alternate, ending in 5 then 10.

It is important to try and UNDERSTAND the relationships between numbers, and not just learn them 'by rote'.

An inexpensive solar powered calculator (no battery to run out!) can help learn tables by 'repeated addition'. So: enter 2+2 and press = to give 4. KEEP PRESSING = and it should add on 2 each time, giving 2 times table.

There are good web sites, which can be fun to use :

www.ictgames.com/

www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/index.html

Sorry - I didn't mean to keep repeating that!

47 yo uses fingers to do maths. It is less obvious if you use finger creases for adding and subtracting and touch multiplication fingers to the thumbs. My colleagues think I am a whizz at mental arithmetic.... Little do they know that I am just very quick at finger counting.

https://mobile.twitter.com/mathletepearce/status/877738650439569408

https://mobile.twitter.com/mathletepearce/status/876959772419002368

These are great visual tools

Thank you so much for your responses. I've had a quick look and these resources look great as she is very visual.

irvine well I would have said of course she does know her number bonds to 10/20 but when I asked her questions today she did get the answers but not as quickly as she once would have done so this obviously needs revision.

Mrsdusty -
*Is she not secure with her number bonds to 10, 20, 100?
How are her times tables? Understanding of fractions? Decimals? 2D shapes, 3D shapes? Time? Measurement? Place values? Negative numbers? * Apart from number bonds to 10 and 20 where she is secure - if not as quick as she once was - I would say she wasn't secure in any of these. She can be shown something, understand it but she finds it difficult to retain the information. Her confidence is very low and she hates having to do the work to try to become better. It's a difficult circle to break out of.

I would focus on automatic recall of number bonds and doubles to double 9.

We use something called Big Maths and each week the challenge is to get more correct than they did the previous week (so competing against them self and the clock).

http://www.carrington.nottingham.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Learn-Its-Challenges-Questions-England.pdf
I'd start with Steps 4,5 &6 and how many can she answer in one minute (once she's getting all/most correct reduce the time to 39 seconds.

She then need to understand that teen numbers are one ten and x ones so she can use what she already knows.

Ten frames (as in pic) can help to make it visual

Thanks mrz - that's such a useful link

Ideally you would practise number bonds until you get to the point that you can rapidly recall the answer for the addition of any two single digit numbers, just like going over times tables until they are automatic.

Even a partial mastery is useful. Once you know the number bonds up to 10, you could, for example, think of 9+5 as 9 +1 + 4 or if you are confident about adding 10 you could think of the sum as 10 + 5 - 1.

If number facts are not yet internalised, there are some alternative visual techniques you could try.

Instead of finger counting you could count dots on a die. I think this is quite easy to picture in the mind’s eye, so for 9 + 5, you could start with 9 and add 5 by counting on using the dots on the visualised ‘5’ face of the die.

You could decide on an easily visualised array for 7, 8 and 9 to extend the method.

Another visual method – not involving counting - is to use two rulers as number lines, sliding one over the other to perform an addition. (The illustration shows 5 + 3 = 8)

However, the above are all just intermediate visual strategies and in the end, to speed up, you really need to take the time to internalise a database of number facts!

Practising number bonds to 10 and 20 and other useful exercises:

www.learningideas.me.uk/ma/tester.html

www.arcademics.com/ Good games for quick recall for 4 operations.

www.khanacademy.org/math Video tutorials and practice questions covering all the maths topics.

www.mathgames.com/
mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/category/22/most-popular
www.mathplayground.com/games.html
interactivesites.weebly.com/math.html

Lots of fun games to play.

Thanks very much irvine.

Thanks very much Outwith

Thank you for all the great tips. My DD has similar struggles as I posted on the other thread :)

I wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who has posted on this thread. It has made such a difference to how I view dd and how I have interacted with her. I've always been very worried about her mathematical ability - and I still wish she wouldn't use her fingers - but the knowledge - which I have shared with her - that so many other adults, including accountants and physics type people, has helped immeasurably to calm us both down We've started using these sheets (thanks mrz to practise simple addition and she's been timing herself using her fingers and not using them - and at the moment she's quicker using her fingers...but she's much happier. We've also started using Khan Academy which is an absolutely brilliant tool. It allows you to create a personalised programme, with positive reinforcement for what you know and exercises for what you don't. Can't recommend it enough.