Adding the Facts of First Grade Math

Is Your Child Ready For First Grade Math?

What You Need To Know

First Grade math is founded on number skills, a set of basic conceptual ideas. To progress, children need to understand that numbers represent quantity, the simple idea of ‘How Many?’ For parents who are worried about their child’s developmental level, the idea of How Many is essential.

Most children starting First Grade will also be able to recite numbers from one to 20, solve simple addition problems up to 10, and understand the difference between more, less, and same. Once children master How Many, they will be able to add other ideas and skills, including:

• Counting to 100.
• Understanding math terms, covering concepts from measurements to money.
• Understanding math language: add, subtract, difference, and sum.
• Recognizing patterns, for example using shapes or colors.
• Comprehending ratio and proportion, and ideas of greater than, or less than.

What Your Child Will Learn

First Grade is a good introduction to some of the modern world’s most widely used metrics, including fractions, hours and minutes, the decimal system, as well as length and weight.

Here are the math skills that First Grade students working at the standard level will learn:

• Add and subtract small numbers.
• Tell the time using hours and minutes.
• Count money.
• Identify place values for ones, tens and hundreds.
• Measure length, capacity, and weight.
• Identify symmetrical and asymmetrical objects.
• Recognize patterns and sequences.
• Identify simple fractions.
• Work with geometric shapes.
• Count above 100.

Parents who wish to encourage their first grader’s math skills should look out for opportunities to use these metrics with your child. Counting change, telling time, and measuring distances are all useful everyday methods of turning theory into practice for children. Grocery stores are great places for measuring and comparing. Find the longest carrot, or the heaviest canteloupe. Ask your child how many bananas you should buy if he or she takes one to school every day. Use the scales to weigh exactly 1 pound of tomatoes.

For more information on what happens in First Grade math, please see the full article:

www.education.com/reference/article/first_grade_math/

For more information on grocery store games, access the full article:

www.education.com/reference/article/ref_grocery_store_games/