Suuuuuuuummer, I've got your number! I'm gonna make you mine!
So, I am giving a nod to a very popular and familiar song about numbers. I hope you are singing it in your head or even out loud right now.
…..8-6-7-5-3-0-9. Yup, you got it.
So, why put this song together with summer and numbers? Well summer is a great time to either teach or review numbers with your kids at home.
This past school year, we all experienced a shift away from the face-to-face classroom and into the arenas of distance, remote, or virtual learning. Now that you are at home with kids, you may want to take some time helping them with their numbers.
5 Things to consider when addressing numbers with your kids:
- 10 Characters
There are only ten characters that you need to teach or remediate (0-9). Think about that, just 10.
Many of our children have names that are more than 10 characters especially when you consider writing their first and last name. It is much easier to teach ten numbers as opposed to 26 lowercase letters and 26 uppercase or capital letters. Also, numbers do not come in lowercase and uppercase. They are just one size. This makes teaching numbers for the first time or remediating numbers very easy as they are all made the same size.Click here to download a free copy of our Number Formation Chart.
- Start at the Top
So many children struggle with where to start letters or numbers when they are writing. They generally form letters and numbers inconsistently, sometimes starting at the top, the next time starting at the bottom, and the next time maybe starting in the middle. The results of these inconsistent start patterns and habits are usually letters or numbers that are poorly formed and difficult to recognize or to read.
All numbers start at the top. This is easy to remember. With the Handwriting Without Tears approach, we have a song, “Where Do You Start Your Letters.” Well one of the versus of that song goes “Where do you start your numbers? At the top!” Yes! All numbers start at the top.
If you are not familiar with our song you can find it on our albums, our workbooks, on our website, and as part of our Interactive Teaching Tools. The kids really love this song. We have a short version and a longer version that really gets the kids moving as they learn about start, top, and bottom. The song even teaches them how to “shake it in the middle” which is so much fun for the little kids. Please be sure to check it out. You will love this song too.
- Start and Sequence
Consider how numbers are actually formed during the writing process. We refer to this as start and sequence. We now know that all numbers start at the top. But what happens next? We call this sequence.
In order to help young children learn to write numbers, we have developed what we call Number Stories for each one. These are clever ways to help our young children remember the correct way to form their numbers. We use reference words about where the number will start followed by sequence reference words to build in the automaticity of forming the number.
These stories are found in our student and teacher books, on our website, and as a part of our Interactive Teaching Tools. Our number formation pages are free and can be found on our website. We even have them in Spanish!
- Friendly terminology
At Learning Without Tears, we use the terms, Big Line, Little Line, Big Curve, and Little Curve. All of the numbers can be made with these four basic strokes or shapes.
For our younger children we build numbers using our Handwriting Without Tears Wood Pieces. As they progress and learn to hold a writing tool, we use small chalkboards and chalk to teach proper number formation. As they progress, we introduce small crayons and Gray Blocks to provide a visual guideline for not only formation of the number, but for size and placement as well. Lastly, they will use a pencil and the Gray Blocks to produce numbers and eventually transition onto a single base line in their workbooks or on paper.
We even have an app for the iPad called Wet-Dry-Try to help teach, practice, and eventually master number formation. This app is a great way to incorporate technology and add additional multisensory techniques to enhance learning opportunities for the children. The Wet Dry Try app can also be used with capital and lowercase letters too.
Check it out! I think your children will really enjoy using this tool.
- Number Placement
The placement of numbers on paper is also something we need to teach and address during our summer number lessons. I have already mentioned some of our techniques and strategies previously.
All numbers are to be correctly placed on a single base line. With young writers we use the Slate Chalkboard to provide a strong visual and tactile representation of the base line. This is also incorporated into the Wet-Dry-Try app for iPads.
When the children transition into a student workbook, they have the visual of the Gray Block to guide placement. The next step is to place the numbers, starting at the top, onto a single base line. Eventually on math papers the student will not have a line at all to place numbers on. At this level they will “see” the line in their minds and place the numbers on it. This takes a while and a great deal of practice for children to be able to do this. Until then, use chalkboards, tablets, Gray Blocks, and lines to teach and remediate placement of numbers.
So, 8-6-7-5-3-0-9…but don’t forget the other numbers, too!
Summer we do HAVE your numbers. We have numerous ways to address numbers with our young children. If you have older children that may be having difficulty writing numbers, you can use these ideas to help guide your remediation sessions. I hope you have some great summer fun with numbers!