Playdates

Playdate focus

Do lots of practice skip counting by 2’s – do this practice up and down, and start it anywhere (not just at multiples of 2). When this becomes easy, practice with other skip count amounts such as 5 and 10.

Storybook properties

This has skip counting and shapes.

Activities properties

These involve practice with addition and subtraction as well as seeing which numbers can be seen as groups of pairs.

New connections

Your child started skip counting by 2’s during Stage 2. Their skip counting is now going higher and faster, and it is also now connected with new ideas, such as with multiplying and with even and odd numbers.

Multiplying by 2

For example, multiplying something by 2 means to take that many 2’s. Suppose your child is calculating 5 times 2. This means adding 2 to itself 5 times, which is exactly what your child will get if they skip count by 2’s 5 times starting at 0. Of course, they can also calculate this quantity by doubling the number, in this case 5.

Start anywhere and go up or down

It is important to keep practicing skip counting by 2’s starting anywhere and going up and down. This practice will be surprisingly helpful for adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. Get used to doing this practice anytime you have a somewhat large collection of things to count.

Even and odd numbers

An even number is one that can be split in half evenly. It is a quantity that two people can share and have nothing left over. The odd numbers are the other numbers, the numbers that cannot be shared evenly. Even numbers are the numbers you get when you skip count by 2’s starting at 0. Odd numbers are the numbers you get when you skip count by 2’s starting at 1.

Skip count by other numbers

If you like, this is a good time to start skip counting by other numbers. Skip counting by 10’s, 11’s, and 5’s are good starting places.