The easiest way to understand numeracy is to define it as “number literacy.” If you can think about literacy for a moment, you will understand numeracy. Your child learns to read slowly, over time. First, she learns letters, then she learns letter sounds. She might learn that certain letter combination means a specific word and will say it out loud. But that doesn’t equal literacy. It isn’t until your child can look at the symbols on the page, put them together into words and connect those words to an idea in her own head that we can truly say your child has literacy skills.
The same is true with numbers. Numeracy are the internalized skills that allow a person to make sense of numbers through logic and reason. It means that ultimately, you child will be able to read charts and graphs, compare percentages and understand statistics. All of these are skills that will help her understand more about her world and make sense of everything from newscasts to advertising.
But she doesn’t need to know all those things before she starts school. Instead, focus on the basics of numeracy. How? You teach your child the basics of math in much the same way you teach him the basics of reading. It all starts with recognition, then moves on to definition and finally, you give your child a boost with some memorization.
Recognition
What parent has spent day after day teaching letters and numbers. We surround babies with these symbols in puzzles, concept books, toys and even sometimes wallpaper and stuffed toys. Seeing them over and over helps your child’s very elastic brain learn that these symbols are important. As your child learns language, you begin to help him name each of these symbols.
Learning the name of each number is the first step. You can help your child learn to recognize numbers through play. Try giving your child blocks or sponge numbers. Then ask him to hand you specific numbers. In the beginning, specify whether the symbol is a letter or a number. This helps your child learn to sort the symbols in his mind. You might try saying something like “Can you find the number 3?” If he gives you the wrong number, encourage him to try again.
But don’t forget, recognition goes both ways. Try holding up specific numbers and asking your child to name the number. Don’t worry if your child has to try a couple of numbers words, especially in the beginning. You may even hear a letter or two come through. Just laugh along with your child and encourage him to try again.
Start with just the first three numbers, so that your child won’t get overwhelmed. When she has mastered them, add the next number and so on until you have taught your child to recognize all the numbers up through twenty. Why twenty? Because eleven and twelve are unique names. Additionally, the numbers thirteen through nineteen are names backwards. In every other decade set of numbers, the decade comes first: twenty-five, forty-three, etc. But in this first group, the digit comes first and the “teen” comes after. When your child is comfortable with naming numbers, it is time to move on to the next step.
Definition
Once your child has learned the names of the numbers, it is time to learn what the name means. It means more than just the symbol she has learned. Just like letters stand in for the concept of specific sounds, numbers symbols stand in for specific amounts. She needs to learn that the numeral “1” is the same as *. And the numeral “2” is also **, and so on.
There are lots of ways to help your child learn these definitions in simple and painless ways. Just look at the world around you and help your child count what she sees. For example, you might look out the window and say, “I see three birds.” Then point to each bird. At lunch time, you might count out the crackers on her plate, or her shoes or the cars at the stoplight.
Helping her to see amounts in different ways helps her to internalize the number, not the shape the number makes. For example, many children learn numbers on dice quickly, because they are used in so many games. They know what five pips looks like. But if you change the arrangement of the dots, they won’t recognize the dots as the same number. This is called number arrays. Helping your child notice the same number in different arrays will help to cement the concept of each number in your child’s mind.
Memorization
A large part of early numeracy is memorization. Your child just has to learn that twenty comes after thirty, and so on. You can work with your child, practicing counting. You can show your child how all the numbers line up on a number chart, but they probably won’t understand the concept of base ten. That’s all right. He just has to know the order of the decades.
Another great memorization task is learning ordinal values. This is the fancy term for first, second, third and so on. These aren’t really logical terms when you stop and think about it. After the first three, you usually just have to add “th” to the number name. So, four becomes “fourth.” But there are a few illogical ones. For example, five does not become “fiveth,” a fact that makes us all eternally grateful. It’s just another thing for your child to memorize.
With the focus on skill-based teaching in Common Core, more and more schools are discussing numeracy. But when you hear the term numeracy, you don’t worry or think that it’s something beyond what you can teach at home. Keeping numeracy in mind helps you plan your child’s early math learning. If creates a way for you to think about how your child learns numbers and math skills.