Numbers Video

Here is a youtube video on how to teach the numbers. Here is the associations we use for teaching the numbers Learning the Letters and Numbers. This video doesn't show the very important part of learning the numbers, which is having your child find each of the numbers for you. Don't forget that you need to do a lot of this before they can tell you what they are!

Counting!

Counting!

Jake is very confident counting to ten and identifying the numbers to ten. Now it is time for him to put the two together and take it to the next level, learning how to enumerate. We do this in everyday life whenever I see the opportunity, as well as in books we are reading. At school we love using what we call ‘counting sheets’ to help the children develop their enumerating skills. These sheets have the numbers written on them, in little boxes that the children cut out and stick on the corresponding boxes. This gives the children some cutting and sticking practice as well and gives them an activity to practice their number recognition in the most basic form, having only to find the number, rather than have to identify it outright.

If your little one is like Jake, keen to cut, but not really at the point where they can cut on lines without just cutting it all to pieces, help guide them by standing behind them and holding the scissors over the top of their hands. Make sure they are holding the scissors in the correct way as this is laying the foundations for successful cutting by themselves. If you know the tune to the song ‘Open Shut them’ you can sing along as you cut (you have to sing it quite slowly so it is in time for their little snips!)

 ‘Open shut them, open shut them, give a little snip!,

  Open shut them, open shut them, snip snip snip snip snip.’

When all the little boxes are cut out you can play finding them, checking that if you ask your child to find each number they are able to do it. When you have played finding them, have your child count the objects in the first box and then find the number, before sticking it in the box. If they are racing through counting at top speed, rather than taking their time and counting each picture, tell them that they need to give each one a number and that the (insert name of picture, such as 'Daddy Pig') will be sad if it doesn't get it's own number!). Try to avoid pointing to the picture and having them count, but if necessary hold their hand and help them point carefully and slowly to each number as they count. Carry on this way until the sheet is done. Your little one can colour in the pictures if they would like. Jake is especially keen to do one if it is a present for someone, but he is also in love with Peppa Pig at the moment so anything with her on it has instant appeal to him!

We are listening to ‘Musical Times Tables – It’s Fun To Multiply’ by Don Spencer, part of a pack I got from the ABC shop. I had a past student who at four years old, had amazing counting abilities, he seemed to be able to see the pattern and know how much was in front of him. If they were laid out in rows, such as four lots of 8 counters he could tell you it was 32, almost instantly! He didn’t seem to be counting but could just see the pattern and knew. His mother said she played a CD like this of times tables in the background once every day. It could be purely coincidental as he was an extraordinary child in other ways, but I do believe in the power of singing when wanting to learn easily. It is also a major part of Accelerated Learning and we often see the benefit of using it in the classroom. Montessori saw that the children went through 'sensitive periods' where something could be learnt easily and quickly if it was done during this window of opportunity. If they are learnt in song form, perhaps it is during this age of rapid language development that it is the ideal time to just 'absorb' the times tables. 

I was always quite good at tables, thanks to the painful experience of having my dad grill a reluctant younger me, on our drive to school and back every day! I would love for Jake to be able to absorb them in an easy and painless way and I do see him starting to try and sing along from time to time, so I live in hope! An obvious footnote here is that it may drive you nuts and you might also find yourself absent-mindedly walking around later singing these repetitive little chants to yourself…

I have attached some basic 1-5 counting sheets below, which I recommend starting with, even if your child is able to do something more advanced. Small successes will help build their confidence and regardless of their skill they will get some good counting and cutting practice. If you would like more advanced ones with 1-10 or 10-20 feel free to email me at admin@smartstarteducation.com.au.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwzunNaHHgjpT2hJSjlkTUs1NGc/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwzunNaHHgjpQ0hxdmZ6RUJMaUk/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwzunNaHHgjpaHkzb2k2Q1diNGM/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwzunNaHHgjpalZxTzZfYnk0Vms/view?usp=sharing

Treasure Baskets

Treasure Baskets            

Maria Montessori believed that children went through ‘sensitive periods’, which she described as ‘windows of opportunity’ for learning something specific, with the greatest ease. A lot of research has supported this idea. For example, we now know that children develop language skills far more easily in their developmental years, than later in life. Around the age of two or three she observed a sensitivity for small objects, where children were fixated on small objects and tiny details.  During this time you will be amazed at the things your child might notice, that you have overlooked, or wonder at how they can be so fascinated by things that seem so inconsequential to us! 

You might also wonder what it is that your child is learning during this period, what can playing with all these little objects do for your child’s development? Well, in order for your child to understand the bigger picture of the world around them, they need to deconstruct it and break it down to the smallest level. They need to understand the smaller pieces that make up this bigger picture, examine them in great detail and then see how they fit together. When you think of it this way I think it makes sense that it is so interesting for them, it is human nature to want to know how the world around us works and so much of it is incredibly amazing when you take a step back and see it from a child's perspective. When the child is interacting with tiny objects they are also required to develop their physical skills, their hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, the pincer grip that will later be used to hold a pencil and a fine control of movement.

Jake has been quite fascinated by small objects for the last few months. We have a box of assorted objects at school, which we play ‘I Spy’ with, a game where the teacher will spell out a word, C – A – T and the child will have to hear the word and find the object. Jake has for a long time, loved to take out the box and line the objects up, talking about them and looking at them for extended periods of time. He has also loved doing this with small toys at home like little cars and animals.  A month or two ago I started putting, what Montessori called, a ‘Treasure Basket’ on his shelf at home. A treasure basket tends to be a basket with a dozen or two assorted items inside it for your child to investigate and explore. They can have a theme and it is nice if they can have different things within it that appeal to all of the five senses. They can be tailored to any age, when Jake was a baby I had a basket of different miniature (but big enough nothing could be swallowed) kitchen items for him to explore; a small wooden spoon, mini whisk, little pastry brush etc. I have seen people make baskets with all the objects the same colour so that they can focus on teaching their child that colour, or all the objects made of a certain material such as wood or metal. At school we often have a treasure basket of different containers, which the children love. They practice opening and closing the lids, learning to match which lid goes on which box and they like to smell the containers and talk about what was in them! 

I often have parents say that their young child needs to be sitting with them at all times when they are playing or that their child can’t concentrate on something for long before they move off to the next thing. I really think this is a great activity to put on the shelf for any child like this. If you want to extend the amount of time your child can concentrate and work independently, this seems to be a fantastic way. In order to keep it a fascinating exercise for your child you will want to swap some or all of the objects every week and experiment to find what kinds of things they are really interested in. I found that just adding to the treasure basket is not a good thing, a limited amount of objects is best or it becomes overwhelming and they end up tipping it everywhere and making more mess than they are happy to clean up at the end of the exercise. Just like with their toy collections, less seems to be more. You can show your child how to take the objects out and stand them up, talk about what they are and what they do/ are used for/ noises they make etc. If you can see your child is interested and absorbed take a step back and see how long they are happy to work independently. As an extension for older children who want you to be involved, play the I Spy game, spelling out the letter sounds and seeing if they can make the word.

                                                       

 It isn't necessary to have a theme and mostly it is easiest to keep it fresh if you just have to rummage through some drawers for a new bunch of odds and ends. Here are some ideas for themes if you feel like it:

·         Bottles and containers - you can put some little moon stones or marbles inside the containers as the children seem to love this extra element of discover

·         Magnetic vs not magnetic – I have just given Jake a magnet and he has explored what it attracts and what it doesn’t

·         Floating and sinking - Might be a good one to do outside if you want to allow them to work independently without a huge mess being created!

·         Animal/ Dinosaurs – good for learning the names and sounds animals make

·         Colour baskets – all the objects of the same colour

·         Metal, wood, cloth – all the objects made of the same material

·         Lego is great because there is so many little fiddly bits to click in and out. Jake loves fiddling with Lego, not really building, fiddling away connecting trailers, clicking people on and off etc. He also quite likes Barbies, talking about the body parts, fiddling with all the little bits that come with them, putting on shoes and clothes, they are all great fine motor skill exercises and grab his attention.

                         

                               

The next time you go to the effort of taking your little one to somewhere like the zoo and they just want to look at the gumnuts on the path or watch the ants, don't be frustrated, try and see the world from your child's perspective and marvel at how amazing every little component of it is! 

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day,

you may look back and realise they were the big things"