5 Year Old and Simple Maths .

Cook with him. There is a lot of math in cooking and it doesn't seem like work. We need three eggs to make the cookies, help me count, 1,2,3. We count when we go up and down stairs, my daughter "helps" me make the coffee in the morning by counting the 8 scoops and 8 cups of water. Talk to him about the numbers in his life. I have 3 cookies, you have 2 who has more? etc... He's lucky to have parents who are so involved and willing to help. Keep up the good work!

It's great that he's doing so well with his English! Perhaps that's taking up most of his thought processes right now. Even though children catch onto other languages much easier than adults, I can only imagine how much of my brain activity would be taken up if I was constantly trying to learn and figure out a secondary language!

As far as math, make sure he has a firm grasp on counting from 1 to 20 -then build onto 30, 40, 50, etc. Use examples of anything -crayons, books, apples,etc. to show him what the numbers mean (what two of something is, what 6 of something is -how he has 10 fingers with 5 on each hand). He is close in age to my son who will be 5 in March. He's in a public PreK this year, and some of the kids are starting to do simple addition. I'm happy that my son is doing well with it, but many kids aren't there yet -and it's okay. This whole year is seen as an introduction for many children so that kindergarten won't be completely foreign to them. I know Montessori is different, but the teacher needs to also be working with his understanding of concrete math principles. It's fantastic if 5 year olds can add and subtract, but they're not really "behind" if they can't! As soon as he gets a good, concrete understanding of what the actual numbers mean, then higher math skills will probably kick in easily. If there's a school/teacher supply store (like The Schoolbox) somewhere near you, look for some math workbooks for kindergarten and try those at home. I think Barnes and Noble bookstores also have a teacher section with stuff like this in it now. Get him in the habit of counting everything (something my son does a lot). It will start being easy for him to see that if he's looking at 5 crackers and he eats 3 of them -there are only 2 left. That sort of thing seems to really catch on quickly at his age.

I'm curious as to what type of Montessori this is. Is it a charter (public) school? Perhaps it is more transitional that actual Montessori. Montessori Math is visual and tactile. They use tools that you can actually see.

My advice is communicate with the teacher for the best way to help him. You want your teachings at home to be a continuation of what is being taught in school.

Your English is just fine. No need to apologize.
About your son, if you don't already have any,
get some books from library with counting pages.
Ask the librarian to help you find some.
They will be on the shelves for toddlers . . . .
big oversized books.
Pictures and words and numbers . . .
for example: ONE APPLE with the words ONE and APPLE
and the digit 1 and a picture of an apple
TWO DUCKS with the words TWO and DUCKS and the digit 2
and a picture of two ducks
etc.
These generally go up to 10 and have brightly colored pictures.
There are lots of different kinds of these books.

Spend some time with him reading these together
until he can read them back to you.
He should understand the concept of 2,
whether it's a picture of two anythings or the digit 2
or 2 somethings in front of him, like 2 balls or 2 oranges, etc.
and the concept of each number: the digit, the word, the image.

When you're looking at a page with five horses,
point to the horses one at a time and say: one horse, 2 horses, etc.
or just one, two, three, four, five, as you point.
Have him say it after you do.
Point to each horse and tell him to say each number.

Does your son know the names of numbers in your native language?
If so, you can make up some pages yourself,
with both words with pictures . . . .
each number word written in both languages.

He'll be just fine. He'll probably pick this up very quickly.
You can add practice, for example, in the kitchen while you're cooking.
How many carrots? How many spoons? etc.

When he gets past counting to 10,
you can ask him how many books on the shelf,
how many houses on our street?
etc.

Good luck.

I'd want to know a bit more about what kind of "simple calculation" the teacher is expecting of a 5 year old. I'd ask the teacher to talk to you specifically about what he can work on with you at home. Montessori schools are typically very good about home--> school connection, but there can be a lot of variation.

Before you start him doing any computation focus on strong number concept building. He knows the number, yes, but does he really get that 100 is a lot more than 3? I think your husband is on the right track. Talk to him about how many of things you see. "two shoes" "three bites" "one dog" "I see five cars on the street, how many do you see?" Also he need to know more than and less than before addition will make any sense. There are lots of "Kindergarten" workbooks with activities like this that might be fun for him (things like "find the pile of books that has MORE than four books" etc.

Good luck with this.

T.

Welcome to the USA! You are doing great with your English! The most important thing you can do is model a love for learning. If you model being stressed, that is what he will pick up. So, when you are driving places or walking or sledding or playing, count out loud. Have numbers as part of your daily life. Have him help put away the silverware and ask, "How many knives do we have?" And then count out loud with him. As you are folding laundry, have him help you sort socks (that's a natural matching game). Go to the library for story hour every week and get a bag of books and sit and read every day. Notice things in the pictures and ask him what he sees.

Why don't you just let the teacher teach him? And then ask her for some suggestions on things you can do at home.

You really don't have to worry about math that much at 5. If I remember Kindergarten correctly, all they do is learn all their numbers.

You might try some math manipulatives. We used Miquon Math from Timberdoodle.com for our early learners. It is somewhat similar to the montesorri method as they use manipulatives as well. It helps them see, physically, that 1 is 1, etc. Right now, he just needs simple math understanding. He will learn even and odd, associated one item to the number 1, two items for 2, etc. And, he will learn simple addition, subtraction and so on. It is really helpful for the children to be able to put their hands on the items and have it make sense physically, not just in their heads or in the air. It is a concept that needs real physical associations. You can use cheerios, m&ms, etc. to teach these things as well. He's only just 5. Don't worry too much. Boys are often slower on these things anyway. It wasn't too long ago that it was considered ridiculous to send children, especially boys, to school before the age of 7.

My son is really great at math. Very very visual.
When he was in Kindergarten his teacher had us have 100 things (beans, pennys, raisins...whatever!) and that way he could do math.
Me: Elijah, pretend Suzie has 4 apples (count out 4 pennies) and then Bobby came up and gave him 5 apples (count out 5 apples)...how many apples? (count them all together)
My son needs to be able to see the problem and count them out. You need to be able to help him with his counting. If you feel that you are hindering him, your english is lacking, whatever, then maybe you could take some ESL (English as a Second Language) classes so you can help him out.
Your son's teacher should be able to give you some ideas as well.
Good Luck,
L.

Math concepts are universal - the concepts are the same, regardless of culture or language, so go ahead and teach him the concepts in your native language. He'll pick up the English words to describe those concepts in school. You can help reinforce some of the basic terms in English like numbers, plus (add), minus (take away), more, less, equals, using some basic picture books. But start discussing numbers and math in your daily conversation, and he'll start to understand the concepts.
I would make sure you son knows his numbers 1-20 in both your native language and English. Talk about numbers in your everyday environment as much as possible, for example: "How many cars do you see?", "How many eyes do I have, fingers do I have?", "How many people are in our family?", etc. Then, practice counting in both your native language and English. It's important he understands the concepts, while he's building his language skills at the same time.
Then, build on basic counting to add on more complex number concepts - Who has more/fewer/less raisins? He needs to understand the basic number concepts. Comparing things around him for bigger/smaller, more/less, will help to reinforce this.
Then, once he understands the more/less concepts, start building basic addition/subtraction skills. Examples: If we have 2 apples, and we buy one more, how many do we have? If I have 10 raisins, and you share 5 with me, how many will you have?

I hope this helps!

I suggest that you consider purchasing the first Math-U-See program. It has manipulatives that make math less conceptual and more real for the beginner. Also, it comes with a video so that he can learn from the instructor and not you (I found that it can be frustrating to my child if I am the instructor). It is a wonderful program!

Best of luck with your son. The Montessori Program is one of the best!

DS is 5 and is in a Montessori also- all their math is visual and manipulative and the kids are encouraged to do it at their own pace so that sounds odd. We try to incorporate real world math into our daily life - 'how many lego pieces are in that thing/animal/building/whatever that you just built. If you add 3 more pieces, how many will there be now?' We also got him an abacus when he was 3 and he LOVES it. He has referred to it for counting and figured out his own method of adding using it (works so not arguing). We also teach him the 'tricks' that make math fun. If he can add 1 and 2, then he can add 10 and 20 - he really gets a kick out of these things once he sees them. My personal opinion is workbooks and rote learning are counter productive for math (although clearly writing is a motor skill that needs practice).
Good luck

I think that a montessori school is a great idea. The little guy has a lot on his plate right now and learning the english language is hard for anyone (even those born here.) At this age the easiest way to teach anything is to make it fun. Take walks together and practice math that way. You could always take ESL classes and learn together. Teachers are wonderful people and they have many great ideas. Don't get frustrated and don't force him into getting frustrated because then it will have a negative affect. Young children pick up another language fast if they are exposed on a constant basis. He will learn overnight when he is not overwhelmed.