Math for Dyscalculia - child’s 7 day challenge
BAD NEWS - Numbers could always be tricky for your child!
GOOD NEWS - The definition of dyslexia or dyscalculia is that you have above-average intelligence. You can think your way around this dyscalculia issue and be successful.
What resources are there for Math for Dyscalculia?
BAD NEWS - not a lot!
GOOD NEWS - below are some FUN resources you can use with your child.
7 DAY CHALLENGE
- Your child must get better at mental math and it will only take 7 days.
Check out fun Number Bonds at Table Fables
DAY 1: MATH FOR DYSCALCULIA
ADDING UP TO 10; AKA NUMBER BONDS
Make number bonds fun and memorable!
Below is a fun game to make sure you master adding up to 10.
Eg 27 + 13 = ?
How do you do that?
You have to be good at number bonds which means adding up to 10. Make up fun stories with characters - like Table Fables.
1+9 = 10 - Giraffe loves eating candy even though he shouldn’t
2+8 = 10 - Both the swan and the snowman are white as snow
3+7 = 10 - Boomerang loves to chop mouses tail off the best
4+6 = 10 - Party girl is the only one who can sail the boat
5+5 = 10 - Another snake is the only one who will be friends with snake.
Table Fables will help you with the basics using funny animation. Scientific studies have revealed that visual learning is a very effective way of processing information.
Play Games: Practice mental addition
Grab a pack of playing cards - take out all picture cards accept the ACE card which will represent 1. Leave in all the numbers cards.
Turn over 2 cards and add them together
Turn over another card and add that to the previous card
Keep turning over cards and adding them together until you have 10 in a row
Time yourself and see if you can repeat this faster each time.
DAY 2 : MATH FOR DYSCALCULIA
NUMBER PLATE CHALLENGE
Math for Dyscalculia is more fun if practised outside the classroom.
Practise when you’re walking home or driving home from school.
Look at two car number plates and add the numbers together
eg [GV63 CZA] & [VU13 YND], add 63 + 13 = 76
TIPS - I thought I had to add the UNITS first but if you add the 10’s first it’s much easier for mental arithmetic. For written arithmetic, it’s easier to add the units first.
Example 1
82 + 31 =
First add 8 + 3 = 11
Then add 2 + 1 = 3
Answer = 113
Example 2
If the numbers are too LARGE and you have to carry a number over :
Eg 78 + 84 = ?
First add 7 + 8 = 15
Then add 8 + 4 = 12 (You must add the 1 to the 5 to make 6)
Answer 162
Challenge yourself to add 5 cars number plates on the way to school and work and see if you can do faster each time.
DAY 3 : MATH FOR DYSCALCULIA
MULTIPLICATION & DIVIDING
Math is virtually impossible if you don’t know your multiplication and dividing facts. We can’t repeat enough YOUR CHILD NEEDS TO KNOW THEIR TABLES OFF BY HEART. We know teaching kids their tables can be a trip to Dullsville - but we have just the thing that will make it SUPER EASY for you and your child. Use TABLE FABLES for 10 minutes a day and you will have those tables done and dusted in no time!
TIPS: Go to Table Fables where all numbers are represented by characters. The characters interact to create rude/funny stories. Who can’t remember a funny story? You will remember your Times Tables and dividing in no time with their 17-day challenge.
Table Fables also has built-in incentives to keep your kids learning so you can put your feet up and relax.
DAY 4: MATH FOR DYSCALCULIA
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS TIMES TABLES
Math for Dyscalculia need not be boring!
Rules :
2 players needed
Use BOTH hands.
Count to 3 and BOTH put out some fingers (needs to be more than 3 fingers unless playing with young children)
Example :
Player 1 puts out 7 fingers
Player 2 puts out 4 fingers
The first player to multiply the fingers eg 7 x 4 = 28 is the WINNER
Winner: The first to get 10 correct answers is the winner
Forfeits: The loser has to do 20 sit-ups.
Get learning your Time Tables on the comedy animation site Table Fables if you don’t know them then this game is impossible.
DAY 5: MATH FOR DYSCALCULIA =
PHONE NUMBER CHALLENGE
Memorise telephone numbers - It can be really handy in an emergency that your child knows important phone numbers off by heart, so this is a very practical game to get good at.
“ANYTHING THAT HAS NO MEANING TO YOU IS TOUGH TO REMEMBER”
-Neurosurgeon Larry McCleary
So WE have to make things memorable.
Eg you can remember the word CAT very easily as we know what that looks like, you may have owned a cat or at least stroked one. But try and remember 8743, in half an hour or even 10 mins and you probably can’t as it has no meaning to us.
So how to remember a telephone number?
Tel no: 07814921945
METHOD 1 :
Look for patterns eg there are two dates in the number above 1492 and 1945.
In 1492 Christopher Columbus Discovered America
In 1945 the second world war ended
All you have to remember is the 078 at the front. Which could be my Grandmother is 78 and she loves history.
Voila, you have just remembered the whole number “My grandmother is 78 and she loves history and Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 and WW2 ended in 1945.
Repeat this a couple of times and you will remember it. Now your child will have a number memory like an elephant!
METHOD 2 :
TEL NO : 07814921945
Most brains can only hold a few numbers at a time and dyscalculia ones have more difficulty than most.
So we have to break them down into smaller chunks and makeup funny stories until you remember them eg
07 - when I was 7
81 - I ate 81 sweets &
49 - 49 pieces of dog food and vomited everywhere.
21 - When I was 21
99 - I released 99 balloons in the air but
45 - 45 of them burst and I cried
So the whole story would be - ‘When I was 7, I ate 81 sweets and 49 pieces of dog food vomiting everywhere. Then when I was 21, I released 99 balloons into the air but 45 of them burst and I cried.’
*make up the story with your child and repeat (many times) and they will remember!
**You must make your stories rude, funny or unfortunately violent as that’s what kids seem to love best!
DAY 6: MATH FOR DYSCALCULIA
ALGEBRA MURDER MYSTERY (for older kids)
Algebra can fill kids with fear but it won’t anymore, especially if you know your times’ tables.
If you turn algebra into a Murder Mystery Game then no longer is it a scary equation but a fun mystery to solve. Find the missing number and YOU will have solved the mystery.
REMEMBER TO DO 10 mins - MULTIPLICATION & DIVIDING: Table Fables, it’s not boring because it teaches using rude/funny animations.
NOW do these algebra equations:
*TIPS: remember each side has to be equal =
(You can’t have 56 = 42 they are NOT the same they are NOT EQUAL )
So everything on one side has to be the same as the other side eg 56 = 56 or 42 = 42)
Example 1
Q : 2 x 7 = 4 + ?
What is the mystery number?
First do 2 x 7 = 14
Now we have to make the other side = the same
14 = 4 + ?
What is? It has to be 10
14 = 4 + 10
14 = 14
Mystery solved 10 was the murderer.
Example 2
Q : 8 x 7 = 50 + ?
What is the mystery number?
First, do 8 x 7 = (if you don’t know that go onto Table Fables - The boomerang chops the snowman’s head off and the answer is = 56. I will keep on at you until you learn your times tables they are essential!)
56 = 50 + ?
Now we have to make the other side = the same
56 = 50 + 6
56 = 56
Mystery solved 6 was the murderer.
Example 3
-3 + 2x = 11
What is the mystery number x
As the Detective, you are allowed to move suspects around to see who is the murderer. So let’s move -3 onto the other side of =. Now if we move -3 to the other side of = it has to change into +3. Think of it like moving someone in and out of jail, people change when they go in or out of jail from positive to negative.
So let’s add +3 onto 11 on the right side.
Eg 2x = 11 + 3 = 14
So now we know 2x = 14
What is 2 x ? = 14
2 x 7 = 14
x Must be 7
NOW - go back to the original equation and put in all the information you have learned.
Answer -3 + (2 x 7) = 11
So 7 was the mystery murderer. Nice work Detective.
This may take a bit of practice and working out but keep going and you will get there.
Try app: DragonBox Algebra for practice.
*Give yourself a treat if you get faster or even understand the above!
DAY 7: MATH FOR DYSCALCULIA
DAY OF REST - You must be kidding!!
“However, You can lie in bed and do this but practice you must Young Maths Jedi!”
So lying in bed repeat anything from the previous days that you found hard.
Don’t do the stuff you found easy that WON’T help you.
Keep going with the hard stuff and your brain will grow, flourish and you may even become a young Einstein genius.