My first grader is about halfway through the Alpha MathUSee book. I love the way it uses language and she's getting a better grasp on numeracy than I ever got! However, doing the same things every day is starting to get boring for her. I also know I need to supplement for time, money, and geometry. I was thinking about introducing something else, just to mix it up. My first grader loves Uno and I've been thinking that math games are the way to go for the supplementation. I have been looking at Right Start, but the cards + game book are ridiculously expensive. Then I thought about getting the Right Start starter kit (also expensive, but has the cards.) If I did that, I would use the workbooks and go back and forth between the two. So two questions: 1) Any good suggestions for math games? Is spending $60 on the cards + Right Start game book worth it? Other game type suggestions welcome too. Cheaper is better. 2) Would it be better or worse to supplement with the entire Right Start curriculum (instead of just games). Is two ways of learning math better or just confusing? I like a lot of the manipulative (i.e. the scales) and wonder if buying the whole curriculum is worth it just for the supplementation that we need. Other suggestions are very welcome.
How about just using some stuff around the house? Get some coins out and start working with money. Simple stuff....identify the coins and their values. Make a number line down your hall and use it to illustrate simple addition and subtraction. Demonstrate lots of concepts with objects...first graders love that stuff. Use an old clock...what time is it? Move the hands, and show me what time it will be in an hour and a half. Show me 4:23. Get out a ruler and talk about inches -vs- centimeters. Measure the same objects using both. Then talk about half/quarter/eighth inches -vs- millimeters. Measure some tiny objects with both. (Bonus round: Go look at the socket set in your garage and see if it's measured in inches or millimeters. If you have a good assortment...let them take some nuts off something with a wrench and report which size socket worked) Get out a kitchen scale and weigh things. (in both ounces and grams, if possible) Get out measuring cups. Talk about the milliliters and ounces. Measure some fluids with both. (some of this stuff works better for a slightly older kid...but if your kid is a math nut, she might be ready for a lot of it....gauge her skill level and adjust accordingly. Avoid frustration, keep it fun.) Hop on the bathroom scale and measure weight in pounds and kilograms. Do a lot of coin stuff.....five pennies = a nickel two nickels = a dime etc If money is sticky and isn't clicking....work on counting by twos, fives and tens to one hundred. That helps a lot. Fun Math Games....Sum Swamp is perfect for first grade. Very simple...teaches addition and subtraction facts. When you start talking about place value...Dino Math Tracks is great. I like board games you can play with the kids more than computer games....but there are some great computer games out there, too...for kids this age. Everything in moderation. If Cheaper is better....make your own stuff. You can make nearly any learning aid with a printer, cardboard and duct tape. LOL. You really can Welcome!
Dominoes is a good game for practicing addition facts. I was taught how to play when I was 5, so it's not too complicated to learn. Play "store". Gather up some items around the house, and put prices (they don't have to be IRL prices, but whatever money amounts you're working with) on everything. One is the storekeeper and the other the customer, then trade places after awhile. The card game War or Battle with a regular deck can be adapted in many ways. Any board game can be adapted by numbering the spaces to move. Essentially, a number line wrapped around the board. Adapt the rules or make up your own to allow for moving backward for subtraction, too. There are tons of file folder games online to print out and use, for tons of different uses. If you don't have an old clock to practice with, there are very inexpensive teaching clocks that have gears so that the hands work together like a real one. Tons of measuring opportunities around the house. How long, how tall, how wide, how heavy, and so on. It seems to me, though, that buying a whole 'nother curriculum to SUPPLEMENT means one or the other isn't worth it! My favorite math curriculum, if you're interested, is Christian Light Education. It's workbooks, that are very gentle but advanced. It starts out very basic in first grade, but is up to the right level at the end. It needs no supplementing, as it covers time, measurements (both English and metric), money, adding and subtracting, as well as simple geometry. www.clp.org
We would use Uno to add, subt, mult when we played. With all fall harvest we make predictions on how heavy, circumference, how tall like pumpkins are. We tend to get Indian Summer's here so I have a fall book I created that we take out & do all kinds of math with.... Time there are books you can print for free to do like what time you do stuff like get up, eat bfast... fun to fill out.
