Math at Home
One of the best things you can do for your child’s development of a mathematical mind is to ask them to talk about it! Encourage them to explain their math work to you, even if you’re unfamiliar with some of the Montessori terminology. Always feel free to ask your child’s teacher about the math works and how you can support learning at home.
First grade
- First graders need lots of concrete experience with objects to solidify math operations. Count objects in day to day life (bananas, dogs, freckles, stoplights, etc) to reinforce one-to-one correspondence. Encourage your child to use objects and not their fingers.
- Practice adding with objects and use real-world events to support learning. Some examples could be:
- There are 5 people in our family. If Grandma and Grandpa came to stay with us, how many would we have at our house?
- How many stuffed animals do you have? How many does your brother have? How many do you have all together?
- Begin memorization of addition facts by having your child offer their best guess of the answer before they do the problem. If they respond quickly and with confidence, move on to another problem without having them check their work with objects.
Second Grade
- Second graders should solidify their knowledge of addition facts. Emphasize doing addition facts mentally or making a good guess and then using objects (not fingers) to check their work. Some ways to practice facts are:
Quiz your child on a couple of facts at the grocery store or any other place where they could check their work with objects (fruit, cans, etc).
Practice facts in the car or at meals. Work to remove the stigma of getting an answer wrong. If they say that they don’t know, tell them to make a good guess of a number that is close to the answer, and then help them check their work. Encourage all thier efforts.
- Children in second grade should gain familiarity with subtraction and move towards mastery of subtraction facts as well as addition facts.
Practice subtraction with objects. Encourage them to make a guess and then check.
Food is fun for subtraction--count out pieces of pasta, apple slices, chicken pieces, etc.. This is your minuend. Eat the subtrahend, and count how many are left.
Quiz your child on a couple of facts at the grocery store or any other place where they could check their work with objects (fruit, cans, etc).
Practice facts in the car or at meals. Work to remove the stigma of getting an answer wrong. If they say that they don’t know, tell them to make a good guess of a number that is close to the answer, and then help them check their work. Encourage all thier efforts.
Third Grade
- Third graders should finish solidifying their memorization of addition and subtraction facts.
- Quiz your child in the car or while doing chores. If they don’t know the answer, encourage them to figure it out themselves.
- Third graders should become very familiar with multiplication.
Talk through real-life examples of multiplication problems with your child. Help them understand the process, even if their answers are not always correct.
Quiz them on multiplication facts frequently, and encourage them to use different strategies (skip-counting, repeated addition) to find the answers. Encourage all their efforts.
Once your child is very familiar with the concept of multiplication, introduce the inverse relationship between division and multiplication (i.e. 2 x 4 = 8, and 8 ÷ 4 = 2) to provide support for further math work.
The Montessori math curriculum bridges the gap between concrete and abstract thinking with remarkable math materials. Adults are easily able to understand the link between abstract ideas and concrete examples, but this skill can be all but impossible for elementary-aged children. Thus, the Montessori math sequences provide the support and framework for children to internalize mathematical concepts and procedures successfully. After the teacher has presented a new concept, material, or activity, children are able to explore the different mathematical implications of this presentation as they work. Once a child has mastered the concept from the previous lesson, a new concept is introduced. In this way, children are able to move at their own pace, and teachers are very aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each individual.
For Specific Examples click below:
