My pupil easily forgets her numbers?

Question

Im tutoring a 3 yr old child, who will be turning 4 this august. I was teaching her about the number figures, for a couple of days already, still she cant remember it !,but sometimes, she can identify some certain numbers.. but on the following day, she forgets already. She's totally normal!. I just don't know what seems to be her problem, and what to do with her, for her to remember the number figures. SHe can count already, she just cant identify the figures.

Answer 1

You said it yourself - she's totally normal!!   I can't tell you how many 3 and even 4 year olds don't have the recognition down yet but can count.  It will come - keep making it fun and let her be 3.

Answer 2

"lovepreschool" is absolutely correct.

Answer 3

I remember being in a daycare i had already learned to read and write by 3 yrs old but i was there for almost a year.She will get the hang of it soon though so dont worry too much!!!What you need to do is get some flash cards if you dont already.Then you show the little girl the numbers one-by-one.After that you scramble them up.Tell her to try to put them in order.If she does most of them right give her some time then if she missed some recite the numbers.Keep doing that and it will hopefully work.If it doesnt though then if she isn't already make her watch Dora, Deigo, and all the little kids learning shows. My lil' sis watches Noggin and she sings along with all the songs and counts and all that other stuff!

                                                  Hope she learns her numbers!

                                                    Sincerley,

                                                      Vote 4 John McCain

Answer 4

As you say, she is totally normal.  And she will take more than a couple of days to learn the number figures.   Keep repeating the instruction (well, vary it, but keep teaching the number figures) for several months, and then maybe you can worry that you aren't teaching them right, if she hasn't begun to catch on.  Make little games of it, don't make a big deal of it.

Answer 5

There's a basic rule of education:  The more you try to teach, the less the students learn.  Things have to be discovered on their own or the knowledge does not truly belong to the student.

I have taught this age for 7 years and I hope my idea helps.

The best tool I have seen to help with numeral identification are the sandpaper numerals.  You can find a cheap set on ebay for about $20-$30.  There are more expensive ones out there that are usually better quality, but the cheaper ones should do if you're not in a classroom setting.

The child traces the numeral and, as a result, the child has a sensorial memory of the numbers (beyond visual).  After spending time tracing the numerals, you can begin teaching the names.  There are three steps to this:

1)  Select two or three numerals.  Best to start with 1 and 2 or zero and 1.  Have the child trace them and tell the child the name of the numeral as she traces it.  "This is one.....This is two."  (Use complete sentences like that).

2)  After providing information the information once or twice, it is time to check for recognition of the numeral.  "Point to one.  Point to two.  Hide one behind your back.  Hide two behind your back.  Close your eyes (take one away).  Is that one or two?"  Think about 5 ways to do that and have the student spend time in this period.  At this point, you're still giving the name of the numeral.  It's just to see if she can identify it if she has the name.

3)  Once step 2 is mastered, ask her, "What is this?" as you point to "1."  Ask the same thing for "2."  This time, you're not providing information on the name.  You're just asking her to tell you what it is.  

If, at any point, she messes up, don't worry about it.  Stay in period two and if it looks like she's not going anywhere, quickly end the lesson and thank her and move on.  Never give her the impression she hasn't learned it.  The truth is, she's learning something that we're likely not detecting.  To have her think she's not learning will confuse and frustrate her.

Matt

Answer 6

Why do you want her to memorize numbers? What is the point? It's really a meaningless activity.

Are you qualified to work with preschoolers? Do you know anything about child development? Have you read Piaget? If you are working with children that age, you should know that understanding of numbers doesn't usually develop that early. Of course it does occasionally, but if her brain has not developed the ability to understand the concepts, all the repetition in the world will not make her know them.

If her parents are wanting you to teach her academics, you should share with them that children learn best through play and help them learn about developmentally appropriate practices.

Answer 7

HEY,

I JUST TRIED THIS FOR MY SON AS A GAME.IT WILL REALLY WORK OUT FOR U TOO.

OK TO START WITH JUST CONCENTRATE ON1-5 NUMBERS.IF U USE THIS AS A CARD OR IF U WRITE IT IN A CARD IT WILL BE GREAT.OK TAKE FIVE CARDS WITH  NUMBERS AS 1,2,3,4,5 IN EACH ONE.

JUST PLACE IN RANDOM.U CLOSE YOUR EYES AND ASK HIM TO PICK UP NUMBER 3,THEN 2 LIKE THAT UNTIL HE/SHE IS FAMILIAR WITH 1-5 NO.

THEN  GO AHEAD WITH 6-10.AND FINALLY 1-10.HOPE THIS WILL HELP YOU

THANK YOU

Answer 8

:-)  I tend to agree with lovepreschool.  If she does not have developmental delays...why are they hiring a tutor?  Or is this something like "homeschooled" preschool but the parents' can't be home to homeschool?

2 days is not long enough to remember numbers.  It is very normal for 3 year old/almost 4 year old children to only be able to identify some of the numbers, especially if they haven't had the explorations available from a very young age.  It takes a child's interest as well as fun repetition.  

One of the activities I do is incorporate tactile learning.  I have number cards that have glitter glue traced on the numeral.  The children trace the numeral correctly and either state the name of the numeral if they know it or repeat it after me while they are tracing.  Then we order it from 0-5 or 0-10 and then we use theme related manipulatives.  This shows the "stair steps" of numbers starting at the smallest and going to the largest.

There are a great many of numeral songs and chants and most children love to sing.  This can be done throughout the day.  That way it is not a "lesson".  Many children will back away from "lessons".  

If the child likes to be outside, incorporate numbers outside.  

*  Sidewalk chalk- make a hopscotch or a train track and write the numbers on it.  Make a telephone pad and jump to the numbers in their phone number.

*  Write numerals onto a beach ball with permanent marker and put a sticker on their right thumb.  Toss the ball back and forth and have the child state the number under the stickered thumb.

*  make mud out of a dirt pile and use a stick to write numerals.  Then add the corresponding number of rocks.

* Create an obstacle course with number cards.  Hop through 3 hula hoops.  Jump rope 6 times.  Crawl under the tunnel 1 time.  Etc.

*  Use a wading pool and fill with soapy water.  Put number magnets in the water and provide a magentic fishing pole.  If you have a magnet board you can sort the magnets.

Good luck.

Answer 9

As a preschool teacher i thinks its okey to teach children as early as 3yrs old.. just don't be too strict. Learning  may take time but there's no harm in having an early intervention/ learning's. the suggestion of mattfrmasia (i think) is also effective but addition for that after letting the child trace from the sand paper asked her to write it on the air or use blocks/ clay/ straw/ or any materials that can bend to form numbers and at the same time count the objects... or have her toys lined up and assigned numbers in every toys when you introduced the numbers you can say " Belle (the doll) is number one..." then asked her to traced the numbers can be on the sand paper/ felt paper number or on the air... etc ... It also important to introduced the number one at a time at her age.. take your time since she has a long way to go.... improvised objects or  toys to in letting her identify the numbers or any other subjects/ topics.

Answer 10

A multi-sensory approach works best not just for kids with developmental delays but neurotypicals as well.  Show her a number in a variety of ways.  Practice writing it with chalk.  Draw it.  Make it with playdoh, draw it in sand.  Pick 1 number each day.  The next day pick another number and review the previous day's number.  Give her a choice of only 2 numbers to choose from.  Stick to 1-5 at first.

Answer 11

If she seems  interested there is nothing wrong with trying to teacher numeral identification.  One thing you could try is sand paper numbers or just finger tracing numbers.  With the sand paper numbers you simply cut out the numbers in sand paper.  With plan finger tracing just write on paper and have the child trace slowly with finger while saying the numerals name.

Answer 12

your not training the kid to be a nasa scientist.give it time and make learning numbers fun.games,songs,etc why are the parents getting a tutor for a 3 nearly four year old girl? no offence to you,your just doing your job

Answer 13

try to make it a game or some song or something, it might be easier for her this way =(

Answer 14

Hi,

I want to just comment that please watch a movie "Tare Jamin Par"Its Hindi movie which will help you to make your child learn everything and how to teach a child when they forgets it or get confused...

Answer 15

she is only 3. the answer is constant repetition in a variety of ways. she will get it. showing her flash cards is boring and she is not interested. have her count things with you and show her the number. do calendar with her every day. count the days of the month together. don't force it on her.  just do a lot of different activities with counting that are fun for her.

Answer 16

The child doesn't have a problem:  her parents that have hired a tutor do.  This is totally ridiculous.

Lay off the child.  By working with numbers during a regular day, she will get it when she is ready.  This can be done by counting pots and pans, cans in the pantry and at grocery store, or the number of paychecks her parents are giving you.



She is only 3!  Children this young learn through repetition over time and over and over again.  They don't learn in just a day or two or even a week.

Answer 17

Try getting flash cards with big numbers and animals ! Try making and/or finding songs to help him/her remember them!!

Answer 18

writein on the inside of her backpack.

Answer 19

If you've only been doing it for a few days then there's nothing to worry about it may just be that it takes her a while to understand things of a more abstract nature, it may be that it takes a few times to go into long term memory.

You could try puzzles which have the numbers as the pieces or dot-to-dot pictures. This will help her understand the order of the number symbols as she can already count.

You can also try some match up type games:

You get some cardboard and cut up 20 cards from it.

You then put numbers (dots or something like that) on 10 of them - 0-9 and put the number symbols of 0-9 on the other 10 cards.

You then get her to play match up with them, the aim of the game is to match the number of dots with the correct number symbol.

Answer 20

use animals in the shapes of the numbers it will be fun for her, let her watch Seseme Street they let counting be fun not saying you aren't a good teacher but Seseme Street counts everyday, and the ABC's are added on too caring about others, and sharing everything a little kid love to see, and they have some pretty funny charaters.

Answer 21

3yr olds mostly like fun.so,make a fun way for her to remember.