EARLY MATH SKILLS Developing Number Concepts at Home Your child is never too young to begin developing number concepts. There are many fun games that introduce the basics of counting, comparing sets, classifying, etc. Here are some concrete ideas for you to use when helping your child: 1. Whenever possible, practice counting with your child--the number of peanuts, candies, etc. being eaten for snack, the number of beads that there are on a necklace, the number of books there are on a shelf, and so on. This can be capped off by participating in your child’s activity--go ahead and enjoy the snack, too! 2. Provide your child with cotton balls and plastic cups. Get him/her to place a selected number of balls in each cup, drawing the number with a marker. Repeat this activity with different numbers, allowing your child to examine the relationship between the numbers and the quantity drawn. 3. Write a number on a piece of paper. Give your child dried beans. Ask him/her to place the number of beans, corresponding to the number you have written down, on the sheet of paper. Your child will really enjoy this activity when asked to glue the beans on to the sheet of paper and to decorate the sheet with sparkles or decorations! 4. Whenever feasible, get your child to organize his/her possessions in some logical way: e.g. divide books into topic areas (animal books, food books, books about friendship, etc.) As a by-product, you will get your child to clean up a messy room! 5. As a classification activity, have your child arrange objects by height, shape, or by some other dimension: e.g. organize crayons in terms of height, from the shortest to the tallest. 6. Classification activities can also be based on household routines: e.g. you can ask your child to organize in some specific way the substances or materials you are using as you prepare dinner (by color, by shape, by function, etc.). In this way, turn dinner preparation into a fun and interactive activity! 7. Stress the relation between number symbols and concrete objects whenever possible: e.g. counting buttons on a shirt, plates on a table, and so on. 8. Show your child that the same objects can also be classified according to pattern: e.g. the buttons according to colour, the plates according to size, and so on. 9. As another counting activity, ask your child to put the number of items, in a situation, in a one-to-one correspondence: e.g. the number of tea cups vs. the number of people at a tea party. You can then ask your child to determine if there are more or less teacups than required. Make sure you provide real tea and cookies so you can both enjoy the event! 10. You can also ask your child to determine if there is a one-to-one correspondence between the number of envelopes and birthday party invitations that you will be mailing out, asking your child to determine if there are more or fewer envelopes than invitations. Learning should always be a fun activity in your house. Don’t force concepts--allow your child to acquirethem naturally through experience. Remember, by just showing interest in your child, you will provide many unique opportunities to grow and learn! Be creative! Have fun!
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When i was preparing to write my Common Entrance Examination back in the mid 90s my standard five teacher at the time had a saying: "if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail". I did not fully understand this saying until I started secondary school. At secondary school, academic life became a little harder There were now lots of new subjects to study for, lots of projects and assignments to be handed in and I was expected to do well in all of my subjects. So how was this possible? How was I suppose to do well in my exams? The solution was planning and developing good study habits. Today we are going to be looking at developing good study habits. Studies have shown that successful students have good study habits which they apply to their classes. These are:
By applying these study habits to your academic life, you will not have to worry about "failing to prepare." .SQRW is a four-step strategy for reading and taking notes from chapters in a textbook. Each letter stands for one step in the strategy. Using SQRW will help you to understand what you read and to prepare a written record of what you learned. The written record will be valuable when you have to participate in a class discussion and again when you study for a test. Read to learn what to do for each step in SQRW. Survey. Surveying brings to mind what you already know about the topic of a chapter and prepares you for learning more. To survey a chapter, read the title, introduction, headings, and the summary or conclusion. Also, examine all visuals such as pictures, tables, maps, and/or graphs and read the caption that goes with each. By surveying a chapter, you will quickly learn what the chapter is about. Question. You need to have questions in your mind as you read. Questions give you a purpose for reading and help you stay focused on the reading assignment. Form questions by changing each chapter heading into a question. Use the words who, what, when, where, why, or how to form questions. For example, for the heading "Uses of Electricity" in a chapter about how science improves lives, you might form the question "What are some uses of electricity?" If a heading is stated as a question, use that question. When a heading contains more than one idea, form a question for each idea. Do not form questions for the Introduction, Summary, or Conclusion. Read. Read the information that follows each heading to find the answer to each question you formed. As you do this, you may decide you need to change a question or turn it into several questions to be answered. Stay focused and flexible so you can gather as much information as you need to answer each question. Write. Write each question and its answer in your notebook. Reread each of your written answers to be sure each answer is legible and contains all the important information needed to answer the question. As you practice using SQRW, you will find you learn more and have good study notes to use to prepare for class participation and tests. HINT: Once you complete the Survey step for the entire chapter, complete the Question, Read, and Write steps for the first heading. Then complete the Question, Read, and Write steps for the second heading, and so on for the remaining headings in the chapter. Trinidad and Tobago is in examination mode. C.X.C. and G.C.E. are in full swing and students are preparing to write the national tests. This season of test taking can leave both parent and child feeling a bit overwhelmed. As a result,we at Grade A Tutoring and Learning Centre have put together some tips to help you and your child prepare for exam season. No matter which standardized test you are preparing to take, these tips will help you do your best. You will need to start working a few weeks (or more) before the test date: that way, you will not feel as much stress or pressure. Find a study guide that is made specifically for your test. Take the practice test that comes with the guide and evaluate your scores. Spend extra time on your weakest subjects. Study a little every day. You should try to spend an hour or two with the study guide. This gives your mind time to absorb the material. Relax the day before the test: give your mind a break so that it will be refreshed and ready on test day. Take your study aids with you. If you are struggling with vocabulary words, make flashcards and keep them in your pocket. You can review while you are standing in line, riding the bus or waiting for class to begin. Put together a study group. If you know other people who are preparing for the same test, you can get together for study time. This helps because your friends will be able to explain some of the things you do not understand – and you can do the same for them. Register for the test as early as possible. Putting off this crucial step will only add to your stress. The sooner you have reserved your spot and paid the testing fees, the sooner you can relax and not worry about it. Go to bed early the night before the test. Give your brain as much rest as possible so that it will perform at its best when you are at the testing center. Remember these test taking tips on exam day. They will help you do your best, maintain your confidence level and remember what you have studied over the last few weeks. When you wake up on test day, you should eat a light breakfast. If your stomach is growling, you will not be able to concentrate. If you are full of heavy food, you will be sluggish. Leave your cell phone, MP3 player and other electronics at home or locked inside your car. Most testing centers do not let you bring in these things: leaving them outside saves you the hassle of checking them in with the test administrators. Bring everything that is on the list of required and suggested items. If you are allowed to use a calculator, make sure that it is compliant. (For some exams, you may have only a four-function model.) Do not forget a backup pencil, just in case your first one breaks. Show up early. If something goes wrong (a flat tire, for example), you have a better chance of making it to the testing center on time. Even if the trip does not give you any problems, showing up early is still an advantage. You will have time to find the exact location, check in and get a "feel" for the place. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Most test administrators will let you ask before you begin. This is the perfect time to ask about anything that is not clear. This is a good time to ask questions like, "Will I be penalized for guessing an answer that I do not know?" and "How much time do I have for each section?" When the test begins, start by answering the questions that you already know. Make sure that you fill in the correct space on the answer sheet. Putting an answer one space above or below the correct line will throw off the rest of the test. For the rest of the questions, eliminate the answers that cannot be correct. This often leaves you with just one answer. What you should do when you eliminate all but two correct answers depends on how the test is scored. If you are penalized for leaving a question blank, make an educated guess. If you are penalized for guessing, do your best to figure out which answer is correct. That usually helps you find the right answer: if you are totally lost, it might be best to leave that answer blank. Take your time. Read each question carefully. Think about the possible answers. Rushing through the test is a good way to miss questions that you could have correctly answered. When you finish with each section, go back and review your answers. Sometimes answering a later question on the test triggers something in your brain: you might remember the answer to an earlier question that you could not answer. While you are reviewing, you should also make sure that all of your answers are on the correct lines. After the test, go out and do something fun to relax. Treat yourself to a milkshake, rent a DVD or spend some time listening to your favorite CD. You have earned a small break from the daily routine, so go celebrate your accomplishment. |
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Author Charlene Morris Archives
November 2017
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