Re: Trains- helping kids learn to learn

[Guest guest]

Bill,

I think you¹re right about helping kids learn to learn. Kids learn in

different ways, too... one of my boys can hear it and it all just makes

perfect sense to him. The other needs visuals and manipulatives. He had a

horrible time learning to round numbers until I found an illustration (link

below, second from the bottom) of a car rolling over a hill. He got it

right away then. When he learned to count to 100, I made cards and helped

him lay them out on the floor until he ³saw² the pattern... then he could do

it. We also used an abacus. It seems to me that it couldn¹t hurt the kids

who grasp it just from oral descriptions to ³see² the idea as well, so I

wish teachers would use a lot more of that type of thing. I think some of

them use them by showing the manipulatives up in front of the class, but my

son actually has to hold the items in his hand and think through it at his

own speed to ³get it².

http://www.mathcats.com/grownupcats/ideabankrounding.html

Caroline G.