Your first-grader and math
In your child's classroom
What math concepts will my first-grader learn?
In first grade, learning math occurs on many fronts. Children find out about computation, numbers and number sense, measurement, patterns, shapes, money, and telling time.
You will begin to see a dramatic shift in your child's development. He starts looking at the world more logically and understands cause and effect. When they are younger, children can't readily understand an adult's point of view, but starting at age 6 or so, this changes.
"Math in first grade begins to connect the real world to the child's point of view," says Nicola Salvatico, our consulting teacher and the 2005 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year. This shift will certainly play a role in your child's growing knowledge of math as well as allow many teaching opportunities at home, such as measuring recipe ingredients, counting change, or estimating how much time it takes to get to a destination.
Patterns and shapes
First-graders learn to sort objects by color, shape, and function and to recognize patterns. Your first-grader should be able to sort a mixed group of blocks so that all the red blocks are in one group and all the blue ones are in another. If the blocks are placed on a table in a pattern — for example, red block, blue block, red block, blue block — your first-grader should be able to predict which color should come next as well as create another pattern with similar features.
First-graders learn to distinguish two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes such as triangles, squares, cones, and cylinders. They also identify the shapes of items in the classroom and at home.
Numbers
By the end of first grade, your child should be able to count to 100 by ones, twos, fives, and 10s and have a sense of how big the number 100 is. She should also be able to begin counting at any number you choose between 0 and 100 and write the words for the numbers one through 12.
Your child is introduced to the concepts of more and less and works with simple graphs through analyzing and creating.
Computation
Your first-grader learns addition and subtraction facts with numbers up to 20. First-graders start moving away from counting objects (or "math manipulatives," as they are called in school) to doing more mental math. Simple word problems are introduced such as "If I have three marbles and give one to my friend, how many do I have left?"
Money
First-graders learn about coins and their value. They learn how different combinations of coins can add up to the same amount. There may be a store set up in the classroom with a play cash register, play money, and objects with price tags so that your child can practice counting money and exchanging items for money.
Measurement
Standard measuring tools as well as units of measurement are topics for first-grade math. First-graders practice measuring using inches, cups, and quarts. They learn to read a clock face and tell time to the half-hour.
What to look for when you visit
- Simple bar and pictorial graphs on large pieces of paper on display
- Students using "math manipulatives" — blocks, cards, and buttons for counting and sorting — and making the transition from counting and sorting objects to "mental math"
- Calendars and clocks to help first-graders learn about time, days and months, and the concepts of before and after
- Students measuring objects and amounts using rulers and measuring cups
