As children, we all learned to count in different ways. How did you learn to count? Didn’t you feel proud when you were able to count all the way to twenty! Counting is one of the most important learning components children need to become proficient. Here are 7 tips to get your child counting to 20.

* Utilize a deck of cards.
* Purchase the Leap Frog product which offers singing as a way for your child to count from 1 to 20.
* Use construction paper with crayon, and write the numbers on separate sheets.
* Use a variety of books which teach children to count.
* Utilize a box of elbow macaroni in teaching your child how to count.
* Use pennies to help your child to count.
* If you have stairs in your home, count them with your child as you go up and down.

Statistics today show more and more public school children are lacking in mathematical skills. This is why it is so important to teach children to count from the time they are infants. They do retain information, and with so many teaching tools available today, it is becoming clear that the earlier a child is taught to count, the better prepared he or she will be when it comes time to enroll them in school.

While learning is important, making the process an enjoyable one creates the atmosphere conducive to learning. It is a fact that babies learn more at an early age because they have the ability to soak up so much information. Therefore, beginning the counting process as early as possible, using creative means, can not only help your child but is an inducement for them to want to learn more as they grow.

Engage your entire family in teaching your child to count. Make it a fun and enjoyable experience. These 7 tips to get your child counting to 20 can be used or added to your existing methods. Utilize all of the tips outlined and add your own creative ideas as well.

Times have certainly changed since we were kids. Many of the methods and tools available today were not even part of our daily curriculum. Now, more than ever, we have more opportunities to teach our children the vital lessons they need to learn in order to achieve. It all begins with the number 1, and akin to when we were kids, you can still utilize the old with the new in ensuring your child can count, either by reading the numbers or by using his or her fingers and toes.

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Nicole Dean co-created www.kidsactivitycalendar.com to help her child and others prepare for Kindergarten in a fun way. To get your free sample lesson, stop by www.kidsactivitycalendar.com/letter-a-sample.htm today.

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Well, I had fun, anyway. I think Sammie was a little frustrated. You see, every week she has to bring home her math test and we have to work through the problems that she missed. The first one that she missed this time was about pentagons. She was supposed to draw four of them and color in (shade) to show 3 1/2. She had drawn them all teeny tincy and squishy so it didn’t really look like it represented 3 1/2. I sat there thinking of how a pentagon looks in my head, so that I could help her, and all that my brain was supplying was a stop sign, which is six sides. So I knew that wasn’t right – so I headed to the internet. I found some cool websites with information on pentagons. And I showed her what a pentagon should look like. And then I went off to start dinner – or balance the checking accounts – or something…

And when I came back, she had definitely drawn five-sided shapes, but, the bottom lines on the sides were straight up and down – so it looked like when a child draws a house. And I was not sure her teacher was going to accept that, or even if that qualified as a pentagon. So I went searching online some more. And I discovered that her shapes were indeed pentagons, but, they were irregular pentagons. So they did qualify. I suppose we’ll see if her teacher accepts that or not. I stressed to her that they were irregular pentagons, so that if she discussed it with her teacher, she could point that out. Now – her teacher could obviously counter with, “Yes, but, I wanted regular pentagons.” In which case Sammie would have to do them again, but, at least she could have an intelligent conversation with her teacher about it. And being that Sammie is as polite as can be, I felt safe arming her with that information. If I had a child that would sass the teacher, or rudely argue with the teacher, I would never help her out in that way.

Anyway, so let me tell you about the sites online that I enjoyed so much. The first place I went to was Wikipedia. I just love Wikipedia and their page about pentagons definitely had some cool information! From there, we visited one of the links in the External Links section. And boy, did we have fun there! It is the Math Open Reference site, and we had tons of fun playing with the pentagons there!

You can work with either a regular pentagon, or an irregular pentagon and drag its corners all around to change the size and even the shape (of the irregular one).

Sammie had long since run off, and Patrick and I were left playing with all of the polygons on that site! I think we had the most fun playing with the undecagon and the dodecagon!

The highest polygon that I remember learning in school was the octagon, so I was just having a field day with these long, silly words! And Patrick got to, one more time, laugh at his poor ‘ol ma!

I think I asked him about fifteen times – “Have you changed your undecagon?” Haha!

**Click the bookworm to go to My Very Own Mail.**

I stumbled upon the neatest book this morning while I was browsing on Squidoo.

Have you guys joined Squidoo yet? I love this site – you can check out my first lens here: Kids Love Halloween!
So I was browsing around on Squidoo – different lenses for kids, or for books, or for kids and books, and I stumbled upon what could easily be the My Very Own Mail Mascot Book!

The book is called, “Wow! I’m Reading! Fun Activities to Make Reading Happen” and it provides wonderful – and fun – ideas for teaching little ones to read. It is part of a series and they also have books on science, math, and even arts and crafts! And let me tell you, doing arts and crafts with little ones is one of my very favorite things to do! What a cool series!

And great low price on a used version, too! You’ve gotta love Amazon!

GO READ A BOOK!

Well, this week the kiddos in Texas all have more state testing (TAKS) that they are taking.

Yesterday, my third and sixth grader took math and reading, respectively.

I am actually a bit worried about my third grader and her math test – not just her, really. Quite a few of the kiddos in her class were having trouble grasping the word problems that will surely be on the test. In fact, on the benchmark a few weeks ago, the majority of the class scored in the 70’s.

I feel fully confident in bringing her up to speed at home, and over the summer. I am not worried that she is going to drastically fall behind in her schooling.

No, actually my worry is focused a bit more ‘on the homefront’. When she scored a 97 on the reading test, I was so happy for her. And the reason I was so happy for her was that she was going to get to tell her brothers, specifically the 6th grader, that she got a 97, missing only one problem.

You see, these boys, specifically the 6th grader, love to torment her, as any good brother must. She is frequently bombarded with questions way above her comprehension level and mocked upon not knowing the answers. I actually once heard the sixth grader say to her, “I bet you don’t even know the square root of pi”!!

Yeah, because every good third grader knows the square root of pi! Heck, I’m probably not even spelling it correctly!

So on the glorious day we received her test score, I couldn’t wait for them all to pile into the minivan and be enlightened with the news!

And oh, how ANTICLIMACTIC it was! Would you like to know what Mr. Sixth Grader said to sweet little Miss Third Grader?

*cue snotty voice*

“When I was in third grade, I got a 100 on the TAKS!”

ugh.

I will definitely have to lecture him, perhaps adding in the threat of losing video games, before these test scores come in. Life – and school – are hard enough without the humans in your house giving you grief over what they perceive to be your failures!

Sheesh!

GO READ A BOOK!