My kids came across “Number Bond” in Mathematics in their Primary One education in  Singapore.

So, this Number Bond must have looked familiar to you - a concept of addition and subtraction.

A few months ago, Darren was often confused over ”which square is meant for the TOTAL” and “which squares are meant to contain numbers to make up the sum”. 

Though he is relatively strong in his mental calculation, he eventually faced the problem of getting “lost” once we re-orientate the position of the number bond.

 Then, I learned from others a hands-on technique to enable him to understand the concept.

Hmm…a coat hanger and pegs are not only meant for clothes but can also enable kids to learn Mathematics:).

I used a coat hanger, 10 clothes pegs and 10 small card boards labelling the digits of 1 to 10. I decided to work only within the number of “10″ since the most important is - for him to learn the concept.

The result was fun and interactive as our little boy moved and removed the number of clothes pegs to achieve the number labelled on the card board.

With actual hands-on activity, he has since then no issue identifying the square or circle which is meant for the Total anymore - no matter how the number bonds are positioned.

So, I was glad.

Furthermore, do these Mathematical questions look familiar to you while you are tutoring your young kids?

Examples 

1. What numbers come after 6 but before 9?

2. What numbers come between 3 and 7?

3. The number, which is just before 10 is _________ greater than 6?

4. Amy had 10 sweets. She ate 2 sweets and gave away 4 sweets to her brother. Her mother gave her another 2 sweets. How many sweets has she left?

Yeap, yeap, these questions look very simple to us but  can be extremely confusing to a young kid for a start. 

Similarly, I have used the same hands-on technique to explain the concept to Darren.  All it takes is to shift the clothes pegs on the hanger- for illustration.

Next, I posted the challenge to him and ask him to re-position the clothes pegs according to my questions.

Once the concept becomes clear, there are no more worries:)

 ******

Different kids might learn better with different methods. Some learn well, simply by listening. Some need to see the illustrations. Others need to read or practise hands-on. Some by asking many questions.

Which method(s) enable your kids to learn better?

One Response to “Number Bond”