HELP!!! Im about to pull out my hair...

[Kimickey]

My 5yo is in 1st grade and is learning tally marks at school and is not grasping the concept. I've used tooth picks, have sat down and drawn out tally marks and where to cross once getting to 5 and all he wants to do is draw the marks. He can do the first bundle of 5 and then 10 anything after that; such as 21 ect...it all goes out of the window.

I had to walk away because its frustrating and I feel bad because I know my frustration is not helping him. Does anyone know a simple way to explain/teach him this math concept?

What have you done to help your little one understand tallying?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Kim

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Can he skip count by 5 past 10? If he is getting the concept up to 10, but not past it, it makes me think maybe he is not recognizing the multiples of 5.

 

[teacups]

You might try: sticks (not tooth picks, not cool enough ) and string. Actually have him bundle 4 and tie them. Then on paper, draw 4 sticks (tally marks) then tie them with sting (the cross tally). You can use pennies and nickles to show how that tied up bundle becomes 5.

HTH.

 

[Kimickey]

Can he skip count by 5 past 10? If he is getting the concept up to 10, but not past it, it makes me think maybe he is not recognizing the multiples of 5.

Yes, he can count to 100 by 5's. I believe what he's not getting is the bundles and how to write the bundles while continuing to count by 5's.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

He's 5 but in first grade? Maybe he's not ready to understand the concept of tally marks. My oldest daugther just didn't grasp math concepts till she was in 2nd grade. I agree with the other posts too, maybe he doesn't understand how to count by 5's which for a 5 year old isn't that uncommon. I'm sure he'll get it when he's ready. I wouldn't stress about tally marks. Kids learn at their own pace, I know because I homeschool my 3 and they learned at different paces. Good luck!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Maybe have him do some sort of jump/dance thing. A jump for each number and then have him lean or put out both arms (for the side tally bar) for the 5th one. Or have him move his arm up and down for the 1-4 and then across for the 5th ("sky/air writing"). You can also have him whisper the 1 2 3 4 and then say or shout the 5, then whisper 6 7 8 9 and then say or shout the 10, and so on while "acting out" the tally marks.

Have him think of it like a pattern. He probably just needs a little more practice. In the grand scheme of math skills, tally marks are not all that important. Counting by 5s and patterning are far more important overall. However, he should know how to use the tally marks because they probably use them in class for graphing and things.

 

[Kimickey]

He's 5 but in first grade?

He will be 6 December 4th.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

He will be 6 December 4th.

Ok, gotcha. That's just like my oldest daughter...she started 1st grade as a 5 year old but turned 6 in Nov.

As I said, for her, she just didn't grasp some of those concepts yet. Remember too that 1st grade has just started. I'm sure he'll catch on but like another poster said, tally marks aren't really a big deal yet. I'm sure it's just a conceptual thing and nothing to stress over.

 

[Erin1700]

Did you try using some of his toys??
A bus can hold 3 families of 5. Get a toy bus and 15 of his toy men. The sticks are their tickets. You can have the "bus driver" write it down and collect the tickets.

 

[Kimickey]

Thanks, we've been pretty much working on school work most of the day. Overall he's been doing pretty good and didn't think he would last this long. We have since stopped working for the evening. He's tired, I'm tired and we both need a break

I'm not going to sweat it, he can count by 5's and just have resolved he will grasp tallying whenever he gets it, if he gets it at all.

Thank you for all of your suggestions, I will continue to work with him throughout the school year.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Thanks, we've been pretty much working on school work most of the day. Overall he's been doing pretty good and didn't think he would last this long. We have since stopped working for the evening. He's tired, I'm tired and we both need a break

I'm not going to sweat it, he can count by 5's and just have resolved he will grasp tallying whenever he gets it, if he gets it at all.

Thank you for all of your suggestions, I will continue to work with him throughout the school year.

Great attitude! I'm sure he'll do fine. A little advice...don't work in long stretches of time. Kids tend to do better with shorter bursts, like 15 minutes here, another 15 minutes there. They tend to drift and get frustrated if you spend hours on something at this age. Then your child gets frustrated, you get frustrated and it turns into a waste of time. Good luck!

 

[LuvOrlando]

Can you try to work with some things that are more concrete first? I would give pretzel sitcks and twizzlers a try because they are shaped like tally marks so you can lay them out like tally marks while they also double as the thing being counted. So 1 twizzler = 1 tally mark and so on until you have 3 piles of tally mark twizzlers with the 4 sticks and the 5th laying diagonal across. Next do it with the pretzel sticks. Then jump to cheetos or string beans so he gets the idea is consistent even if the items change, KWIM. Then when he can tell you how many twizzlers he has from the pile, break it the idea apart into a more abstract idea and use the toothpicks to count the twizzlers as you physically lay them out out into a pate nearby not into tally shapes but just a plain old pile. Then use other stuff and the tootpicks. Hopefully after a while he will be able to make the jump from things he can hold to words. These are some big ideas for little minds to grasp, things were really put into perspective when my kids were in Kindergarten too. Good luck.

 

[kimmar067]

...ITA with all the suggestions given to you - another 'stick' you can use is a crayon....perhaps bundle (or group) them by colors (a bundle of greens, a bundle of blues, etc.) but personally, I wouldn't tie them with any string or thread - I'd use the fifth crayon to lie across the top of the other four to better simulate the tallying concept....don't worry - I'm sure your child wll fully grasp this concept when they are truly ready. Just keep at it, and remember, the key is to keep it FUN!

...you might want to try asking your question here:

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1578939

Good luck!

 

[jasminesmommy1]

Im replying to get ideas for my 10 year old who has dyslexia and having hard time with all