We've written about it before, and we'll write about it again because it is a situation we face every day working with our students, and that is continuing to count by ones well past the primary grades and even into high school! There is nothing inherently wrong with counting by ones, be it on fingers, toes, tally marks or on the white board in their head. It does becomes very tedious and cumbersome however as math equations and the accompanying calculations get more complex and numbers get larger. Ultimately, counting by ones stifles a child’s mathematical development by keeping them in the limiting headspace of one-by-one counting.
Finger counting is more of a symptom than a problem. It is a symptom of not having the requisite familiarity with groups of numbers to avoid finger counting in the first place. Many students are quite staunch finger counters, but as they work on the numerical fluency material over time, they start to realize the ways in which groups of 5 transform a number, in which groups of 10 transform a number, and how to decompose more complex numbers into the numbers they'd rather work with. Most students typically have enough familiarity with certain numbers to do them without finger counting, but they're more afraid of the shame of blurting out a wrong answer than the shame of finger counting, and so they will default to it. When they have enough experience, the answer seems natural to them. And you can tell that the answer is coming naturally rather than memorized because you'll be able to ask them how they know that the answer is right, and they can explain it to you.
According to Mathnasium founder and Chief Education Officer, Larry Martinek, it is important to help your child develop Numerical Fluency. Numerical fluency is an ease with numbers. I compare it to the comfort a swimmer has in the water after taking lessons and spending a summer at the pool versus when they first got into the water. Mathnasium considers the ability to see and work with numbers in groups rather than one by one a cornerstone for developing numerical fluency. It is similar to when a child learns to read; they start with the ABC's, then move to sight words and sounding out short words such as d.o.g. Next they put short sentences together and finally around third grade, they stop doing the mechanics of reading and begin to read for comprehension. It is the same with math. Counting by ones is like being stuck at the ABC's and short word sentences for kids. It will keep them from fully comprehending what is happening with the numbers and with math. No one proudly states, "we're just not a reading family," but many don't hesitate to let the world know they just "don't do math."
We also discussed numerical fluency in our article What is Numerical Fluency posted on November 23, 2015.
What can you as a parent do about it? How can you help your child move away from counting on their fingers? One way parents can help their children become more fluent with numbers is to play math games with their kids. Throw away the flash cards! They are boring and tedious! Take a regular deck of playing cards with the face cards removed (or your Mathnasium cards if you're a student at our center) and play addition war, 10 slam, Heads up addition, complements of 10 "go fish," running total and other games. Stop by our center for a listing of card game instructions you can play together. Alternatively, you can buy games such as 99 or Bust, 7 Ate 9, Zoom, Four-Way Countdown, and Albert's Insomnia to help your children with their math facts. Just 5-10 minutes a day will make a huge difference for your child and you'll both have fun doing it! Be sure to make it light and fun - don't focus on the missed answers but rather on the success. Adding speed as your child becomes more familiar with the facts keeps it challenging!
You can also enroll your child at Mathnasium! Not only will we play games to develop numerical fluency we have specialized curriculum designed specifically to help children get beyond counting by ones! Call us today at 303-979-9077 to find out how we can help or click the button below for more information.
(303) 979-9077
(303) 979-9077
