Five Math Skills Your Child Will Learn in Kindergarten

Five Math Skills Your Child Will Learn in Kindergarten

As your child heads into kindergarten, you’ll be feeling all sorts of emotions. You may be wondering: How can my baby be that old? Is she ready? What exactly is he going to learn in kindergarten?

While kindergarten may have changed since you were a child, it still forms the foundation of your child’s schooling and we wrote earlier about how to prepare for a successful start to the school adventure

In math, students will learn the basics of how numbers work while exploring place value and the concepts of addition and subtraction. 

But there’s no need to figure everything out as your child does - this article will help you get a head start by knowing what to expect. 

In kindergarten your child will learn how to: 

1. Count to 100 

Going into the school year, your child may be able to orally count to 10 or beyond. By the end of kindergarten, expect that counting to advance to 100. But don’t worry, we’re only talking about counting orally. Your kindergartner will not be expected to write all the numbers to 100. 

In most kindergarten classrooms, teachers count the days of school with the children. By counting each day, children gradually become more fluent with bigger and bigger numbers. At the end of 100 days, kindergarten classrooms often have a big celebration with many more opportunities for counting. 

At home: To support your child’s counting skills, encourage your kindergartner to count as high as possible. This is a great task to give your child in the car - or even at bedtime! 

2. Answer “how many?” questions about groups of objects 

As well as counting to 100, kindergartners will be asked to count how many objects are in a group. Students need to be able to physically count objects one at a time, assigning one number to each object as they count. This is a skill called one-to-one correspondence. 

At home: Ask children to tell you how many toys they are playing with and watch how they keep track of each object that is counted. If your kindergartner counts the same object twice or skips an object, encourage another try.

3. Solve basic addition and subtraction problems 

In kindergarten, children start to develop an understanding of addition and subtraction within 10. Kindergartners start by solving problems involving physical objects, and as the year goes on, students learn to draw pictures to represent addition and subtraction problems. They will even begin to solve simple word problems.

At home: Present two groups of blocks (less than 10 in all) and have your child add the blocks together. As your child develops understanding, you can ask simple addition or subtraction problems without using the physical objects as a support. 

4. Understand the numbers 11-19 as a ten plus some ones 

Though it may seem quite advanced, your kindergartner will begin to understand the concept of place value and that position makes some numbers bigger than others - ie get to grips with the idea that 21 is bigger than 12. Students may use place value blocks to be able to “see” how ten ones become a ten. 

At home: When counting blocks or lego bricks at home, make a group of ten. Then add on extra “ones” to make the numbers 11-19. You can even talk about place value when looking at written two-digit numbers. 

5. Name shapes 

Kindergartners will learn about 2D and 3D shapes. They should be able to name different shapes while describing their features. Kindergartners love to recognize shapes in the real world! 

At home: Help your child by having them spot squares, cubes, spheres, rectangles, etc. Challenge your kindergartener to draw pictures using basic 2D shapes, then talk to you about the drawings. Making and continuing shape patterns is another fun way to help engage your kindergartner as they learn about shapes.

Throughout the year, make sure to ask your child about what’s happening in kindergarten math. Give your child an opportunity to teach you by sharing what he or she has learned. Get ready for a fun year in kindergarten! 

Found this useful? Check out our grade by grade math guides from Kindergarten to 5th grade

Written by Lily Jones, Lily loves all things learning. She has been a kindergarten & first grade teacher, instructional coach, curriculum developer, and teacher trainer. She loves to look at the world with curiosity and inspire people of all ages to love learning. She lives in California with her husband, two kids, and a little dog. 

About Komodo – Komodo is a fun and effective way to boost K-5 math skills. Designed for 5 to 11-year-olds to use in the home, Komodo uses a little and often approach to learning math (15 minutes, three to five times per week) that fits into the busy family routine. Komodo helps users develop fluency and confidence in math – without keeping them at the screen for long.

Find out more about Komodo and how it helps thousands of children each year do better at maths – you can even try Komodo for free. 

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