Reply to Did anyone else learn "Dot Math" growing up? If not, how were you taught to add and subtract?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP again -- Sorry, didn't mean I'd be drilling my kids with math memorization.  But when it comes down to it, [b]manipulatives, etc. are all about memorization just in more interesting ways[/b]. For example, if you don't have an abacus in front of you, how do you know that 3+2=5 -- I would guess b/c you used the abacus so many times, that answer was memorized.

Whereas the dots (at least in my experience) weren't about memorizing that 3+2=5, but about counting three dots, then counting two more dots and getting to 5.

There's a reason I was an English major!! :)

[/quote]

PP who was a first grade teacher--no, this isn't it at all. Manipulatives are about building number sense. Children aren't memorizing number combinations; they are learning how to represent numbers in different ways and how to compare them. As they make sense of this, then they begin to explore operations like addition, subtraction, and multiplication. But they don't learn that from repeatedly doing the same problem on an abacus.

If I have time later I can look and see if there are some good examples of preschool activities to foster number sense that might be helpful to you.[/quote]

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