One of the most important things I do when teaching math to children is to relate it to things they are familiar with. Each school and teacher will have a different way of motivating their students according to age, environment, geographical area and interests. Here are a few examples: Addition and Subtraction use everyday manipulatives that students are familiar with (cars, rocks, macaroni, candies, etc.) make up problems using student names or their belongs - personalize it Patterning use beads, fruitloops, blocks sounds, rhymes or stories with a pattern have children look for patterns in their surroundings Graphing real world things (families, pets, birthdays, favorite foods) Time daily plans posted in classroom - 2:00 recess home routines - 8:30 bedtime TV shows, Brownies, hockey practice Money allowance playing store, using flyers buying books, toys, food, clothing Measurement children's height and mass measuring familiar items (desks, clothing, books, classroom, plants) Fractions food, students, objects in class symmetry of real life objects Return to Math Central To return to the previous page use your browser's back button.