How Can I Help My Child With Mathematics at Home?
What are some of the simple things you can do at home to support your child's early learning of mathematics? Below you will find some suggestions of activities you can share with your child at home that will support their Mathematics learning and compliment the classroom program. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but a stimulus for your creativity. By sharing Mathematics experiences with your child you will become excellent role models and demonstrate the relevance and importance of Mathematics in their daily lives.

General
> Ask your child to write numbers for you and discuss the importance of writing each digit the right way around.

> Counting by 1s to 100.
What can I do to help my child with PATTERNS
> Ordering numbers (what is after 78? Before 73?) and counting on from numbers eg (count from 87 to 94) 

> Identifying patterns in daily life is an excellent support for number. If you discover patterns, ask your child to identify the "source" of the pattern or the part that is repeated. There are patterns everywhere; on walls, clothes, nature etc. Mathematics is said to be the study of patterns, so this kind of thinking is very important for your child.
> Look for number patterns that appear in everyday life, such as noticing odds and evens e.g. How the numbers of houses fall along the street. 

> Writing down counting patterns can be interesting. If your child can count by 2s, 3s or 5s ask them to write the numbers down.

> Take little surveys. Ask your child to make charts of things like family and friends favourite foods or TV shows. When they have made a chart ask them to explain the results e.g. Most people prefer pizza to spaghetti. 

   Door Number Patterns
What can I do to help my child with PLACE VALUE?

Try these "All About 10 ideas"
- Count by ones to 10, 
- Make and count tens with objects, 
- Reading 10 words,
- Add by 10, 
- Use a calculator to count by ten
- Count by 10 cents to a dollar..or by spending 10 cent pieces or even perhaps you could see how many 10c pieces you could collect and add by Sunday! 
- Check the time every 10 minutes (especially whilst you are travelling in a car).
      ..or help your child by noticing 10 minute times on an analogue and on a digital clock. Eg 2:00, 2:10, 2:?
      .. try some 10 second challenges, like "Can you make your bed in 10 seconds?"
- You could count out every 10kms in the car 
      .. and very importantly…aid your child in noticing where 10 or tens occur in everyday life.

- Try out an "All about 5" week. Include counting up to and back from 100 by 5, adding 5c coins, grouping by 5s, tallying and "rounding numbers.
- Encourage your child to count by fives, play games or activities where they can keep a tally eg.
- Remember that counting by fives, or knowing the five multiplication table will help your child understand reading the time.
- Play games or find tallying activities eg. such as keeping scores or marking down how many cars pass by the house in 15 mins etc.
What can I do to help my child with ADDITION and SUBTRACTION?

Try these….
- Try to ask questions about addition and or subtraction problems as they arise in your daily life. I have 2 plates here, how many more will I need to set the table? Is that an addition or a subtraction question? … Or … How many biscuits are in that packet? If you eat 2, how many will remain? Is that an addition or a subtraction question? 
- counting back 
… from ten to zero
… from ten to a specified number. Eg. Count backwards from 10 by ones to 4. 
10, 9, 8, 7, ….. 6!
… from any number to another number Eg. Count backwards from 19 by ones and stop at 8.
… you can then progress to counting back from numbers under 100 
… then try skip counting backwards by twos, tens, fives etc
- assist your child to mentally perform subtractions relevant to real-life situations.
- Eg subtracting the amount of biscuits eaten from a packet.

What can I do to help my child with FRACTIONS?

- Explore the concept of "half". 
- Find half of a collection (Buttons or lentils in a jar),
- Find half of a shape (also explore the symmetry of and axis of symmetry), 
- Find half of a mass (bread or biscuit dough),
- Find half of a length (share a liquorice strap), 
- Find half of an amount of money 
- Read and record half hours on an analogue clock.
- Reinforce all the halving experiences that are mentioned above, particularly with money (commence with dollar amounts then gradually introduce cents when your child is ready) and symmetry. Asking your child to cut or divide food in half or into two equal parts will be extremely valuable. Reinforcing the notion that there are two halves in a whole and that they are able to explain what they are doing using the right language is important to support their learning.
  Try these….

  Add in 1 minute    
  Adding Eggy's School  (shockwave) 		 All about subtraction 

  Make your own addition and subtraction flashcards
  Subtract from 10  
  Subtract in 1 minute 
  Subtract in 2 minutes
What can I do to help my child with MEASUREMENT?

- Explore the language of length. You could aid your child in understanding measuring length by asking them to measure the length of an object with another common object. E.g. How many chopsticks long do you think the table could be? How would you measure how high the table is? Would the table be more chopsticks or less chopsticks high?
(Check that your child understands that it is important that they choose a consistent unit of measure - the chopstick. If they do not understand, this needs to be understood and you could discuss it with the classroom teacher.) 
- Discuss how long/short and high/low things are with your child and be conscious of the language they use. Long, longer than /short, shorter than; high/low, big/small etc.

What can I do to help my child with TELLING THE TIME?

- Telling the time website www.primarygames.com/time/start.htm 
- Help your child read hour times on an analogue and a digital clock. Not all children are confident reading hour times on an analogue clock; you could help them by making this a weekend challenge or an ongoing activity.
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