Cardinal, Nominal, Ordinal and Measurement Numbers! What?!!!

WooHoo ~! A day on numbers! I did not know that there were so many different names for numbers that functions differently.

A few things that struck me in this lesson was the 4 contributing factors for children who are unable to count. They are:
1. Ability to classify
2. Ability to do rote counting
3. Ablilty to do one-to-one correspondent counting
4. Conceptual understanding of cardinal number

These are basically four stages of counting, and if your child has issues with any of the factor stated above, he/she may not move on to the next stage. For example, if your child is unable to do rote-counting, he or she will not be able to understand one-to-one correspondent counting until he/she understands the concept of rote counting. There are no issues with your child if they are unable to meet a certain stage as each child takes different time to reach it. No one child is alike to another!

Yet, HOW DO WE INSTRUCT CHILDREN IN MATH?

Well, using this method of "I do, We do, You do" theory.

1. I do - Let the children learn through a role-model (best example, YOU!)

2. We do - Scaffold the child 

3. You do - Let the children be independent in their exploration with the concepts. 

It sounds so simple yet many parents and educators tend to neglect the "You do" where we allow the child to freely explore. Rather, we tend to give them a certain way of answering mathematic questions. 

Highlighted Problem of the Day: Problem 6 "Beans"

This game reminds me of the "31 Game" played in Running Man (a Korean variety show). Basically, the rules of the games are simple. You take a set amount of beans, in this case, we were asked to take a maximum of 20. Between 2 players, you are only allowed to removed 1 or 2 beans per turn, the last player who takes the last bean wins (In Running Man, the last person with the last dish loses). 

This game is connected to subtraction and it allows you to introduce the idea of subtraction without mentioning to the children that they are actually doing it! This is how the "play stage"  by Dienes that I had mentioned in my previous entry should be carried out. 

Throughout the game, my strategy was to take control of the situation by ensuring that I have either 5 or 3 beans left so that it will be to my advantage that I could win. My team even tried playing with all the beans that were given - 66 in all and removing to a maximum of 3 beans among 3 players. It was harder to strategise in the beginning but after the first round, we could come up with ways to ensure that we were the winners by counting the number of minimum or maximum beans that a person could take away and ensuring that we are left with the last bean! 

Try the game and let me know how it works for you and your child!