Talking Math: Counting Down
Fall is full of dates kids look forward to. Halloween, Thanksgiving, winter break, a school concert, a birthday. If your kids are anything like mine ‘How long until…?’ is a question you hear a lot. Instead of answering, I turn the question back on them.
My Dinner Table Example
During dinner this week my 11-year-old asked how long until Halloween. Instead of answering, I turned it back on both kids and let them work it out.
When my oldest child had their answer, I asked them to walk me through their process rather than checking their work by looking it up. They explained that October has 31 days and September has 30. Today was the 15th, so that left 15 days in September, and they added that to 31 for 46 days until Halloween.
While my younger child was still figuring, I asked him to share his strategy as well rather than just waiting on him (and causing him to feel pressure). He was counting by weeks and knew it was between 6 and 7.
Once they both had an answer, I asked a follow-up question.
What day of the week will Halloween be on? They were both able to determine that Halloween would be on a Saturday.
Scaffolding by Skill Level
For younger children, you can count days on a calendar or build a countdown chain. The visual representation of the size of numbers is great.
Once counting a day at a time is easy, switch to counting by groups, focusing on weeks instead of days. "There are 7 days in a week, how many full weeks until Thanksgiving, and how many days left over?" That's skip counting and division or fractions. If you turn the number of weeks back into days you’ve practiced multiplication as well.
Another level can happen when you start adding months together. For something that is 2 or more months out you can count by months as well as weeks but you can also ask: How many days are left in this month? How many days are in the in-between month? What day of the month is the event on? That is addition but keeping track of the pieces and recognizing all of the facets at play is also a great logic tool.
Pushing into days of the week is another layer. Being able to combine some of the skills above to move from what day it is today to what day it will be 19 days from now requires grouping or skip counting (multiplication and division). It is working with remainders or fractions and most importantly, applying a mathematical concept to a real-life scenario builds a deeper understanding than working through a formula on a page.
The Bigger Picture
As an adult, I have learned time and time again that my way of thinking through a problem is not the only way. I love hearing my children explain their reasoning. It gives me greater insight into them as humans. They don’t just approach math differently than I do, they tackle problem-solving as a whole in their own unique ways. Practicing how to explain their reasoning from point A to point B is a skill that also serves them in English, and science, and even in their friendships.
