Looking for an app to help my son with first grade math
June 8, 2023 2:23 PM Subscribe
My son is struggle with math. He’s in first grade and they are currently covering word problems and basic addition involving regrouping and subtraction with two and three digit numbers. Are there any iOS apps that can help him with this?
I’ve been sitting with him in the evening helping him, using activity sheets, but we are running out and I’m just wondering if there are any apps that might feel a bit more fun to him.
I’ve been sitting with him in the evening helping him, using activity sheets, but we are running out and I’m just wondering if there are any apps that might feel a bit more fun to him.
- Edutainment apps like DragonBox Numbers, Osmo Numbers, Sago Mini School
- Structured exercise apps like Doodle Math, Khan Academy Kids, IXL
- "Numberblocks" and "Odd Squad" TV shows
- Any game that makes you collect X of Y items, combined with a discussion of how many times you will have to do a certain task. For my first grader it was "Just Dance". "Sneaky Sasquatch" is pretty good for this.
posted by Phssthpok at 2:58 PM on June 8, 2023
- Structured exercise apps like Doodle Math, Khan Academy Kids, IXL
- "Numberblocks" and "Odd Squad" TV shows
- Any game that makes you collect X of Y items, combined with a discussion of how many times you will have to do a certain task. For my first grader it was "Just Dance". "Sneaky Sasquatch" is pretty good for this.
posted by Phssthpok at 2:58 PM on June 8, 2023
But also. Don’t freak out. Math skills are developmental, and math curricula are recursive. Just do what you can, and if he doesn’t get the whole thing this year, he’ll get it next year.
posted by toodleydoodley at 3:13 PM on June 8, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by toodleydoodley at 3:13 PM on June 8, 2023 [5 favorites]
Numberblocks is great.
My kids liked Doodle Maths on iPad or in a web browser.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:54 PM on June 8, 2023
My kids liked Doodle Maths on iPad or in a web browser.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:54 PM on June 8, 2023
I would also use something tangible that helps him really get what it means to do regrouping. Too often kids learn how to do it by the rules but don't really understand the underlying concepts. I know my mother never realized until she helped me with math that when she "carried the one" she was really exchanging 10 ones for 1 ten.
This idea is really easy to show but hard to describe in words but here goes -
One way is use pennies, dimes (10s) and dollars (100s). Start by giving him some money and asking him to count and write out how much of each coin he has using columns to represent 1s, 10s and 100s. So maybe 1 - 100, 23 10s and 7 1s. Then be the banker and convert so that he doesn't have more than 9 or anything - so if he exchanges the 20 dimes for 2 dollars now he has 3 100s, 3 dimes (10s) and 7 pennies (1s) so that much money equals 337 cents. Again have him write the answer down in the columns. Keep doing this with random amounts of money until he really gets the idea of trading 10 pennies for 1 dime or 10 dimes for 1 dollar and vice versa.
Now you can play a shopping game. He has 543 cents and wants to buy something that costs 143 cents, how much will he have left? Have him physically count it out - this part of the money is what I take away to buy it and this part is how much I have left. and write it down using the columns so he can see the same thing as a math problem. 543 - 143 = 300. He doesn't have to be able to do the abstract math, he can just count. Then do it where he has to trade, say trade in a dollar (100 cents) to get back 10 dimes (also 100 cents). Giving it physical reality will help it make sense.
Once he gets good at it, you can play shopping games where he is merchant and you buy stuff or you are the store and he gets to buy stuff - just make do each purchase once with coins and then write it out on paper. When you see he really understands it, then you can just do it on paper first and then make the money match.
posted by metahawk at 4:01 PM on June 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
This idea is really easy to show but hard to describe in words but here goes -
One way is use pennies, dimes (10s) and dollars (100s). Start by giving him some money and asking him to count and write out how much of each coin he has using columns to represent 1s, 10s and 100s. So maybe 1 - 100, 23 10s and 7 1s. Then be the banker and convert so that he doesn't have more than 9 or anything - so if he exchanges the 20 dimes for 2 dollars now he has 3 100s, 3 dimes (10s) and 7 pennies (1s) so that much money equals 337 cents. Again have him write the answer down in the columns. Keep doing this with random amounts of money until he really gets the idea of trading 10 pennies for 1 dime or 10 dimes for 1 dollar and vice versa.
Now you can play a shopping game. He has 543 cents and wants to buy something that costs 143 cents, how much will he have left? Have him physically count it out - this part of the money is what I take away to buy it and this part is how much I have left. and write it down using the columns so he can see the same thing as a math problem. 543 - 143 = 300. He doesn't have to be able to do the abstract math, he can just count. Then do it where he has to trade, say trade in a dollar (100 cents) to get back 10 dimes (also 100 cents). Giving it physical reality will help it make sense.
Once he gets good at it, you can play shopping games where he is merchant and you buy stuff or you are the store and he gets to buy stuff - just make do each purchase once with coins and then write it out on paper. When you see he really understands it, then you can just do it on paper first and then make the money match.
posted by metahawk at 4:01 PM on June 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
Is Multiplication Rock too advanced? Start playing the songs while driving or making dinner. Sing the lyrics. Don’t make it part of the lessons.
(MR was hugely instrumental in my learning my times tables way back in the 70s.)
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:45 PM on June 8, 2023
(MR was hugely instrumental in my learning my times tables way back in the 70s.)
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:45 PM on June 8, 2023
Huh. I don't remember doing two and three digit addition and subtraction in first grade. That seems way beyond developmentally for first graders. I think the American curriculum system is pushing standards higher to keep up with with other countries without actually teaching kids how to do the advanced curriculum. Many parents in Asian countries pay for outside education because school is not able to teach many kids sufficiently.
If your kid is struggling with this advanced curriculum and you really want them to learn it, may I recommend Kumon. I enjoyed it as a kid and Kumon taught math by rote and by incentive. I got stickers for my sticker map each time I completed my problem sets and it really helped to learn my problem sets. As well-intentioned as Common Core standards are, many math teachers are not equipped to teach it well and sometimes you just have to learn addition and subtraction the old way and drill it with problem sets.
posted by ichimunki at 8:42 AM on June 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
If your kid is struggling with this advanced curriculum and you really want them to learn it, may I recommend Kumon. I enjoyed it as a kid and Kumon taught math by rote and by incentive. I got stickers for my sticker map each time I completed my problem sets and it really helped to learn my problem sets. As well-intentioned as Common Core standards are, many math teachers are not equipped to teach it well and sometimes you just have to learn addition and subtraction the old way and drill it with problem sets.
posted by ichimunki at 8:42 AM on June 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
My 1st grade kiddo loved loved loved the DragonBox Big Numbers game. It did a very good job of having the player discover the math concepts (all addition and subtraction of multi-digit numbers.)
(Their Algebra game is awesome, too. But I really did not love the multiplication game; it felt like it had been written by an entirely different company.)
posted by wyzewoman at 7:08 PM on June 10, 2023
(Their Algebra game is awesome, too. But I really did not love the multiplication game; it felt like it had been written by an entirely different company.)
posted by wyzewoman at 7:08 PM on June 10, 2023
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posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:34 PM on June 8, 2023 [3 favorites]