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Home
and Family
Numeracy
by A. Ross, M.Ed.
By the time a child goes to school, he should be familiar
with quite a few number concepts. Incredibly, many of the
children whose parents take them for assessment because they
are unable to read, have not even begun to grasp basic number
concepts. This is not because the child is in any way
retarded. If he cannot read, that is a problem of its own,
which has been discussed repeatedly in this paper and in
others, and he may need specialist help. However, unless a
child is really a `special' child, he should be numerate by
the age of five.
Almost as soon as mothers begin to talk to their children,
which is usually from birth, they ought to (and most do)
begin pointing out various parts of the body. "Let's wash
your face, and your eyes, now your ears..." Soon baby will
perform when you ask him where his nose, eyes, hands are. Not
long after that, he will be introduced to the number songs
which most mothers and grandmothers know from their own
infancy. These songs abound in every language, e.g. "Ten
little fingers, ten little toes, two little eyes and one
little nose etc." is an English one.
One Purim, a rather inebriated Rebbe from an Israeli
cheder came to visit. He suddenly stood up and burst
into song, acting out the Yiddish equivalent of "Ten Little
Boys." In this song the counting was backwards from ten.
Parents should take every opportunity they have during the
day to count. Going up stairs, taking steps, begin just by
counting up to five. If there are thirty steps, you will
repeat yourselves six times. When the child does this
spontaneously and correctly on his own, saying one number for
each step, continue up to ten. There is no need for more at
the pre-school state. The child can count the fingers of one
hand. He can count the fingers of your hand, too. The
variations are endless. Count how many spoons when setting
the table, how many lamp-posts on the way to the park. How
many toys he picks up at night. In fact, a good idea when
trying to induce tired reluctant children to pick up all the
toys before going to bed is to say, "Everybody pick up three
things. Now everybody pick up two things. Now four..." There
will be no grumblers.
A child should be able to recognize the written number by the
time he is four. There are no hard and fast rules; some pick
them up spontaneously by the age of three. An old telephone
is usually a better toy than a toy telephone after the age of
two. When teaching the numbers, do not forget zero (or
naught, depending on where you live). You will be doing the
child a great service if you teach him that zero means
`nothing.' When teaching the written number, you can take one
number, for example, 7. Draw dots on a paper numerous times
and let the child join them to form the number 7. You can ask
the child to put out seven bricks, seven cars. Let him
suggest something to put out.
For those children who seem to love numbers, it is worth
going ahead a little. "I need five spoons but only brought in
two. How many more are you going to fetch?" "I have three
green clothespins and two yellow ones. Can you guess how many
I have altogether?"
Some children will count them but many will enjoy working it
out. Let them read number plates on stationary cars. Let them
dial numbers on the broken phone (and have a conversation
with them if you have the time and patience). Ask how many
legs a dog has, how many wheels on a car, how many on a bike
or tricycle. How many shoes do two children need? Most
mothers are extraordinarily inventive.
Children who have been introduced to the world of numbers at
an early age have both linguistic and cognitive advantages.
Even toddlers understand the terms `more' and `a lot.' Size
does not mean very much yet to a small child, yet as soon as
he becomes a little wiser, he knows the difference between a
half and whole. At first, children may call it a broken
biscuit, but you can show them how two halves make one whole
one.
Teach them the concepts of long and short, big and little,
tiny, huge and enormous. Children love the sound of long
words. There are many wonderful colorful books on the market
which children can `read' and explore. Whichever way you do
it, make sure your child is familiar with numbers before he
starts school.
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