46 | August 2012 | woman this month Parenting Dos and DoN’Ts l Take advantage of opportunities that arise in daily life; e.g., in the supermarket, ask your child ‘’Please find six carrots for our dinner.’’ l Keep using the language of numbers and more and less. .’Would you like one more story tonight? How many will that be altogether then?’’ l Look for patterns through play. There are plenty to understand and exploit in mathematics; an early feel for pattern is important. l Sing number songs and rhymes. l Include counting in household activities. For example, ’’Can you find three more water cups for our tea party?’’ l Ask children to pay in shops and to get the change. A great question to ask and discuss when receiving change is. ’’Why did he/she give you this money back when you were buying things?’’ Many children struggle with this idea when it appears in the school curriculum. l Try to avoid expecting too much too soon. Remember the idea of the unprepared construction site. l Avoid showing any signs of frustration at all if something is difficult for your child. There are children who do not look forward to mathematics lessons, or who have negative emotions in this area. Do not plant the early seeds! Enjoy creating and being involved in the experiences and praise all efforts! The relationships When children have fully developed number concepts, they understand the number as a label for an amount and understand that there is a relationship of increase or decrease with the surrounding numbers. We would recommend Numicon for helping establish this grip on the relationships. The Numicon pieces form a ‘staircase’ type image when arranged in a number line. This not only provides a visual and tactile experience of relationships, but with adult questioning, deepens the understanding. For example, what do you notice about the sizes of three and four? When the pieces are in order, move a few around and ask, why is this not right? Can we fix it? Where should this piece go? Why? A real staircase is even better, of course. Number the steps with number dots as on a dice, or with numerals. Ask questions relating to the relationships between the numbers on the steps as well as questions that encourage this early experience and understanding of plus and minus. Questions which ask your child to find step five, and what step they would be on if they went three steps higher than the one they are standing on are equally helpful. A good indication of children having fully developed number concepts is if they can apply this relational knowledge. If your child, aged four-five, can tell you, for example, what one or two bigger, or smaller, than seven is, without needing to count or use visual prompts, you could say that concepts of those numbers were reaching a solid level.
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