MathRiders Starter | Mathriders

MathRiders Starter Ages 2 – 4

Student Age

2-4

Number of Lessons

40 lessons / year

Lesson Length and Frequency

45 minute lesson, once a week

Learning Materials

Student sets with workbooks, mathematical songs, movement, games and activities. Unique large scale “Fun Boards” (to be used in the classroom)

Children are Born Mathematicians!

MathRiders’ youngest learners experience maths through the world around them. Small classes, a warm, nurturing environment and fun learning experiences give children ages 2-4 the perfect interactive introduction to maths!

Maths from Day One
Research has shown that from the earliest stages, babies think about objects, events and people in surprisingly mathematical ways. MathRiders boosts children’s natural skills by providing them with a mathematics-rich environment, encouraging them to reach their full potential.

Maths through Play, Movement and Music
Through play, movement and music, MathRiders builds a solid maths foundation. Learning through play and exploration helps our youngest students develop analytic skills, information processing and improve their natural abilities.

Self-Expression and Leadership
Each child is encouraged to express himself as an individual, as well as part of a group. This expression helps build self-esteem which increases motivation and generates success.

Establishing a Lasting Foundation
The mathematical knowledge that children gain before they begin school can have a significant influence on future performance.

Starter programme courses:

Fun Boards
Maths Basic

Children learn to:

Find mathematics in everyday life
Explore and engage in activities as a way to learn mathematical concepts
Express themselves mathematically with self-confidence

Starter programme mathematical concepts

Number Sense and Operations – Understanding whole numbers and realizing that numbers represent quantity; counting, ordering and comparing as well as addition and subtraction.
Pre-algebra – Identifying, copying and creating patterns and relations.
Geometry and Spatial Sense – Identifying shapes and describing spatial relationships, reading maps, visualizing objects in space, and using geometry to solve problems.
Measurement – Learning how to measure and compare; understanding what a unit is and the concepts of length, weight, temperature, capacity, time, and money.
Data Analysis – Understanding how to organize, compare and interpret data.

For detailed information about MathRiders

Mind map explanation

The Mind Map is a tool invented by Tony Buzan for consolidating ideas and how the brain builds and connects them. Even Leonardo Da Vinci used mapping to chart his ideas! This MathRiders Junior Mind Map gives a holistic view of the elements that make up an actual MathRiders lesson.

Brain jogs (all ages)

Brain Jogs are quick and fun energizing activities that prepare a learner for thinking and coordination skills. Each activity uses movements that cross the midline and connects both brain hemispheres. When the brain hemispheres are connected, the student is able to use right brain creativity and left brain logic simultaneously. It is being proven more and more that an approach which integrates these two different activities of the brain leads to far more effective learning. Brain Jogs bring movement and learning together.

Musical activities: (younger ages)

The children do fun mathematical activities with percussion instruments in order to strengthen mental arithmetic abilities, inventive thinking and group dynamics, as well as non-verbal individual participation.

Hands on: (all ages)

Learning is dynamic for MathRiders Junior students. Students explore and investigate maths through age and developmentally appropriate hands-on activities and games. These include, interlocking cubes, measuring each other’s height using a non-conventional standard of measure (bricks, books or other objects) building a clock, colouring, comparing items, and many different ways to see mathematics in action. Once the hands-on activity has been done, it is time to express it in mathematical terms.

Self-expression: (all ages)

The child expresses himself as an individual as well as part of a group. During the core part of the lesson in which the child examines mathematical problems in a concrete, hands-on manner, he is encouraged to verbally express what he has discovered and to improve his manner of expression. His views and thoughts are respected and thus help build his self-esteem, legitimize his thoughts and strengthen his belief in himself. This, in turn, increases his motivational level, which, in turn, generates success. He verbally expresses the hands-on mathematical activity the group has just done, and together with the teacher, he and the group learn to transform this to ‘real world’ activity into a mathematical exercise on paper.

Written activities: (all ages)

All students, from Levels 1 through 6 have written workbook activities that mirror the lesson activity. The children work in unique workbooks in order to establish and strengthen their abilities and understanding of the numerals as opposed to verbal/mental arithmetic. The teacher is able to confirm that lessons and concepts are absorbed by each student. These written activities balance the lesson; in combining written activities with movement and play, knowledge is retained longer and students successfully learn maths. As the levels progress, students are challenged and receive lots of positive reinforcement to succeed.

Songs and stories

In levels 1 and 2, lessons contain songs relating to counting to help the child remember the basics of maths. Lessons for Levels 1 – 4 often end with a story that: depicts the life of a great mathematician, tells an aspect of the history of maths, or relates to mathematical concepts.

In this way, the child connects to the emotional side of the subject and is able to reflect on yet another facet of the world of mathematics.