Major Focus of Kindergarten Mathematics

Students focus on a variety of topics in kindergarten.  Here are the big ideas we hope all kindergarten students will understand:

• Count to 100 by 1s and by 10s

• Write numbers from 0 to 20

• Count objects to tell how many there are

• Compare two groups of objects to tell which group, if either, has more.

• Act out addition and subtraction word problems and drawing pictures to represent them 

• Add with a sum of 10 or less; subtract from a number 10 or less; and solve addition and subtraction word problems

• Name shapes regardless of orientation or size (e.g., a square oriented as a “diamond” is still a square)

General Resources for Supporting Math at Home

Good Games using simple materials from around the house - click on the link for a document containing 40+ games for fluency practice using simple materials - pencils, paper, paper clips, a deck of cards, and dice.

Pre-made games

Blokus (cooperative version) - ages 5 and up

Guess Who - ages 5 and up

Mancala - ages 5 and up

Rush Hour Jr - ages 5 and up

Tangoes - ages 5 and up (Tangoes Jr has magnetic pieces that can be placed on the designs)

Equilibrio - ages 5 and up

Quirkle - ages 5 and up

Yahtzee - ages 5 and up

Kingdomino - ages 6 and up

Latice - ages 6 and up

Mobi - ages 6 and up

Monopoly - ages 6 and up

Patchwork - ages 6 and up

Rummikub - ages 6 and up

Set - ages 6 and up (can be played with a simpler deck by choosing only 1 shading)

Sorry - ages 6 and up

Uno - ages 6 and up

Read

If you’re reading a picture books together talk about the math you see.  mathicalbooks.org - has lists of books with math related themes for kids aged 2 to 18..

Other Good Activities

Cook together - A great way to work on counting and a good way to introduce fractions!

Talk with your kids about mathematics - Christopher Danielson, a mathematics professor and parent, has a great website with ideas for talking with kids ages 1-9 about mathematics http://talkingmathwithkids.com/ 

Family Support Materials for Illustrative Mathematics 

Mathematics program used in the classroom

Illustrative Mathematics' Family Support website has materials to support families of kindergarten to Grade 6 students.  Families can watch overview videos explaining each unit (with subtitles in English and Spanish) and read Family Letters for each unit, translated into 14 different languages.