Day: March 27, 2019

The age of five plus is that age where child is open for new things to explore and to learn; whether it’s language or basic concepts of math or taking part in role play. Taking advantage of this learning opportunity we took the initiative to start mind math in Senior. Although we are using conventional methods for addition and subtraction which includes signs and conventional statements, we found that children are able to perform well in mind math too.

Mental math does not only help in solving sums, it also gives a chance to children to understand pattern. They focus on listening to instructions as in mind math there are no conventional signs for subtraction and addition. Their attention span increases and new words are incorporated in their vocabulary. Children use their imagination to solve sums and problems as it gives them the opportunity to challenge themselves. They enjoy mind math activities and that helps them build strong concepts and gain confidence. Once they understand the pattern and are able to comprehend new vocabulary, there is no turning back.

This is right age for children to start new concepts and broaden their learning horizon. As teachers our job is to create more opportunities for mind math in class for our young minds which makes our job simultaneously more interesting and more challenging.

It begins with the first scribble that the child identifies as ‘me’. Gradually, as a child’s concepts grow with exposure, his vocabulary expands, and his observation becomes sharper, ‘me’ develops from a scribble to a figure with recognisable features and painstaking detail: ‘me’ might now be wearing a frilly pink frock which ‘papa brought from Dubai’ or have a pair of heart-shaped sunglasses perched on her nose or may be playing cricket with his brothers.

As the child learns to read and begins to write, ‘me’ is represented with ‘I like to wear my pink dress’, or ‘I like to play cricket with my bhai’ using invented spelling.

The more passionate writers also develop the ability to write stories with characters, problems and solutions and create suspense too!

The world of reading and writing beckons them. And it all begins with a scribble that the child identifies as ‘me’.