Math struggles

[Anonymous]

My daughter is in 2nd grade, and while she thrives in other topics and quickly became bilingual, she really struggles with math. She just cannot grasp place value, has weak number sense and can’t memorize her math facts. We’ve tried to intervene in several ways, but it seems that rote memorization is harder than memorizing things that have a story or context. Ideas on how I can support her?

[Anonymous]

Get her a tutor

[Anonymous]

Work with manipulatives to help her grasp math concepts. If I have 5 gummy bears and Sally ha eight how many more gummy bears do I need to have the same number as Sally. Math word problems also provide a story context. Agree with PP find a tutor that will use multiple learning styles to teach math.

[Anonymous]

I think money is one of the very best teaching tools for math. It deals with counting, number sense, place value, addition, subtraction, and provides an introduction to multiplication. For my daughter I printed a 10 by 10 grid with squares large enough to hold a quarter, numbering each. I shaded each block of 25 with a contrasting color. I changed the text color for multiples of five to red. Then she could lay the money on the grid to count it out. You can buy play money for kids, or let them use your spare change. You can play store, “buying” items from each other, eventually even adding up multiple items and making change. You might consider giving your child an allowance. Once my daughter could count money, we started giving her a weekly allowance of $1.00 in random change that she had to count out.

Cyberchase (animated PBS show) is great for introducing math concepts. It teaches math in the context of an animated story, and then shows how it can be used in real life. The website also has some math games. Although recent seasons have shifted focus away from math, earlier episodes can still be seen here:
https://pbskids.org/cyberchase/videos/?selectedID=...5c-0ec9-4490-9f88-7890cfb1689a

Games of all kinds have math components - moving spaces, counting points, etc. Strategy games like Checkers, Connect 4, etc., involve geometric thinking and logic. The game Sleeping Queens is a great way to practice addition (and it's genuinely fun too).

Get her a ruler or tape measure. Timers are also good. She can think of things she wants to measure (How far can I jump? How tall am I? How tall is Barbie? How fast can I run across the yard? How many jumping jacks can I do in a minute?), and you can help, but this isn’t homework you assign. Maybe check the Guinness Book of World Records out of the library and then encourage her to set personal records or hold family contests to see who can win a family title.

The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives has lots of ways to explore/play with math concepts:
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html

Cooking and crafts are excellent for math.

Actually math is all around us. You might try to incorporate math into daily life/conversation. At the grocery store - “Let’s get 10 pieces of fruit. I want 2 bananas for my cereal, you can pick out the rest.” When a guest is over for dinner - “Please set the table. There’s the four of us, plus Larla, so you’ll need to put down 5 of everything.”. “Dinner’s in 15 minutes, and you need to pick up your toys first. If you think you can get everything put away in 5 minutes, I’ll let you keep playing for the next 10.”

For memorizing her math facts, I really think computer games/apps are the way to go. They provide intrinsic motivation to practice and give instant feedback. There are countless ones to choose from. I don’t think it matters much which you choose, as long as it’s one that she’ll enjoy and want to play.

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I know you’re not there yet, but cooking is excellent for fractions. You might even consider getting her a set of measuring cups now to play in the sand/wading pool/bathtub so she starts to develop a feel for fractions.

When geometry concepts start to be introduced, try the Sir Cumference books by Cindy Neuschwander.

[Anonymous]

Such great suggestions, thank yours so much!

[Anonymous]

My kid was like this. Tutors were needed in high school and college. Look into Bedtime math. Go to a teaching store, like Lakeshore Learning, and get educational math games. Use songs and manipulatives to get math facts memorized.

If I were you I’d get a math tutor now to strengthen underlying skills.

[Anonymous]

Check out Kate snow. Confidence in math series. She does this thing where she really emphasizes the addition and subtraction concepts.

[Anonymous]

Try working on math in the other language.

[Anonymous]

Try Math-U-See program.

[Anonymous]

The Beast Academy curriculum is fantastic as a supplement. She can take a short quiz to see what level she’s at. The story / comic book format is engaging and funny and teaches kids strategies for solving math problems. you can start with the level that’s right for her based on where she is at. I would stay away from pushing memorization.

[Anonymous]

Times Tales will teach her her times tables

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try working on math in the other language.

Not a good idea. If she’s not living with bilingual family and speaking it every day counting money in a second language in your head doesn’t come naturally. It would make everything 10 times harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out Kate snow. Confidence in math series. She does this thing where she really emphasizes the addition and subtraction concepts.

Agree. We bought this for our rising 2nd grader to ensure he knew his addition and subtraction facts. He knew them and wasn't as interested in this. His pk4 younger brother was watching and took to it. We hadn't planned on starting him off that early but the book is all about games to ensure the student gets it. By the time kindergarten started, our youngest knew his subtraction facts as well. Who knew that would be the foundation from where he took off. He's a rising 2nd grader now and extremely strong at math. He's about half way through third grade math. I credit most of it to Kate Snow and her addition and subtraction facts.

[Anonymous]

NumberBlocks YouTube show.

Peg+Cat on PBS Kids.

Play card games like Blackjack /21
Board games lie Chutes and Ladders

Practice skip counting out loud.

Sing 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

[Anonymous]

We realized towards the end of this past school year that DC was in the bottom fourth of their class.

We got a math workbook which covers the same material as last year's class from the local bookstore and we do one page each day. DC now is getting much better at math. She just needed more practice than she was getting at school (and there is no homework at her school in lower elementary).

We plan to continue to reinforce/supplement using math workbooks at home going forward.

We now suspect the top students were getting some kind of reinforcement outside school, either in person at a center -- or at home using a workbook supervised by a parent.