• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

BJU Press Blog

  • Home
  • Shop
    • Shaping Worldview
  • Simplified Homeschool
  • Successful Learning

homeschool math

Math Automaticity: The Secret Key to Math Success

October 16, 2018 by Jenna

math automaticity with M&Ms
If you’ve read any educational articles about teaching math, you may have come across the term automaticity. It may seem like a scary word, but it’s not. It simply refers to the ability to do something without thinking about it, or automatically. In math, it most often refers to the ability to use basic math facts without thinking about them. So when solving 5 + 5, you don’t have to count up the fingers on your left hand and the fingers on your right hand to make 10. You just know that 5 + 5 equals 10. Math automaticity isn’t scary at all, right?

But how do you bring your children to the point where they are demonstrating math automaticity? As with most subjects, learning math is a process. Working their way through the process guides them towards automaticity.

Start Early to Develop Number Sense

Most children begin developing number sense early—before kindergarten. The BJU Press K3, K4, and K5 materials use songs, number games, and other activities to help children develop an early sense of math. Having your children participate in board games and dice games while they’re still very young also helps them develop number sense. These early stages are crucial in your child’s development. Studies show that early math and number skills (even more than reading skills) predict how well a child will perform academically later on.

Add Manipulatives

Manipulatives play a key role in math learning by helping students to visualize throughout the process. They help solidify children’s number sense and give them tools to connect abstract math concepts to the real world and creation. That’s why all the elementary level BJU Press math courses include manipulative packets. Many of the high school level math courses even offer suggested manipulatives, like this candy sorting activity from Algebra 2.

Review and Review Again

Once your children have a strong number sense and manipulatives to work with, they will need to practice their math skills. Simply understanding a math concept and how it works doesn’t mean that they have automaticity for that math concept. They need to practice the same concepts in new situations to create familiar problem-solving paths in their minds.

For example, when I was a kid, I struggled with knowing my right from my left. But I knew that I was right handed. I also knew that the hand that makes the L was my left hand. Whenever I needed to figure out right and left, I thought about which side my dominant hand was and which side made the L. I did that so often as a child that the thought process made mental ruts. I don’t go through that whole process now because I don’t have to. That kind of repetition is what makes the review books in elementary math so important. They provide additional practice opportunities of the day’s lesson as well as a spiral review of previous lessons. Each time your children encounter a familiar problem, they’re digging those mental ruts deeper and coming to solutions faster.

Unless you’re a math person, you may be wondering why it’s important for your children to be so proficient in math that they can do it all in their heads. In fact, many parents often think of math as less important than reading. But by going through this process of developing math automaticity in your children, you’re also enabling them to go further and do more with math. And the further they go in math, the more developed their logic and critical thinking skills become. In the end, you may not be teaching the next Einstein, but you definitely want to train up children who think logically and critically when faced with difficult decisions and complicated variables.

Filed Under: Successful Learning Tagged With: automaticity, homeschool, homeschool math, math, math automaticity

A Third-Grade Probability Activity

March 22, 2018 by Megan

Probability activity with pom poms
Probability. It’s the reason my kids are required to wear a helmet when riding a bike and a seatbelt when riding in the car. It’s what determines the rate I pay for home and auto insurance and what helps me decide whether it’s worth purchasing an extended warranty for my vehicle. And it’s a challenging concept for an eight-year-old to grasp.

I know because my husband and I tried to explain it when we introduced our third grader to the board game Settlers of Catan. But she didn’t get it. Probability was a brand-new concept for her and, as with all new math concepts, she needed a hands-on activity to help her understand how it works.

Thankfully, Math 3 from BJU Press uses a simple hands-on activity to illustrate the concept of probability.

Materials Needed for This Probability Activity

  • Five different colors of pom-poms (blue, green, purple, red, and orange)
  • Small opaque bag
  • Printout

probability activity materialsGet Ready for Learning Success

Start by putting pom-poms in the bag (5 blue, 5 green, 2 purple, 2 red, and 1 orange). Explain to your child that the term probability refers to how likely or unlikely something is to happen. Ask him to predict what color pom-poms he will most likely get when he pulls out one. What color(s) is he least likely to pull out?

probability activity handoutDeepen Understanding Through Discovery

Now, it’s the child’s chance to test out his predictions. Instruct your child to reach into the bag and pull out a pom-pom without looking. Then he should make note of the color by placing a tally mark in the corresponding column on the probability handout before tossing the pom-pom back into the bag. Do this twenty times. (Hint: If you have preschoolers at your house, this is a great activity to get them involved in “school” too. Have them pull out the pom-poms one by one and see if they can name the color.)

doing the probability activityCommunicate Results

Now it’s time to do something with that data. Help your child turn the tally chart into a bar or line graph and report the findings. Did his predictions match the results? Why or why not?

My third grader was so fascinated by this activity that she wanted to do it again. So she did—several times in fact.  Each time she used a different mix of pom-pom colors and tried to predict the results. As her understanding grew, so did the accuracy of her predictions. And so did her excitement about learning. It was a great day.

Be sure to check out BJU Press’s Math 3 curriculum, which inspired this activity. You can get ideas for more math activities by clicking on the links below.
Dividing Fractions a Simpler Way
Activity for Simplifying Ratios

charting probability activity

Filed Under: Successful Learning Tagged With: homeschool math, math, math manipulatives, probability

Primary Sidebar

As parents, teachers, or former homeschool students, we are passionate about homeschooling from a biblical worldview. We hope these teaching tips, fun activities, and inspirational stories support you in teaching your children.

Email Signup

Sign up for our homeschool newsletter and receive select blog posts, discounts, and more right to your inbox!

Connect with Us!

                    Instagram     

Read Posts on Specific Subjects

Early Learning
Foreign Language
History
Language Arts
Math
Science

Footer

Disclaimer

The BJU Press blog publishes content by different writers for the purpose of relating to our varied readers. Views and opinions expressed by these writers do not necessarily state or reflect the views of BJU Press or its affiliates. The fact that a link is listed on this blog does not represent or imply that BJU Press endorses its site or contents from the standpoint of ethics, philosophy, theology, or scientific hypotheses. Links are posted on the basis of the information and/or services that the sites offer. If you have comments, suggestions, questions, or find that one of the links no longer works, please contact us.

Pages

  • About BJU Press
  • Conversation Guidelines
  • Terms of Use & Copyright

Archives

© 2023 · BJU Press Homeschool