Back To School
‘Dear Parents,
Will your child be entering Primary 1 next year?’
If your answer is a resounding ‘Yes’, then this blog entry might just interest you.
Have you prepared your child enough for her to make a smooth transition to Primary 1? Here, we would like to share with you what you could do to assist your child in Primary 1 Mathematics.
First and foremost you would need to be familiar with the topics and concepts that your child would be covering in Primary 1. In case you are not, below is a list of all the topics that your child would be covering in Primary 1:
- Numbers to 10
- Number Bonds
- Addition Within 10
- Subtraction Within 10
- Shapes and Pattern
- Ordinal Numbers
- Numbers to 20
- Addition and Subtraction Within 20
- Length
- Mass
- Picture Graphs
- Numbers to 40
- Mental Calculation
- Multiplication
- Division
- Time
- Numbers to 100
- Money
Friends have posted these questions to us:
‘What actually is Number Bonds?’
‘What is the difference between ‘Number Bonds’ and ‘Addition and Subtraction’ ?’
Many parents in their eagerness to teach their children, would start with teaching Numbers first, and then proceeded with Addition and Subtraction. However, you would have noticed that after the first topic on Numbers to 10, the second topic is Number Bonds. This should be the correct progression/sequence of teaching the child. In other words, before you even start the child on Addition and Subtraction, it is crucial that the child understands the concept of Number Bonds first.
While ‘Addition’ (+) and ‘Subtraction’ (-) are operators , Number Bonds is a technique of teaching these two operations. It provides the foundation for learning how numbers work. Number Bonds explains the concept of numbers in terms of part – part – whole. Numbers can be broken into more than one part. A whole is made up of parts and if you know the parts you can put them together to form a whole. For example in the number 7, one of the ways of breaking up the number is into 4 and 3. Under this concept, children would be taught to recognize which is ‘part’ and which is ‘whole’. In this case 7 is the ‘whole’ and 4 and 3 are the ‘parts’. It is important for children to understand this concept as it provides them with a mental picture of the relationship between numbers.
Number Bonds would then help children see the relationship between addition and subtraction; that they are mirror images of each other. If taught well, this concept can go a long way in helping your child gain a good understanding on how numbers, addition and subtraction work.