Help children be successful in math by ensuring they have the prerequisite skills for their current or upcoming math class.
What does that mean?
The word “prerequisite” is a combination of “pre” and “requisite” “Pre” means before and “requisite” means required. Every new skill requires mastery of a set of previously learned skills. These previously learned skills are called “prerequisite skills.” Your children need many prerequisite skills for successful math advancement and achievement.
Just as swimming is a prerequisite skill for diving, and knowing the letter sounds is a prerequisite for sounding out words, each grade in math requires specific prerequisite skills, too. If a child is struggling with long division, how can they be expected to work with decimals? At Mathnasium of Littleton we call missing prerequisite skills “math gaps.”
What Prerequisite Math Skills Does Your Child Need?
Math skills build from foundational skills. These skills are woven throughout our curriculum from the lowest level to the top levels. The foundational skills in our Mathnasium curriculum for arithmetic include:
· Counting
· Number Sense
· Wholes and Parts
· Proportional Thinking
Mathematical reasoning, or the ability to use logic and reasoning to solve math problems, is also important. Mathematical reasoning becomes especially critical in advanced math classes like algebra and calculus.
Digging Deeper into Prerequisite Math Skills
Beyond the foundational skills there are specific prerequisite skills for each grade level. It would take a book to describe every prerequisite skill needed for every math class. This is just a quick overview. Remember, the prerequisite skills listed are for children entering the identified grade level. Each new math level requires all of the prerequisite skills from the years before. So third graders need all the perquisite math skills for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade and third grade. By the time children finish sixth grade they should have strong arithmetic skills. Seventh graders go into more depth in additional math strands such as algebra, geometry and statistics.
We used the Common Core State Math Standards and our knowledge of math education to derive this list of prerequisite skills.
Preschool - Orally count to 5, organize objects, understand concepts like more and less, bigger and smaller, first and last.
Kindergarten - Count 10 objects, count forwards and backwards to/from 20, recognize simple patterns, recognize, write and understand numerals 1-10
First Grade - Count 20 objects, add and subtract single digit numbers, count forwards and backwards to/from 100, recognize, write, and understand numerals 0-20.
Second Grade - Count and organize 100 objects, fluently add and subtract one and two digit numbers without regrouping (also known as “carrying” and “borrowing”), count forwards and backwards to/from 100 by 1s, 5s, 10s, and recognize, write and understand numerals 0-999.
Third Grade - Add and subtract multi-digit numbers using regrouping, recognize, write and understand basic fractions, understand the idea of multiplying.
Fourth Grade - Fluently add and subtract any whole number, multiply and divide one digit numbers 0 - 10, compare fractions.
Fifth grade - Understand numbers up to 1,000,000, multiply and divide multi-digit numbers, add and subtract like fractions, or fractions with the same denominator.
Sixth grade - Add and subtract any fraction, use decimals, fluently multiply and divide any whole number, understand percentages.
Seventh Grade - Solve problems about ratios and rates, use negative numbers, use variables, and understand basic statistical data.
Eighth Grade - Solve multi-step problems, ratios, proportions and percentages, multiply, divide, add, subtract, fractions, decimals, positive and negative numbers.
Ninth grade - Use linear equations and functions, use formulas to solve problems in geometry, understand rational and irrational numbers.
Algebra and Beyond - High school math courses become less linear in design because they explore different branches of mathematics. Calculus requires mastery of advanced algebra, trigonometry and geometry but a child could take trigonometry before, or after, statistics. All the branches of advanced math require a strong foundation in the basics.
Checking for the Prerequisite Math Skills
Most children lack some prerequisite skills. The more prerequisite skills they have entering a new grade the more they are set up for success. To understand where your child is regarding math skills, try 2 or 3 of these ideas. The first three will give you a general idea of their skill level. The last one will pinpoint exactly what prerequisite skills they have and don’t have.
1. Give elementary children a quick assessment.
2. Ask your children how they feel about math class. Their feelings are barometers about their skill levels. Their behavior in math class and during homework time also indicates their comfort level.
3. Look at their grades and talk with their teachers.
4. Bring them into Mathnasium of Littleton for a free, diagnostic math skills assessment. The assessment will tell you precisely which prerequisite skills they have and what they are missing.
Kids feel much more confident entering a math class when they have all the prerequisite skills. Give your children the gift of going back to school with confidence, think beyond backpacks, lunch boxes, folders and clothes.
Still have questions? Please talk with Suzie Shride, our Center Director, today. 303-979-9077
