how to build your child’s Numeracy skills
You can help build your child’s numeracy through doing the following:
Be positive about their numeracy experiences and praise effort and perseverance
Let your child know that everyone can be successful
Seize everyday opportunities to capitalise on numeracy development
Involve your child in numeracy-related activities
Describe what you are doing in situations that involve numeracy
Explain why you make certain numeracy choices
Explore numeracy with your child
Learn alongside your child and encourage a sharing of numeracy ideas and thoughts
Helping children to become numerate does not need a high level of mathematics.
It means:
Encouraging children to try, then keep trying
Encouraging children to think (reason) and giving
them time to do this. Confusion is ok!
Supporting children while they do homework (which
means encouraging them and taking an interest, but not doing the thinking for them).
Do not focus only on the correct response, the process/approach is important
Modelling numeracy with children (including interpreting data, charts and diagrams)
Talking aloud when solving problems (every day or mathematical)
Getting children to check their answers (does this answer make sense?)
Encouraging children to help with:
- cooking (especially measuring out ingredients)
- paying bills
- scheduling events in the day
- reading maps and giving directions
- shopping
- measuring
Do not say “Maths is hard” or “I was never good at maths”. Numeracy capability is not inherited but attitudes are contagious.