The Family Talk

Use Families to Count to 100!
My son is starting kindergarten in the fall and he loves to count to 100. While counting, he sometimes forgets what "family" comes next. A great way to talk to children about numbers is calling them families and separating them out so they are easy to identify and remember.

The numbers one to nine are the first family or the ones family. The next family is the tens or teens family. This family seems to be the hardest for children because they do not follow the rules of the other families. Often children will confuse a teen with a decade number. An example is the number thirteen which has the number three in it, but we don't say, “Three-teen.” We ignore the first number in the teens unlike all the other families where the first number announces the name of the family, i.e. thirties, forties, etc.. The teens family is fun to make up names for such as the "grumpy family" or "crazy teenagers" to help give a reminder that they follow a different rule.

The rest of the families are straightforward with each family beginning with the decade for that family or as I call it, the families "front door" to that family’s home. Inside their home are all the numbers inside that family. For example, eighty is the front door number for the eighties family and inside their home are all the cute little eighties.

How Do Finger Patterns Link to the Families and Counting to 100?
When my son is getting ready to say the next family and he forgets, for example, the eighties family or says the wrong family, I ask him, "What comes after seven?" He looks at his finger pattern for seven and says, "Eight! Oh, so the eighties family." Sometimes I just flash the family that comes next, so if he is stuck on the eighties I make a nine on my fingers so he knows that the next family is the nineties. Have fun counting and talking about the families!

Five Ways to Help Your Child Count

Journal of a New Counter: Five Ways to Have Fun Counting

1. Find things to count in a book. My two-year-old loves trains and we read The Little Engine That Could at least twice a day. Now when we read the story we stop and count the trains or animals.

2. Count snack food. Toddlers are snackers and this is one of the best ways to begin counting. Food that is easy to hold, pick up or drop in a cup such as cheerios, crackers and blueberries is best. My son might not be saying the correct number words but he lines all his snacks up in a row and "counts" each thing.

3. Count in the car. Find things to count while in the car. How many wheels are on a big truck? How many people in a car? How many tractors at a construction site? They can find just about anything to count.

4. Look for numbers. Point out numbers while pumping gas, shopping at the grocery store or paying your bill at a restaurant.

5. Play board games and play with cards. My two-year-old is a little young for board games but he sits and watches as I play with my five-year-old. He loves to handle the cards, sort out the game pieces and takes a turn or two for me.

The Fire Continues: Journal of a New Counter

Using His Patterns: One More?

I have been watching my two-year-old son explore counting. I am amazed at his ability to line blocks up in a row and point to each thing as he counts. He still does not have the correct number words for each thing, but he is starting to make sense of counting. He is much more aware of counting all of this "stuff" than his older brother was at this age. I think this is partly due to the influence of his brother. His big brother counts everything to see who has more; whether it be more cookies, more stuffed animals or more presents under the Christmas tree.

Recently, I have tried to tie my son's interest in counting to something meaningful for him. Like most toddlers, he loves snacking. When he wants more crackers I ask, "Show me on your fingers how many more crackers you would like." He holds one finger and announces, "One more please mommy." Little did I know that "one more" would turn into a question and pattern he uses for what seems to be every part of his life. He asks for one more book, toy, song, and just about anything else. This little counter is making it evident that he understands the meaning of one and more.

Starting the Fire: Journal of a New Counter

One of my first memories after bringing my older son home from the hospital is reading to him. I picked out a book, snuggled him in a blanket and read Goodnight Gorilla. The book became a favorite. We took it everywhere and went through several copies. He still loves that book and now has it memorized and "reads" it to his little brother.

Math can have this same effect on children if we start at a young age and include math in everyday life just as we do with reading. This is not hard or something we should feel pressured to do. A little bit goes a long way and just like reading a favorite book, children begin to notice different things about counting and want to share their knowledge with you.

Throughout this blog, I have written about my experiences with my older son learning finger patterns and counting. My younger son has been exposed to but not pushed in any way to use my "Fire Away" method at an even earlier age. I have been watching him through different eyes, seeing how much he has picked up from listening to his big brother count, talk about numbers, and seeing fingers used to show numbers. Over the next few months, I am going to keep a blog-journal about how I see my two-year-old son, who as you will see is not really talking but has a wonderful toddler vocabulary, exploring math. It should be interesting.

The Fire Has Started: Nap Time Journal Entry 1

November 21, 2009

Ahh…nap time: a parent’s little slice of sanity. I was preparing my two-year-old for nap, but he wanted a "few" more minutes to play. When I came back into his room, he had found a horde of rocks that he stashed in a truck. He had them all lined up in a nice row and was pointing to each rock. Before I scooped him up and put him in his bed, I stopped and listened to what he was saying. He was pointing to each rock and counting them. The first few counts I could really understand. He was so excited to be able to name the rocks with a number word attached to it. He started with, "Mama, one, two, deee!" He kept repeating the same sequence on all the rocks. I sat down with him and helped him count the rocks, drop them in his dump truck and finally put the rocks to sleep. I guess the rocks are a now a permanent fixture in the toy collection. I am glad that we invested in xeroscaping!

Game: Flash Fire

New Finger Pattern Game: Flash Fire™

My son and I are having a lot of fun with a new game that we invented. I have even started using it with my students. We like to call it "Flash Fire" because it sounds fun and you have to really flash your finger patterns fast.

This game helps him with patterns that are a little harder for him to remember. We use all different the combinations to make a number. For example I could flash a six as a three and three, four and two or five and one. He loves to Flash Fire me at any moment. He might Flash Fire while running through the house or while sitting at the dinner table.

How to Play Flash Fire:
1. Flash a finger pattern at your child as quick as you can.
2. Ask them "What pattern did you see?" and, "How did you see it?"
3. If they get it correct, then it is their turn to Flash Fire and you tell them what you saw (the total number of fingers) and how you saw it (the two numbers that make the total).
4. If they get it wrong, hold out the pattern you made and have them count your fingers to see the correct answer or they can make the pattern on their own fingers and count it.

Video: Game of Flash Fire

Last Days of Summer

Count and Jump for all Ages

This was a big summer for everyone at the pool. My five year old really learned how to swim. He loves to practice his strokes, dive in the water and jump from the side of the pool. My two year old spent a lot of time on the steps and going for rides with mom or dad around the big pool.

One day my two year old looked around and noticed that his big brother would count (forwards or backwards) and then jump in the pool. He wanted to count and jump just like his brother. No more being the little guy in the pool. I realized that older siblings leave a big impression on their younger siblings. Sometimes without even knowing it.

Video: Count and Jump

Different Ways to Build a Number

My Son, The Transformer:

Last night while I was making dinner my son asked, "How many more minutes until it will be ready?" I said, "About five." and continued cooking not noticing what he was doing with his fingers. He came over and said, "So this many?" and held up a two on one hand and a three on the other hand. I stopped what I was doing and said, "Wow, that is one way to make a five do you know another way?" I watched him move his little fingers making the three into a four and the two into a one. Not only did he come up with this idea on his own, but he made his own sound affects, like one of his Transformer(R) action figures changing from one position to another.

I began to wonder how else I could expand my son's knowledge of numbers from one to ten without pushing him to level of understanding that he was not ready for. I have written a lot on my blog about finding math in your child's everyday life to encourage counting and their development in math. Those moments might come when you least expect them and when your hands are full. Take just a few minutes to stop everything and see math through your child's eyes.

Video: Different ways to make a number