Early Math Skills

I'll be honest:

Math is not my strong point. It never has been.

It was always ironic that hanging next to my high-scoring English essay on the fridge would be my C+ math test. I worked just as hard for the English A as I did for the math grade and my sweet parents always acknowledged that hard work!

Anyway, I'd love for Maddie to not struggle in math (and, she does have Mike's genes going for her, since he finds equations and logic to be somehow fun). :)

I've always been mindful, in my working with Maddie, to place equal emphasis on math as on reading or writing or science. Today we had a fun mini-lesson using some fruit counters and I thought I'd share. We used THESE but really, you could use anything (a snack mix or different colored buttons would work just as well!).

The first thing we did was build simple AB patterns. I'd start the pattern off (initially putting down the first 5 or 6 pieces and then slowly getting down to only doing the first three pieces) and she'd reach into the bucket, select the correct fruit and complete the pattern.

Then, we moved onto more difficult patterns, such as ABC and ABB ones.

We took turns creating the patterns and having other person complete them.

She was telling me that it was my turn to finish the pattern she'd started. Haha!

We tried some tricky ones, but she was able to figure every single one out. It really helps to "read" the pattern out loud, almost in a sing-song voice, so that the next piece is almost obvious.

Then, we moved on to other types of thinking.

In this one, she had to figure out which piece was missing from the pattern.

She'd find it and correct it.

We also tried making patterns with an error and having the other person correct it. She really liked doing these. :)

Finally, we worked with the words "more," "less," and "equal."

I'd put out piles and she'd identify which pile had more or less.

Or, talking about when the piles were completely equal!

We worked for about 30 minutes and had a great time learning together. When it was time to clean up, she decided to sort them and then put them away. I should take a picture of the bucket, since it now looks like a layered fruit salad. Ha!