What math should kindergarten know

Kindergarten math | GreatSchools.org

From the first moment they look at your cooing face, babies start trying to make sense of their new reality. They’re hungry, they cry, and food arrives. In its most rudimentary form, they’re learning the essence of mathematics: logical thinking and problem solving.

By the end of kindergarten math, your child should be able to:

• years Count to 100 by ones (1, 2, 3..) and tens (10, 20, 30…).
• Use objects, like blocks, to count, add, and subtract up to 10.
• Identify circles, triangles, rectangles, and squares.
• Sort items by size, shape, weight, and length.
• Understand where things are located: The cat is behind you, the pirate is below deck, the rainbow is above your head, you are next to me, and the teacher is in front of the classroom.

“I can count to 100!”

Kids love to show you what they’ve learned, and there’s plenty to be proud of in kindergarten. Your child will learn to identify and write numbers from 0 to 20. Ask them to point to the number that shows how old they are. They’ll be able to count to 100 — the long way saying one number at a time — and the short way skipping from 10 to 20 to 30 and so on. They’ll answer questions like, “what’s after 73?” and “what’s the number before 15?” They’ll understand that the number 3 is bigger than the number 2 and that 49 is smaller than 50, which comes after it.

Giving and taking away

Kindergartners learn to add and subtract within 10, but not with a pencil and paper. They’ll use objects and drawings. If there are 7 toy cars in a pile on the floor and one is removed, how many are left in the pile? If Juan has 4 cookies and Michele has 2 cookies, how many cookies do they have together? It gets a bit more difficult when they’re asked how many more cookies would they need for a total of 9, but that’s okay, because that’s pretty advanced. Also, some kindergartners will understand the equations for addition and subtraction, such as 6 + 3 = 9, but it’s not essential this year.

Place value

In kindergarten, kids learn that numbers between 11 and 19 are made up of 10 plus some ones. They understand that 12 is the same as 10 and 2 more. Their teacher will use different objects to explain this, such as a giving students 16 beans and having them create one pile of 10 plus 6 individual beans. This is the first step on their path to understanding place value.

More or less

Children already see the world as things that are the same and things that are different. Kindergarten is a key year for measuring, classifying, and comparing, both developmentally and in math. Your child may sort her toys into groups of animals, board games, and trucks or arrange her stuffed animals from tallest to shortest. The good news is, when your child upends a dish full of seashells onto the floor to sort the pink ones from the white ones, you’ll now know he’s practicing important math skills.

Students learn to compare two objects by their length, weight, and size. Who’s taller, my best friend or me? Which is heavier, this hollow ball or this solid rock? Remember when your parents marked your height on the doorjamb every year so you could see how much you grew? If you’re not doing that now, go ahead and start. It’s a great learning tradition to continue with your children.

Shape shifting

Your kindergartner should learn to identify the four basic shapes: circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles. During the year, kids learn to differentiate triangles from rectangles, and rectangles from squares. They learn to sort shapes into groups according to their similarities and count how many there are in each group.

Kindergartners start learning to identify, draw, build, and sort some 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes. For example, a circle drawn on paper is 2-dimensional (also known as flat), but you can hold and bounce a ball, which is a 3-dimensional sphere.

Where are you?

One of the most important concepts in kindergarten is following directions, such as put your lunch boxes inside your cubby, shoes go into the basket, put your painting next to Ida’s, and please stand behind John in line. These words are new to kindergartners. They indicate where thing are in space. Not only are they crucial for doing what the teacher asks, they’re also important for kindergarten math.  Other words your child should learn sooner rather than later? Below, above, beside, in front, on top, and under.

Enjoy this time as your little one revels in counting, comparing, and shapes. Before you know it, they’ll be studying radian measures of angles traversed counterclockwise around a unit circle, and you’ll be longing to add and subtract with cookies.

Print out our favorite five math worksheets for kindergartners.

Math Skills for Kindergarten, What Your Child Will Learn, Komodo Math

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As your child heads into kindergarten, you’ll be feeling all sorts of emotions. You may be wondering: How can my baby be that old? Is she ready? What exactly is he going to learn in kindergarten?

While kindergarten may have changed since you were a child, it still forms the foundation of your child’s schooling and we wrote earlier about how to prepare for a successful start to the school adventure. 

In math, students will learn the basics of how numbers work while exploring place value and the concepts of addition and subtraction. 

But there’s no need to figure everything out as your child does - this article will help you get a head start by knowing what to expect. 

In kindergarten your child will learn how to: 

1. Count to 100 

Going into the school year, your child may be able to orally count to 10 or beyond. By the end of kindergarten, expect that counting to advance to 100. But don’t worry, we’re only talking about counting orally. Your kindergartner will not be expected to write all the numbers to 100.  

In most kindergarten classrooms, teachers count the days of school with the children. By counting each day, children gradually become more fluent with bigger and bigger numbers. At the end of 100 days, kindergarten classrooms often have a big celebration with many more opportunities for counting. 

At home: To support your child’s counting skills, encourage your kindergartner to count as high as possible. This is a great task to give your child in the car - or even at bedtime! 

2. Answer “how many?” questions about groups of objects 

As well as counting to 100, kindergartners will be asked to count how many objects are in a group. Students need to be able to physically count objects one at a time, assigning one number to each object as they count. This is a skill called one-to-one correspondence. 

At home: Ask children to tell you how many toys they are playing with and watch how they keep track of each object that is counted. If your kindergartner counts the same object twice or skips an object, encourage another try.

3. Solve basic addition and subtraction problems 

In kindergarten, children start to develop an understanding of addition and subtraction within 10. Kindergartners start by solving problems involving physical objects, and as the year goes on, students learn to draw pictures to represent addition and subtraction problems. They will even begin to solve simple word problems.

At home: Present two groups of blocks (less than 10 in all) and have your child add the blocks together. As your child develops understanding, you can ask simple addition or subtraction problems without using the physical objects as a support. 

4. Understand the numbers 11-19 as a ten plus some ones 

Though it may seem quite advanced, your kindergartner will begin to understand the concept of place value and that position makes some numbers bigger than others - ie get to grips with the idea that 21 is bigger than 12. Students may use place value blocks to be able to “see” how ten ones become a ten. 

At home: When counting blocks or lego bricks at home, make a group of ten. Then add on extra “ones” to make the numbers 11-19. You can even talk about place value when looking at written two-digit numbers. 

5. Name shapes 

Kindergartners will learn about 2D and 3D shapes. They should be able to name different shapes while describing their features. Kindergartners love to recognize shapes in the real world! 

At home: Help your child by having them spot squares, cubes, spheres, rectangles, etc. Challenge your kindergartener to draw pictures using basic 2D shapes, then talk to you about the drawings. Making and continuing shape patterns is another fun way to help engage your kindergartner as they learn about shapes.

Throughout the year, make sure to ask your child about what’s happening in kindergarten math. Give your child an opportunity to teach you by sharing what he or she has learned. Get ready for a fun year in kindergarten! 

Found this useful? Check out our grade by grade math guides from Kindergarten to 5th grade

Written by Lily Jones, Lily loves all things learning. She has been a kindergarten & first grade teacher, instructional coach, curriculum developer, and teacher trainer. She loves to look at the world with curiosity and inspire people of all ages to love learning. She lives in California with her husband, two kids, and a little dog. 

About Komodo – Komodo is a fun and effective way to boost K-5 math skills. Designed for 5 to 11-year-olds to use in the home, Komodo uses a little and often approach to learning math (15 minutes, three to five times per week) that fits into the busy family routine. Komodo helps users develop fluency and confidence in math – without keeping them at the screen for long.

Find out more about Komodo and how it helps thousands of children each year do better at maths – you can even try Komodo for free. 

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Mathematical development of preschoolers

The role of preschool education in the process of forming elementary mathematical representations

Even in early childhood, babies encounter objects that differ in shape, color and quantity. At this age, the basic elementary ideas and abilities of the child begin to form.

The first toys resemble geometric shapes: cubes, constructors, pyramids. The count begins with mom's questions: "Tell me, how old are you?". Parents of children are taught to name the shapes of toys, their size, quantity.

Through play activities, the ability to distinguish different properties and features of objects is formed. The baby is forming the first concept of mathematics, although he still does not know and is not aware of this. The consciousness of a child in early childhood is chaotic. Parents teach children to compare, group objects, call them by their proper names.

Through visual-objective actions, they help the child to remember what he heard on the basis of objective images. Before the age of three, the child already knows how to group objects according to their external features, color, shape. So, for example, a child can put green toys away from red ones, choose pencils from a pile of other objects and put them together, can add pyramids in size, in order of the pyramid rings.

Dealing with objects through play activities, the child compares them. This is where the first acquaintance with mathematics begins.

By the age of four, children can easily count up to five, and a little older up to ten, but they can also make mistakes in counting.

By the age of six, children already begin to understand when the numbers increase and when they decrease. That is why it is important to start systematic classes from kindergarten in order to increase the mental perception of the child.

In today's modern society, one of the requirements for preschool education is that children receive mathematical knowledge and elementary ideas in kindergarten.

Preschoolers in the course of their development receive the first elementary ideas about mathematics. The available methods and means of forming elementary mathematical representations are developed specifically for age categories, taking into account the gradual development of skills and abilities in preschoolers in this direction.
Mathematics is an independent educational subject and is designed to develop intellectual abilities depending on the natural potential of preschoolers. Its role in the development of elementary ideas in preschoolers is very great. In the course of such activities, the child develops and develops cognitive and personal abilities.

In the process of learning, through the means of mathematical classes, the child receives the first ideas about mathematical concepts. The task of mathematics is the desire to educate preschoolers, with a perspective on the future, highly qualified personnel.

To achieve the goal of education, in preschool institutions, when developing targeted programs and methods of education, domestic and foreign best practices should be taken into account, and recommendations for parents should be developed. It will be a useful experience for educators if they share information and methods of raising children with other kindergartens and preschool institutions.

Mathematics is one of the few disciplines that covers different aspects of the personality of children. In the process of forming elementary mathematical concepts and learning, preschoolers actively develop all cognitive processes: speech, thinking, memory, perception, and representation. This becomes effective if, when setting up classes, the frequency and sequence of the development of cognitive processes in a child are taken into account, depending on the psychophysical development of each child.

If the child has not reached the age at which he is able to understand mathematical processes, then the lessons will not play any role for his consciousness. The possibilities of the child are determined by his psychology. In the modern world, innovative methods and means are increasingly included in the educational programs for preschoolers.

Some of the preschool institutions are already using informatics lessons for preschoolers in their educational activities. The whole world is now connected with computer technologies and gradually they penetrate into kindergartens.

Mathematics is not necessarily boring, as it might seem at first glance. To teach arithmetic, educators play with children, come up with various counting rhymes, proverbs, sayings, riddles. The child masters the first numerical concepts and forms.

There are also didactic forms and means of education, in which visual aids, illustrations, games are used.
There are many approaches to teaching arithmetic and building elementary knowledge of mathematical concepts in children. Children are taught to count, show the distinctive moments of numbers: more, less, even, odd numbers.

To achieve results, various materials are used: counting sticks, natural materials, they teach to count and recognize money.

Children are taught to recognize geometric figures: a circle, a square, a triangle, etc. Children should also master measured values: meter, centimeter, kilogram, gram, etc. During classes, children are taught not only exponential arithmetic, but also to perform arithmetic operations in the mind. They learn to find and compare objects in everyday life, on the street and in nature. For example: three birch trees under the window.

Children on graduation from kindergarten must be ready for the first grade, as well as adapted to external independent life. After all, they will not always and everywhere walk hand in hand with their mother. Children will spend part of the time on their own and rely on their skills - this is the development process. In recent years, such a concept as pre-mathematical preparation has been introduced into practice.

Preparing a child and his cognitive world for a mathematical way of thinking. Various ways of forming the cognitive sphere allow the child to prepare for the study of the subject - mathematics. When organizing classes, there is an impact on visual and logical thinking, memory, creative imagination, perception, voluntary attention of a preschooler.

The task of such upbringing is to activate the thinking of the preschooler, the desire to overcome difficulties, the needs in solving various kinds of mental problems. Solving such problems of educating preschoolers is a very difficult job for the educator and requires an integrated approach, and only systematic classes will make it possible to carry out the timely mathematical development of preschool children.

The abilities of each child depend on his individual psychological characteristics. Mathematical abilities cannot be innate, since only anatomical and physiological features of a person are innate. Mathematical is a special kind of abilities, they depend on the integral quality of the mind and develop in the process of mathematical activity.

A person's abilities can manifest themselves in various areas, and here, like everything else, mathematical abilities are revealed in the process of a preschooler's activities. The preschool age is considered the most favorable period for the development of abilities.

Children at preschool age observe and imitate adults, they observe every action and listen carefully to what the teacher says and this is an important property. Children should be taught to act independently, show and tell about their actions. Preschoolers should be encouraged to repeat after the teacher about the properties and qualities of objects. Games with children should contain mathematical actions.

With comparative actions, children themselves must tell the educator how this or that figure differs from another. If the child finds it difficult to answer, it means that his speech and perception are not sufficiently developed, if the child does not want to answer, then do not put pressure on him and insist too much. Awareness comes to the numbers in children faster if you start using them in everyday life, for example: please give me a second slipper.
Children do not immediately recognize the numerical value - one, because it is not used in everyday speech. For them, the role of mathematical representations in real life is inaccessible. Usually the kids at the same time say "give me the remote, or a spoon or some kind of toy."

Awareness of the number one in children comes later than the rest of the numbers.

At the first stage of learning, children lack attentiveness and when listing the serial numbers of digits, they often lose sight of the numbers: for example, they call - "1, 2, 4, 7".

In older groups, it is worth teaching children about the set, breaking the set into groups and explaining to them the difference between a smaller and larger group, as well as the equality of parts. Visually teach preschoolers the sequence of counting up to ten and vice versa. Teach children to count by touch and by ear within ten.

Learn to compare the number of items in different groups, add and remove items up to a given number.

Preschool children are able to divide objects and name their parts, such as dividing an apple into slices or a pie. Preschoolers need to understand that a whole apple is bigger than a slice or half of an apple. Senior students must learn and understand that the number 7 is greater than six, but less than eight. By the end of the training period, preschoolers should be able to perform simple mathematical operations.

Formation of elementary ideas about time

In kindergarten, you can actively form elementary knowledge of time in children. Children should know all four parts of the day, name what time of day they go to bed, and when it's time to get up and go to kindergarten. In this process, a large role is assigned to the regime of the day in the group.

The teacher calls the time of day and says what the children should do now: whether to have breakfast, whether to go for a walk, or whether they will have an hour.

Regular conversations should be held with children, in which parts of the day are mentioned, it is explained why this or that action should be carried out at a certain time of the day (sleep - at night, wash and have breakfast - in the morning, walk, dine - in the afternoon, in the evening - play with the family to engage in various activities).

Math for preschoolers - math games

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