I am an RTLB working across several schools. Our team has heard about Numicon and would like to trial it with some of our students - ages 5 to 14, all with learning needs. They are all behind and need support in their classroom programmes. What should we buy?
Breaking Barriers Teaching Handbook and Apparatus Pack, Intervention CD, and , (one for each RTLB). Follow this link for the book and this link for the apparatus
Breaking Barriers is written for teachers working with students experiencing difficulty with learning. The pages have no photos of children so that they are not offended.
The Numicon Maths Bags are easy to carry around with you and show the family/school support staff how to follow up on the activities following the instructions given on the CD print-outs. Maths Bag link CD print-out link
Breaking Barriers begins pre Level 1 of the NZ curriculum covering patterning, sequencing, counting, concept of number, ordering and sequence of number and what numbers can do up to 10, i.e the FOUNDATION of learning maths. The learning activities take children through to Early Level 2, Stage 5
The Numicon Intervention Programme (NIP) and Big Ideas (BI) are similar in nature to Reading Recovery. Training is required as well as a commitment from a school or service, to be qualified to run this programme.
You find more information at this link for RTLB's
Numicon can be used to illustrate and teach algebraic equations, decimals, ratios, scaling up and down, comparisions, graphs, orienteering skills- it's so versatile!
We are a special school wanting to use Numicon. We have 6 classes with six students in each. We work one-to-one and are not able to leave equipment accessible in a learning centre type of presentation or shelving such as you would find in a regular school. Typically our students do not take any homework activities home with them, however one class of the more able students does. What would you recommend purchasing?
My recommendation is that you initially purchase BREAKING BARRIERS. Contact us for a quote and bespoke support and training.
I am a parent of a child (8) with dyslexia. My child really struggles with maths at school. Her memory for number facts is very low. How can I help her at home?
Numicon is designed for these students primarily!
I know exactly what you mean. My daughter also faced these same issues. She struggled with maths at school because it is mainly mental maths with a lot of emphasis being placed on knowing facts and memory requirements.
Contact us for support.
More ideas:
Firstly, watch the videos and learn from the website and internet searches.
Makes sure that your chlld is confident with:
- Reciting the counting words from 0-100 in various stages and decades and across the decades, backwards too.
- Download the shapes and print them off to put into order from 1-21. Match the words and numerals.
- Download the Gattegno chart to show him how our number system is organised.
- Give him/her real- life problems to talk about with you. These could be- paying the power bill and learning about the amount of power used and during which times of the day. Discuss how the bill is calculated.
- Give your child the ‘big picture’ of the place of maths in our lives.
- Use those same shapes to join together for addition, separate (subtraction), repeat the addtiion for multiplication and the separation for division. Download the number operations poster to help him/her learn the language of maths.
Memorising number facts does not come easy with people who have dyslexia and dyscalculia which your description of your son sounds really classic.
You can more about this at mathlearningdifficulties.com and LDONLINE.org
Don’t panic about the memorising. So many people with dyscalculia learn them in a song or dance routine, painting patterns. Some never memorise them.
Ask him how he learns best and let him set the pace and the way he learns best. It may be quite creative.
The next challenge for him to learn is to work systematically. This is hard for sequence-challenged people. They need the approach of exactly what you are asking: Step 1, Step 2 etc.
My kids are preschoolers. I want to get them ready for school. I was not wonderful at maths myself so do not want them to go through that. What should I buy?
Purchase the First Steps with Numicon at Home kit. You will use the appartus in this kit for all the years your children are at school too. The guide gives you lots of fun activities and games to play together. Follow the activities in the order found in the guide.