How to Help Kids Learn the 5 Essential Mathematical Concepts from 4th Grade Math?

Math is tightly connected to our daily routine. We face it everywhere – at work, when doing chores, buying groceries, or planning a family budget. It appears logical that kids should be taught math through everyday activities and games to comprehend math concepts better and apply them easily. 

 

Unfortunately, not all teachers can provide a clear connection between mathematics and daily routines. Also, instructors may find it hard to make lessons fun and engaging. As a result, children consider math boring and beyond their understanding.

 

This article aims to debunk the myth of math being a hard-to-learn subject and demonstrate practical examples of how the 5 essential mathematical concepts can be taught to kids using real-life techniques and interactive maths methods.

 

1.  Counting

 

Counting fluency is the solid foundation that helps to develop number sense. It is introduced in preschool and requires application of clear and creative explanation methods to motivate and engage kids. Properly acquired counting knowledge is essential for successfully practicing other math operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, which are the concepts free math games for kids extensively focuses on.

 

The activities for learning counting need to be brief and entertaining, but at the same time, preschoolers should practice them daily. The matter is that the attention span of kids at this age is extremely short. They cannot stay focused on one activity for too long which may affect the quality of the learning process. That is why all the tasks should be short and rotated quite often. 

 

Monotony and excessive repetition can destroy the motivation of young learners. To make kids interested in counting, it is better to avoid memorizing the theory and focus on real-life tasks instead. You can go shopping with your child and ask them to help you count money or take care of the shopping list by keeping a record of the goods.

 

The “sell” game is good for playing at home. Try a role play of a seller and a buyer asking your kid to sell something around the house to you. Explain the payment process and then switch roles. Give a kid a chance to count money, determine a change, and decide on a discount. Such a simple yet exciting game will contribute much to the counting skills of a schooler.  

 

2.  Measurements

 

The concepts of weight, volume, and size are easy to explain with real-world math methods. Comparison of the manipulatives is an excellent technique to demonstrate the difference in measurements and master necessary skills. A kid can start by comparing the family members' heights identifying who is the shortest and the tallest person. You can use blocks to build the towers and compare their size or rearrange them from the smallest to the largest one.  

 

The sense of volume can be introduced with the help of cups of various sizes. You can let a kid identify how much water is needed to fill each cup and then explain the theory.

 

The comparison activity works well for practicing weight as well. Ask a kid to hold an apple in one hand and a pencil in the other. Explain the sense of lighter and heavier based on comparing these two manipulatives.

 

3.  Shapes

 

Right after the basics of measurements are learned, you can proceed to practicing shapes - the foundation for future geometry classes. The shapes can be introduced by asking a kid to sort some items by shape, name a fruit or a vegetable of a particular form, or create a colorful anchor chart with all the basic shapes properly drawn and described. 

 

The world is full of circles, triangles, and squares – motivate a kid to find shapes around in the pieces of furniture, urban infrastructure, and daily used items. Such an approach will suit classroom, online lessons, or home activities.

 

4.  Addition and subtraction 

 

There are various techniques to learn the given math operations. Physical objects, visuals, and online activities will be irreplaceable if you want to make learning easy and entertaining. 

 

To master addition, you can use the groups of colorful blocks and explain the concept by adding the blocks from one group to another. The same principle works for subtraction – children are more eager to learn by dealing with the objects they use to play.

 

5.  Multiplication and division

 

Multiplication and division are to be explained once kids are already good at addition and subtraction. For elementary schoolers, practicing multiplication and division should start with dealing with manipulatives and real-life examples. Once they are learned, the transition to learning multiplication and division using a number line and array model will be smooth and easy. 

 

When addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of one-digit numbers have been learned, the operations with two- and three-digit numbers covered in the curriculum of 4th grade math will be a piece of cake. 

 

With the development of digitalization, all of these basic math concepts have become easy to practice via the Internet. In case a kid needs a professional explanation of math operations, measurements, or numbers, math courses online can help. 

 

Brighterly online math learning platform offers services of highly qualified tutors who are ready to assist a schooler with any math concept using creative methods and efficient techniques. Online math learning implies many interesting activities and online games that contribute much to an effective educational process.

 

Conclusion

 

Learning the essential math operations is the first step to revealing math's importance. This step is vital as without the basic knowledge, moving forward with math practice will be impossible. The techniques described above will help a kid build fluency by practicing the key concepts and then cope with more complicated tasks easily and quickly. These methods may be a perfect addition to your math curriculum and will turn a math learning process into a pleasant and exciting activity.