Numeracy Boost

Toolkit
General Overview

©2012 Save the Children

 Table of Contents

Background and Goals 3

Overview 4

Frequently Asked Questions 6

Recommendations for Implementation 8

Monitoring and Evaluation 10

Community Action Component 12

Math Camps 12

Math at Home 16

Family Math Days 19

Appendix A: Key Understandings of Math Domains for Grades K-2 22

Appendix B: Reinforcing Activities 24

Appendix C: “How to” Guide on book creation 32

Appendix D: Materials List 38

Appendix E: Take Home Calendar for Parents 43

Appendix F: Certificate of Participation in Family Math Day 44

Appendix G: Project Monitoring Tools 45

References 51

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 Background and Goals

Why Numeracy?
Recent research has shown that early exposure to math concepts, activities, ideas, and ‘math talk’
positively impacts later school achievement (Levine, 2010). Research has also shown that children’s early
math knowledge is linked to later school performance and is an even greater predictor of later school
success than early literacy abilities (Duncan, 2007). Save the Children’s own assessment results from
Literacy Boost programs in Nepal and Malawi show that children are achieving learning gains not only in
literacy but also in numeracy as they participate in the Literacy Boost interventions. Most importantly,
mastery of mathematics skills and concepts is important for children and adults to function in
communities, work, and daily life.

Math Inside and Outside the Classroom

As with Literacy Boost, the Numeracy Boost intervention is implemented both inside and outside the
classroom. Using research conducted on math teaching and learning, input from experts in the field, and
participation from Country office staff, the Numeracy Boost intervention includes a Teacher Training
Toolkit to help strengthen teachers’ math skills and a Community Action Component which provides
children, families and the entire community opportunities to practice math in a fun way outside the
classroom. By focusing on improving classroom teaching practices and engaging families in helping
children learn and understand key math concepts, the Numeracy Boost intervention validates research
that states that children need both explicit and direct instruction by teachers and time to explore and play
through math games and activities to strengthen their math understanding (Ginsberg, Lee and Boyd,
2008).

Goals
The activities in the Community Action Component of Numeracy Boost aim to:
1. Strengthen children’s basic math skills in the early grades (KG, 1 and 2)
2. Illustrate that math is useful and has relevance to everyday life

The Math Camp sessions for children and Math at Home sessions for parents and other family members
use games and activities to teach important and fundamental math concepts like counting, addition,
shape recognition and measurement. Facilitators make links to the ways these skills are used in everyday
situations, showing the utility of math in our everyday world.

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 Overview
How does it work?
Numeracy Boost is based on the Literacy Boost model: student assessment, teacher training, and
community action. Numeracy Boost will assess students in grade 2 on the math that they know,
strengthen teachers’ skills through a series of trainings focusing on three core domains in mathematics-
Number and Operations, Geometry and Measurement-and involve the entire community in math-based
activities that expose all people in the life of the child to the importance and use of math.

Student Assessment
A literature review of methods and tools for measuring early grades numeracy skills was conducted to
learn about the different ways to assess young children’s early grades math skills. Based on this review,
the Basic Education Research Team decided on an assessment approach that combined traditional
assessment-straightforward testing of children’s knowledge and skills, with authentic assessment-
identifying the strategies children use to solve problems. This hybrid approach to assessment was then
applied toward the conceptual math areas targeted by the Numeracy Boost intervention – Number and
Operations, Measurement, and Geometry. Using the Research Triangle Institute (RTI)-developed Early
Grade Math Assessment (EGMA) tool as a model, the research team developed an assessment consisting
of sub-tests including oral counting, one-to-one correspondence, number identification, quantity
discrimination, missing numbers, addition & subtraction, word problems, shapes, measurement, and time.

Another component of the student assessment is the use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to collect,
record, and store data. PDAs are portable devices which act like small computers and can store
information, connect to the internet, and have recording and playback capabilities. The Numeracy Boost
assessment will be entered into these PDAs through the RTI-developed early grade assessment software
Tangerine. Using an electronic data collection system has many advantages -it is more time efficient than
the traditional paper and pencil method, there is less chance of human error in entering and coding
student responses, and all data collected is automatically entered into a database that is accessible from
almost anywhere. Learnings from the Numeracy Boost assessments will help Save the Children determine
whether this method of data collection should be instituted across all programs.
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Teacher Training
Although specific learning outcomes for children in the early grades vary from country to country, there
are some universal areas within mathematics that children in the first few years of school learn (NAEYC
and NCTM, 2002 and NCTM, 2000). The Numeracy Boost intervention will focus on three of these areas:
Number and Operations, Geometry, and Measurement. Topics within these three areas include counting
and place value, addition and subtraction, shape identification and composition, and understanding units
and tools of measurement. Information on Key Understandings for students in Grades K-2 within each of
these areas can be found in Appendix A.

Teachers will attend sessions once a month and the topics they will be trained on will align with what they
are teaching in the classroom. The sessions will help teachers think about math in a different way, teach
them strategies to help their students learn these concepts, and show how math is useful and a necessary
component of everyday life. Teachers will work together in groups to plan lessons, reflect on their
practice as teachers, and share experiences about their teaching with one another.

In between the sessions, field facilitators with the support of staff from the local education ministries and
training colleges, will provide mentoring, support and feedback to the teachers on their lessons. The
ultimate goal of the Numeracy Boost teacher training sessions is to help teachers in the early primary
grades ensure that students understand foundational math concepts, have the skills to apply them in a
number of different situations, and can see the usefulness of math in their everyday lives.

Community Action

Young children are keenly aware of mathematical concepts from a very young age. Ideas of more and
less, shape and size are essential components of a young child’s cognition and they usually develop
without being taught ‘directly’ (Baroody, Lai, and Mix, 2006). The community action sessions provide
opportunities for children and their parents to practice math skills in fun and useful ways-working in
cooperative groups, using manipulatives, and solving practical problems. The sessions also strengthen
the link between what is being taught in the classroom and what’s happening at home. And the
opportunity to practice refining math skills in a relaxed atmosphere is helpful for all children to develop
the confidence in themselves that is so critical in being successful at school.

During the Math Camp sessions for children, trained facilitators will use math based story books and an
accompanying Facilitator’s Guide to discuss key math concepts. Children will attend Math Camp after
school hours, in a space designated by the community. The 90 minute session includes a warm up
activity, a read aloud, and a game to reinforce the concept being discussed. Sessions will end with
children playing a ‘mental math’ game which helps builds children’s abilities in number recognition and
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identification and addition and subtraction. Additional sessions can be developed by country office staff
in consultation with the baseline assessment to reflect the areas that children need most support in.

Math at Home sessions for parents are nine 60-minute sessions that are designed to reinforce math
concepts for children in grades 1 and 2. Trained facilitators will use the Math at Home calendar and the
accompanying Facilitator’s Guide to conduct awareness sessions for parents and other caregivers. Each
session will discuss key topics within the core domains of Number and Operations, Geometry and
Measurement and facilitators will share fun and simple activities that parents can try at home to help
develop children’s skills in each domain, explain why these skills are important, share questions they can
ask to extend the learning in each activity, and share other similar everyday activities they can try. Parents
will also receive a take home calendar which lists the activities they are to do each month. Shapes,
symbols and pictures remind parents the steps involved in each activity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are some responses to questions you may have about Numeracy Boost:

1. Is there a separate training for staff on Numeracy Boost?

Yes. All country offices implementing numeracy boost will receive training on the 3 components
of Numeracy Boost-Student Assessment, Teacher Training and Community Action. TA visits will
be scheduled in consultation with the country office to determine the best dates for these visits.
2. Can the same staff who implement Literacy Boost activities also implement Numeracy Boost
activities?
It would be ideal if programs can use current Literacy Boost staff to also implement Numeracy
Boost activities. Because Numeracy Boost activities will in most cases be implemented in sites that
are currently implementing Literacy Boost, it should be possible for staff to manage these
activities. However, it is recommended to assign at least one staff member solely to coordinate
Numeracy Boost activities, particularly in the first year.
3. Is there a student assessment component to Numeracy Boost?
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 Yes. A numeracy assessment tool has been developed to gauge what math knowledge students
in Numeracy Boost schools already have. The assessment will be given to students in Grade 2 and
will cover areas like counting, number recognition, simple addition and subtraction, and
measurement and geometry. An endline will also be conducted on the same children using the
same tool as in the baseline.
4. How many teacher training sessions are there?
The Numeracy Boost Teacher Training Toolkit includes 5 sessions covering the domains of
Number and Operations, Geometry and Measurement. These five sessions have been developed
to last a full day and should be implemented monthly, with time for teachers to receive follow-up
support and feedback in their classrooms as they implement what they have learned during the
sessions. The Recommendations for Implementation section provides more details on organizing
Numeracy Boost teacher training sessions.
5. Can I implement Literacy and Numeracy Boost in the same site?
Yes. Numeracy Boost has been developed to complement Literacy Boost activities. Teacher
training and community action activities have been designed to fit into the current Literacy Boost
teacher and community activities. However, Numeracy Boost can also be implemented on its
own.
6. How can the Ministry of Education (MoE) be involved in Numeracy Boost activities?
It would be very important to achieve the buy-in and support of the MoE for Numeracy Boost.
Plan to have a meeting with members of the local or national level MoE and share Numeracy
Boost materials with them. Explain the objectives of the program, and ask them for their
participation. MoE officials from teacher training colleges and local resource centers or district
offices can participate in material creation, training, mentoring, and in designing community
activities and conducting community awareness sessions. At the culmination of the Numeracy
Boost cycle, a lessons learned workshop can be conducted where results of the student
assessment can be shared and further discussions about math, Numeracy Boost, the national
curriculum, etc. can be had.
7. Why does Numeracy Boost only focus on early grades math?
Students require a strong foundation in basic math skills to be able to understand and handle
more advanced math concepts. Results from a few of our Literacy Boost sites who also
implemented a math assessment showed that children in second and third grade were still
struggling with many of these basic concepts, like addition and subtraction, recognizing and
identifying numbers, and doing word problems. Unless students build their skills in these key
areas, later subjects will still be difficult for them. It is for these reasons we are focusing our
attention on the early grades.
8. Our students struggle with more advanced math concepts like fractions and multiplication.
How does Numeracy Boost help with those topics?
Numeracy Boost focuses on building a strong foundation in basic math skills. Topics like number
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 sense and place value, addition and subtraction are prerequisites for understanding more
advanced topics like fractions and multiplication. And it isn’t enough for students to memorize
basic facts. They need to have a strong conceptual understanding of these topics as well. This
conceptual understanding grows with practice and with good teaching. Numeracy Boost helps
teachers explain to students the relationships between math concepts, and provides them ways to
strengthen students’ skills through the use of math materials, games, activities, and discussion. A
strong foundation is key for later math success.
9. How was the content for the Numeracy Boost teacher training sessions developed?
Many resources were consulted in developing the Numeracy Boost teacher training sessions.
Experts in the field of mathematics-graduate school professors, elementary school teachers, and
math teacher trainers-shared their knowledge and experience in developing trainings for math
teachers. Country office staff looked at the math standards and curricula for their country and
provided feedback on the content that children in the early grades need to know. Analysis of
math assessments conducted by Save the Children countries provided information on the types of
skills students struggled with. Recommendations from the US based National Council for
Teachers of Mathematics and Common Core State Standards for Math provided guidance on the
topics trainings should focus on. All of these resources combined led to the development of the
teacher training toolkit. For more information on the Key Understandings covered in the teacher
training toolkit please refer to Appendix A.
10. Our teachers understand math very well. How will Numeracy Boost benefit them?
Most teachers teach the way they have been taught. Particularly when it comes to math, teachers
rely on strategies that they themselves are not clear about, but because this was how they were
taught, they continue using them. And not all students learn the same way. Some pick up a
concept after hearing the teacher explain it once, others need to see a written example, and
others still need to work with materials to make a concept really make sense. Numeracy Boost
helps teachers think about how students learn math. Through discussion, exploring math
materials, and engaging in math games and activities, teachers begin to see the links between
subjects, develop a stronger conceptual understanding of mathematics, and find the most
effective way of explaining math concepts to their students. These skills benefit all teachers,
especially those that have strong math knowledge.

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 Recommendations for Implementation
Numeracy Boost has been designed to complement Literacy Boost activities and both teacher training
and community action components have a high degree of flexibility, to allow for country offices to
experiment with the most effective way to implement these in their contexts. Therefore, there is no one
‘correct’ way to implement Numeracy Boost. Each country office will vary in their implementation
method depending on the size and scale of projects, whether Literacy Boost is already being
implemented in your context, and resources available.

The guidelines below will help you as you plan for Numeracy Boost.

1. Student Assessment
The Numeracy Boost assessment is targeted towards students in Grade 2 and takes about 2 hours to
administer. For programs that implement both Literacy and Numeracy Boost, it would be best to conduct
both baseline and endline assessments simultaneously. This would increase the time required to conduct
the assessment but would be the best use of resources, decrease burden on students, and make data
processing and analysis much more cohesive.

For programs that are only implementing Numeracy Boost, the student assessment should be conducted
prior to any teacher training or community action activities. A training will be provided on the tool and
use of any technology to implement it by a member of the Basic Education Research team.

2. Teacher Training
Five sessions have been developed for teachers participating in Numeracy Boost. These five sessions last
approximately 5 hours and align with topics that teachers are teaching in their classrooms. What this
means in terms of implementation is that country office staff must work with the head teachers of the
schools where Numeracy Boost is being implemented and get an idea of dates that certain topics will be
taught in the classroom. Based on these dates, the Numeracy Boost sessions should be scheduled, so
that teachers receive training on a topic before they teach that topic in their classrooms. All Numeracy
Boost sessions should begin with Session 1-the Introductory session.

It is possible for programs that will be implementing both Literacy and Numeracy Boost activities at the
same site to create a training schedule that includes both Numeracy and Literacy sessions. The sample
below is just an example but should provide you with an idea of how both activities can be implemented.

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 Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month Month 8 Month 9
7
LB Intro, LK, Form. Reading Reading Vocab and
Form. Asses. Part Fluency Comp. Conclusion
Assess. 2 and
Part 1 Phonemic
Awareness
NB Intro and Numbers Geometry Measure- Conclusion
Numbers and ment
and Operations
Operations Part 2
Part 1

3. Community Activities
There are 3 different types of community activities that have been designed for Numeracy Boost: Math
Camps for students, Math at Home sessions for parents and Family Math Days for the entire community.
With some careful planning and consultation of the math syllabus for the year, these sessions can be
integrated into your Literacy Boost community activities. The sample planning calendar from the
Bangladesh country office lays out their Literacy Boost community activities for the year. Numeracy Boost
community action activities have been added in yellow to show you how these activities can be aligned
and planned.

Jan. Feb March April May June July Aug Sept

Comm. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Reading Break

Awareness
Workshop
for parents
Math at N N N N G G M M M
Home O O O O Break 1 2 1 2 3
1 2 3 4
sessions
for parents
Reading 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2
Camps 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Reading
Buddies
Math 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Camps
NO= Number and Operation G=Geometry M=Measurement

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4. Staff Training
Staff must be familiar with not just the structure and logistics of Numeracy Boost but also with its
content. In planning for Numeracy Boost, country office staff will need to set aside time for a TA visit by
the country’s TA. This TA visit will include a five day TOT which will cover the content of the teacher
training toolkit, giving country office staff, and especially those who will be involved in training other staff
or teachers familiarity with the content of the intervention. Additionally, the TA will work with county
office staff in developing implementation plans for both numeracy and literacy activities, assist with
adaptation of math story books and other materials, and provide overviews on the community action
components of Numeracy Boost.

Monitoring and Evaluation

To ensure that all of the components of the Numeracy Boost intervention are running smoothly, it will be
essential to track activities and collect information from various sources. Several tools have been
developed to assist in this process. The tools are to be used by math camp facilitators and by the SC staff
member who is tasked with overseeing community activities related to Numeracy and/or Literacy Boost.
Depending on the staffing structure in your CO, these forms will be collected by an SC field officer and
sent to the Monitoring and Evaluation team who will record and enter the data into their M&E systems.
CO teams will need to review the tools to ensure relevance in their context, edit as necessary and
translate into the local language. A description of the tool, who collects the information and how often
this information is collected is provided below. Tool templates are provided in Appendix H.

1. Math Camp Student Attendance Record

Tool filled out by: Math Camp Facilitator
Frequency: Every Session
Purpose: To track student attendance

2. Math Camp Facilitator Feedback Form

Tool filled out by: Math Camp Facilitator

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Frequency: After each Math Camp session
Purpose: To improve math camp activities and structure

3. Math Camp Observation and Evaluation Form

Tool filled out by: SC staff member
Frequency: First, third and last sessions
Purpose: To ensure a high level of quality in math camp activities and facilitator capability

4. Math at Home Facilitator Feedback Form

Tool filled out by: Math at Home Facilitator
Frequency: After each Math at Home session
Purpose: To improve math camp activities and structure

5. Math at Home Observation and Evaluation Form

Tool filled out by: SC staff member
Frequency: First, fifth and last sessions
Purpose: To ensure a high level of quality in math at home activities and facilitator capability

6. Family Math Day Tracking Sheet

Tool filled out by: SC Staff Member

Frequency: After Family Math Day
Purpose: To keep a record of the type of Family Math Day activities implemented and
number of community members who attend

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 Community Action-Students, Families, Community
The information in this section will help you become more familiar with the three types of community
action activities developed for Numeracy Boost: Math Camps for children, Math at Home sessions for
parents and families, and Family Math Days for the entire community. This section provides an
introduction to these activities. Separate Facilitator’s Guides for the Math Camps and Math at Home
activities include more detailed and specific information on implementation of these components of the
Community Action intervention. Detailed information for implementing Family Math Days is provided on
page 17.

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1. Math Camps
Objective and participation
The Numeracy Boost Math Camp sessions provide an additional space for children to practice and
strengthen math skills. Working on these skills outside of school relieves children of the pressure of the
classroom and allows them to explore math concepts in a familiar, safe and relaxed environment.

Each math camp session should have no more than 25 children. In some contexts it will be necessary to
conduct multiple math camp sessions (or to train more facilitators) to keep the number of children
manageable. It is important to maintain small group sizes so children can get the maximum benefit from
the math camps.

Although math camp sessions have been designed to target children in Grades 1 and 2, it may be that
children older and younger than this age want to attend the camp. The priority should be for children in
grades 1 and 2 to attend the camp. If there is space once all children in these grades from a community
have been accounted for, it would then be at the discretion of the staff to allow other children to
participate. Keep in mind that the presence of older children at the camp may intimidate some of the
youngsters, and if very young children attend, they may cause distractions and disruptions.

Adaptation tip: Encourage older students to participate in math camps as ‘helpers’. A schedule can
be created where each session one student ‘helper’ is enlisted to assist the math camp facilitator.
These ‘helpers’ can assist with a variety of tasks-from distributing materials to working one on one with
children. They will one day be future math camp facilitators! If younger siblings want to attend,
encourage parents to bring them and sit nearby. This way parents are also aware of what is happening
during the camps, and younger siblings can benefit from the social interaction.

Training and Staff

Because Math Camp sessions are meant to complement Literacy Boost Reading Camp sessions, the same
community facilitator who leads the Reading Camp sessions can run Math Camp sessions as well. For
those programs that have not implemented Literacy Boost, new community facilitators must be identified.
The following criteria will help select appropriate candidates to run the math camp sessions:
 There should be at least 2 facilitators per camp and when possible, 1 female and 1 male
 Local community members, well known, reliable, preferably having finished secondary school
 Should live within the communities they serve
 Not necessary but helpful if facilitators enjoy math!

The facilitators are normally volunteers; however, if funding permits, the country office may wish to
consider providing a stipend. The following are the responsibilities of the Math Camp facilitator:

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  Will be responsible for facilitating Math Camp activities, using a curriculum guide and materials
 Will assist in informing parents about Numeracy Boost activities and encouraging their children’s
participation

Community facilitators should attend the 5 teacher training sessions planned for teachers to help them
better understand the content of Numeracy Boost. In addition to attending the 5 teacher training
sessions, a separate one-day training will also need to be developed and scheduled to orient the
facilitators to the goals and objectives of Numeracy Boost, as well as the structure and materials of the
Math Camp. This one day orientation should include the following topics:
 Using the Math Camp Facilitator’s Guide
 Understanding and using the materials in the math toolkit
 Roles and responsibilities of a Math Camp facilitator
 Math Camp administration (tracking attendance, etc.).
 Norms, rules and behaviors for campers and facilitators

Adaptation Tip: Although it would be best for the community facilitators to attend the Numeracy
Boost teacher training sessions with the teachers, this may not be logistically possible for all contexts.
Alternatives to this are creating short, focused sessions for facilitators from the Teacher Training Toolkit.
Important sessions from the teacher training toolkit include Sessions 1, 2 and 3.

Structure and Implementation

Math Camp sessions have been developed to align closely with the Literacy Boost Reading Camp sessions.
Each Math Camp session is 90 minutes long and includes a read aloud of a math story book, followed by
small group activities to reinforce the math concept being addressed. A snapshot of a typical session
with an explanation of each activity is below:

Time Activity Description

15 minutes Attendance circle and The attendance activity will be used to build children’s
graph counting, addition, sorting and graphing skills. All children’s
names will be written on a chart and as each child arrives,
he/she puts identifies his/her name with a colored marker.
Numbers of boys, girls and the total group are added up and
listed on a data table and these numbers are represented on a
bar graph as well. At each math camp session, the facilitator
will show children the bar graph and note differences in
attendance from week to week, asking questions to facilitate
discussion around the variations, probing to find out why, and
making predictions on what the following week will look like.
20 minutes Read aloud The facilitator will introduce the topic being studied and the
book that will be used to discuss the topic. Before reading the
story out loud, the facilitator will ask questions to engage the

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 children, as well as to scaffold their understanding. The
facilitator will ask questions during the story to gauge
understanding and to allow children to anticipate and think out
loud, and will wrap up the story with further questions to gauge
comprehension and understanding of the concept.
30 minutes Reinforcing activity Each math story will end with an activity that children will play
in groups, pairs or individually to reinforce that concept. All
activities will involve students discussing the concept with their
group mates, using manipulatives to solve problems, writing or
drawing out responses and making presentations on their work.
Reinforcing Activities can be found in Appendix B.
20 minutes Reflection and During the reflection, the facilitator will tie together the story
discussion and activity to the math content that was introduced. The
group will discuss how this concept relates to their lives.
5 minutes Mental math In this wrap up activity, the facilitator asks math questions
verbally to help build children’s mental math skills. Each
question builds on the previous one and children have to
remember what was asked before to come up with a final
answer. Steps in the activity ask children to identify numbers,
do basic addition and subtraction, and identify geometrical
shapes.

This similarity in structure to the Reading Camp sessions makes it easy for Math Camp sessions to be
integrated into the current Reading Camp session cycle. Country office staff will need to determine where
each math camp session will fit in, as these sessions will need to align with what is currently being taught
in the classroom. For example, Math Camp session 1 focuses on counting. This session should be
conducted at the beginning of the year, as this topic is normally one of the first to be taught during the
school year. Session 6, on the other hand, discusses the idea of money, and is most likely not addressed
in the classroom until later in the year. All of these considerations will have to be made at the country
level, in consultation with what is being taught in the classroom.

Adaptation tip: It would be helpful to involve the teachers in developing Reading and Math camp
cycle for the year. Teachers will be able to advise on when a particular math topic will be taught during
the year and when it would be best to have the corresponding Math Camp session.

Eight sessions have been developed, addressing topics within Number and Operations, Geometry, and
Measurement as described below. The Math Camp Facilitator’s Guide includes detailed sessions plans for
each of the sessions described below:
Session Number Domain/Topic Objective

One Number and Operations/Counting Developing counting

skills to ten.
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 Two Number and Operations/Place Value Placement of digits in a
number is deliberate
and each digit has a
specific value.
Three Measurement/Length Children will learn about
length by comparing
heights of different
people
Four Measurement/Length Using non-standard
objects to learn about
measurements
Five Measurement/Length Using standard objects
to learn about
measurements
Six Operations/Money Using money to
understand basic
addition and
subtraction operations
Seven Geometry/Shapes Understanding the
properties of common,
regular shapes.
Eight Geometry/Shapes Putting together and
taking shapes apart

Adaptation tip: These eight sessions have been developed to provide a starting point for country
offices to launch Math Camps. Country offices can and should add more topics and create more math
based story books to enhance the math camp sessions, anticipating topics that students need further
support in and developing topics that go beyond grade 2.

Material Development
The key teaching tool in the Math Camp sessions is the math story book. For each of the eight sessions
above, a specific math story book has been developed by math experts. Each book also includes a
Teaching Guide that provides questions the facilitator can ask before, during and after the read aloud.

Adaptation tip: The math story books are a key feature of the Math Camps. All of the books will
require adaptation-ensuring cultural relevance through appropriate language and objects used in the
books, engaging a local artist to illustrate the books to be in line with cultural norms and expectations,
and translating the books into the local language(s). It is highly encouraged to enlist the support of
staff from the various Ministries of education in this adaptation process. Additionally, it is encouraged
that country offices grow this library of math story books and develop additional unique titles to fit
their context and needs.
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Students will practice the math concept being discussed in Math Camps through an activity that will be
played in a small group or in pairs. The full list of these activities, as well as instructions on how play and
materials required can be found in Appendix B.

A math toolkit of materials will also be used in the Math Camps by the facilitators. Materials in this toolkit
will include general supplies like flipcharts and markers, paper and pencils, scotch tape, and a math
journal and pencils for each child. The trunk will also include math specific materials that children will use
to develop their skills in number, geometry, and measurement. Most of these math materials will be
commercially available in the local markets. Other items from everyday use can be collected by country
office staff (bottle tops, sticks, stones, leaves) and for those items not commercially available, instructions
will be provided to make these. Types of materials that will be included in the math trunk are:
 Items for sorting, counting, and addition: buttons, beads, counters, stones, sticks, and
shells
 Items used for measurement activities: string, rulers, tape measures
 Items for geometric understanding: blocks, 2-D shapes, rubber bands
 General math materials: number cards, number counters, number line, 100s chart
The full list of materials required for the Numeracy Boost Math Camp sessions can be found in Appendix
E.

2. Math at Home
Objective and participation
The Numeracy Boost Math at Home sessions for parents and other caregivers is designed for family
members-parents, grandparents, older siblings, aunts and uncles-to do together at home with their
young children. The activities reinforce the foundational math topics that children learn in the classroom
and show that math is useful, relevant to everyday life, and most importantly, can be enjoyed and done
by all. By participating in math activities with their young children, family members validate the
importance math and education play in a child’s life, create a bond with their children, and have fun
together.

Math at Home sessions should target the parents and other key caregivers (grandparents, aunts of uncles,
older siblings) of the children attending Math Camp sessions. Other key members of the community, like
leaders of the community mosque, the head teacher of the local schools, and others can also attend. In
order to make the sessions most useful for the participants, a maximum of 30 should participants should
be maintained.

Training and Staff

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Because Math at Home sessions target parents, it is important that the facilitator is someone that parents
can trust and who is seen favorably by other community members. This position can be filled by the same
community facilitator who has been conducting Reading Awareness workshops for parents. For those
programs that have not implemented Literacy Boost, new community facilitators must be identified. The
following criteria will help select appropriate candidates to run the Math at Home sessions:
 There should be at least 2 facilitators per camp and when possible, 1 female and 1 male
 Preferable slightly older than Math Camp facilitators, with children in the early grades (KG, 1 and
2)
 Should live within the communities they serve
 Not necessary but helpful if facilitators enjoy math!

Adaptation tip: If it is not possible to enlist community members to conduct the Math at Home
sessions for parents, country office staff can also use their Community Mobilization Officers (or other
similar type of staff member) to conduct these sessions, in addition to their regular activities that
involve overseeing community projects.

Responsibilities of a Math at Home session facilitator include:

 Works with Community Mobilization Officers to conduct awareness raising sessions on numeracy with
community
 Conducts Math at Home sessions for parents using an established guide and materials
 Assists the Community Mobilization Officer to develop agenda and content for 2 family math days
with input from community

The facilitators are normally volunteers; however, if funding permits, the country office may wish to
consider providing a stipend.

Math at Home facilitators should attend the 5 teacher training sessions planned for teachers to help them
better understand the content of Numeracy Boost. In addition to attending the 5 teacher training
sessions, a separate one-day training will also need to be developed and scheduled to orient the
facilitators to the goals and objectives of Numeracy Boost, as well as the structure and materials of the
Math at Home sessions. This one day orientation should include the following topics:
 Using the Math at Home Calendar and Facilitator’s Guide
 Understanding and using the materials in the math toolkit
 Roles and responsibilities of a Math at Home facilitator
 Math at Home administration (tracking attendance, etc.).
 Norms, rules and behaviors for participants and facilitators

Adaptation Tip: Although it would be best for the community facilitators to attend the Numeracy

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 Boost teacher training sessions with the teachers, this may not be logistically possible for all contexts.
Alternatives to this are creating short, focused sessions for facilitators from the Teacher Training Toolkit.

Structure and Implementation

Trained facilitators will use the Math at Home calendar and an accompanying Facilitator’s Guide to
conduct awareness sessions for parents and other caregivers. Nine sessions lasting 60 minutes each, have
been designed to reinforce math concepts for children in grades 1 and 2. Each session will discuss key
topics within the core domains of Number and Operations, Geometry and Measurement and facilitators
will share fun and simple activities that parents can try at home to help develop children’s skills in each
domain, explain why these skills are important, share questions they can ask to extend the learning in
each activity, and share other similar everyday activities they can try. Parents will also receive a take
home calendar which lists the activities they are to do each month. The Math at Home Take Home
Calendar for parents can be found in Appendix F.

Activities in Math at Home focus on developing skills in each of the three domains that children learn
about in the early years. The following table lists the domain and the name of the activity that develops
that skill:

Number and Operations Geometry Measurement

Clap, jump, count! How many circles? Step it out!
Pass the ball! Making shapes Water in my cup
Skip count Time it!
Add it up!

The Facilitator’s Guide will include details on how to conduct each session, what materials are required
and how to use the calendar. A snapshot of a typical session from the Facilitator’s Guide with an
explanation of each activity is below:

Time Activity Description

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 15 minutes Welcome and sharing The facilitator will welcome all parents to the session and will remind
parents of the activity from the previous session. Parents who feel
comfortable can share their experience playing the activity with their
children with the group. The facilitator will address any questions
that arise.

15 minutes Introduction of new topic During this time, the facilitator will use the Math at Home calendar
to show parents the picture for the current activity, explain the
concept briefly and go over the types of skills the concept addresses.
20 minutes Demonstration of new The facilitator will explain the new activity that parents will try at
activity home with their children. He/she will have 2 participants
demonstrate the activity and the group will brainstorm questions
they can ask to extend the activity. The facilitator will ask
participants other similar activities they can play and share a few
other activities they can also try.
10 minutes Reflection and wrap up The facilitator will take questions and make sure all participants
understand the new concept and activity.

Adaptation tip: To make the most of parents’ busy schedules, Math at Home sessions should be
arranged at a time that is most convenient for parents. This may be in the evening or on a weekend.
Additionally, Math at Home sessions can be arranged before or after community events like PTA
meetings for example, that parents are already planning on attending.

To be most useful to the child, the Math at Home activities should align with what children are currently
studying in school. Therefore, education staff in the country office will need to look at the math
curriculum of their schools and develop a schedule for when each topic will be delivered, ensuring that
what is being taught in the classroom is linked to what parents are practicing with children in their
homes.

Adaptation tip: There is no one ‘correct’ way to implement Math at Home sessions. All nine sessions
do not have to be implemented; however it is advised that at least two sessions per domain be
implemented, for a total of 6 sessions. Sessions also do not have to be implemented in the order of
the Facilitator’s Guide. In fact, sessions should be delivered based on what is being taught in the child’s
classroom. This will look different in every context. Country office staff are advised to work with
teachers in developing the schedule for the Math at Home sessions, to ensure topics are aligned from
classroom to the home.

Material Development
The materials required for the Math at Home sessions include the Math at Home Calendar, the Facilitator’s

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Guide and the Take Home Calendar for parents. The Take Home Calendar for parents can be found as in
Appendix F. The Math at Home Calendar and Facilitator’s Guide will be sent electronically to country
offices.

Additionally, each Math at Home session will require some materials from the math toolkit. Specific
materials, quantities for each, and how to use them are detailed in the Math at Home Facilitator’s Guide.

3. Family Math Days

Objective and participation
Family Math Days are events that are held once or two times a year, similar to Literacy Boost’s Read-a-
thon and Reading Festival where the entire community participates in a fun math activity which shows the
relevance of math in everyday life. Community members participate in hands on math activities that
show that math is all around us. All members of the community can participate, especially children ages
6-8 and their parents.

Training and Staff

Family Math Days are to be planned at the country level by staff involved in implementing Numeracy
Boost activities. Math at Home and Math Camp facilitators as well as classroom teachers can also be
involved in the planning process.

Depending on the activity designed, staff members will undergo an orientation to the activity to ensure
everyone understands the goals and objectives as well as how the activities must be run. One staff
member at each Family Math Day site is to be identified as the project lead with 4-5 additional staff
members (these can also be partner NGO staff, MoE officials, or volunteers) to assist in the set-up,
organization, and implementation of these activities.

Structure and Implementation

Family Math Days should be implemented on a day where members of the community have free time,
ideally a weekend or a holiday. Country offices can plan one or two events in the year. Possible
suggestions are:
 Once at the end of the year to coincide with the culmination of teacher trainings and community
activities.
 Once during the middle of the year and once again at the end of the year.
 Once during the middle of the year.

Family Math Day events should be held in an area large enough to accommodate the community.
Possible spaces can be the courtyard of a school or mosque, a sports field, or an individual’s home if the
space is large enough. Each event should last about two hours. A sample schedule for Family Math Day
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is below:

10:00-10:15am Welcome speech from a Save the Children staff member, or a Math at Home or
Math
Camp facilitator. The speaker can thank participants for this support of
Numeracy Boost-
attending today, sending their children to Math Camp sessions and for
participating in the
Math at Home sessions. He/she can explain what Family Math Days are and how
the day’s
activity is meant to showcase the central role math plays in our lives.

10:15-10:30am Explanation of the day’s activities and the skills developed.

10:30-11:00am The community participates in the activity and

11:00-11:30am Staff members link the activity to the everyday world, ask follow-up questions,
allow
participants to ask questions.

11:30-11:45am Some participants are called on the stage to share their experience, something
new they
learned, and how they can try the activity at home.

11:45-12:00pm Participants are presented with a certificate (one per family) to congratulate
them for
attending. Families come to the stage to receive their Certificate of Participation
(in
Appendix G). If a member of the local MoE or school principal is present, they
can be asked
to present the certificates.

There are a number of possibilities for types of Family Math Day activities. Working together with your
education team members, as well as field staff and community volunteers, you can develop your own
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plan for Family Math Day that makes the most sense for your context. Some ideas to get you started are
below:

1. Cooking
4-5 different stations can be set up where community members read instructions on making simple
snacks. The objective of this activity is for participants to realize that cooking is an activity that
requires math skills- measuring and estimating, cutting and folding, dividing up food, etc. Ideas for
different stations can include:
Lemonade (or another cold or warm drink that is locally relevant)
Bread (or another flour based food like samosas or chapati)
Salad (or another similar item)
Cookies (or a traditional sweet item)

2. Kite Festival
In this fun and simple activity, community members get together to make and fly their own kites.
Participants have to determine the shape and size of their kite. They will use rulers and scissors and
discuss the best shape and then make this kite. The day will end with a kite flying competition to see
whose kite flies the highest, longest, etc. A discussion can be had about the qualities of the best kite
and what enabled it to fly the highest or for the longest period of time.

3. Shape Walk
In this community activity, families look for everyday objects like windows, doors, wells, buckets, etc.
that have geometric shapes. They keep a list of these objects and at the end of the activity, there is a
group discussion on how shapes are all around us, and how an object’s shape helps it function-if a
tire on a bicycle was square and not round, what would happen?

4. Math Carnival
This would be a good activity to do at the end of the year, to celebrate all the hard work children and
the community has done. A math carnival would include setting up a large space with different
booths or stations that have a variety of math oriented games for parents and children to try. Games
can include:
 estimating the number of objects in a jar
 playing number card games
 colored counter toss-making a prediction on how many times a colored counter will land on
one color vs the other color
 measurement with string-measuring body parts or entire length using string
 guessing capacity-which bottle holds more-a short fat one or a tall skinny one
Activities used for the Math Camp sessions and during teacher training sessions can also be used for the
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Math Carnival.

These are just some ideas to get you started in thinking about different types of math related activities
that can be done with the communities in which you work. As you plan, think about:
 What activities do community members do every day that require math-like farming, cooking,
teaching?
 What professions are community members engaged in that require math-are there tailors or
builders or vendors in your community?
 What are some arts and crafts projects that community members engage in that require
patterning-like knitting, quilting, weaving, or pottery? These would be interesting projects to
undertake during a Family Math Day.
Adaptation tip: If you need more volunteers to run the Family Math Days, enlist the help of older
students from the community. They can assist with set up and clean up, run a math stations, conduct
demonstrations, and assist families as necessary.

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 Appendix A: Key Understandings of Math Domains
for Grades K-2

Numbers and operations is a topic in math that involves understanding numbers and ways to represent
them, understanding the meaning of operations and how they are related to each other, and computing
accurately.

Key Understandings (K-2): Numbers and Operations

1. Counting
 Identify numbers and know the count sequence
 Count with the understanding that numbers tell “how many” are in a set
 Decompose and compose numbers
 Compare and order numbers
 Skip count in 2s, 5s, 10s, 100s
2. Place value
 Understand place value. Know that two-digit numbers, for example,
represent a number of 10s and a number of 1s
 Use place value to add and subtract multi-digit numbers meaningfully
3. Addition and Subtraction
 Know that numbers can be joined and separated, and addition is putting
together or adding to while subtraction is taking apart and taking from
 Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction using
multiple methods including simple equations
 Understand that addition and subtraction are inverse operations
 Develop quick recall of basic addition/subtraction facts
4. Solve problems involving multiplicative situations
Source: Common Core and NCTM Standards

Geometry is a topic in math that involves the study of shapes, their properties, space and the relations of
points, lines and angles.

Key Understandings (K-2): Geometry

 Identify 2D and 3D shapes
 Recognize shapes from different perspectives and orientations
 Describe the properties of shapes.
 Compare and describe likenesses and differences between shapes
 Compose and partition shapes
 Create composite shapes
 Describe, name, and interpret relative positions, directions and distance in space.
Source: Common Core and NCTM Standards
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Measurement is a topic in math that deals with making comparisons between something that is being
measured, like an object, and a suitable standard of measure such as centimeters (for length), grams (for
weight) or milliliters (for capacity).

Key Understandings (K-2): Measurement

Describe and compare measurable attributes
 Order objects using measurable attributes (in particular, length, weight and
capacity)
Understand linear measurements and be able to estimate and measure lengths
 Understand partitioning and transitivity
 Be able to use standard and non-standard units of measurement
 Understand inverse relationship between size of unit and number of units in a
particular measurement
Understand that time and money are units of measurement
Source: Common Core and NCTM Standards

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 Appendix B: Reinforcing Activities

NUMBERS AND OPERATIONS

Activity Name: Toss and Count

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Materials: Game board, toothpicks or sticks, 2 colored counter

Skill area: Counting, number sense

Instructions: This game is played in pairs and each pair gets one playing board. Each player
gets 2 turns. Player 1 takes a colored counter and aims it at the playing board to
land on a number. If the counter goes off the board or lands on a line the player
throws again. When the counter lands on a number Player 1 takes that number
of sticks from the pile. Then it’s Player 2’s turn to do the same thing. Player 1
goes a second time and collects the number of sticks that the counter lands on
and Player 2 goes again as well. The pair then counts up their sticks and the one
with the higher number wins. They can do this as many times as time allows.

Variations: The game board can include numbers up to 10. For children practicing adding
double digit numbers, higher numbers can be used on the game board, for
example, from 6-10. For those still practicing single digit addition,
numbers from 0-5 can be used, as is shown in the sample below.

0 1 2

3 4 5

Activity Name: Capture Cards

Materials: Number cards (1 deck per pair)

Skill area: Counting and comparing

Instructions: This game is played in pairs. Each pair gets a deck of cards and divides the deck
evenly between them and places their cards face down in front of them. On
each
round, players flip over the top card. The player with the highest number takes
the cards played. In the case of a tie, players set aside the cards that were
played. On the next round, the player with the highest number takes those cards
too. Play until the piles are used up. The player with the most cards wins.

Variations: Each player flips over two cards and adds them. The player with the highest
total takes the cards played.

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Activity Name: Jump on Tens

Materials: None

Skill area: Skip counting, place value, number patterns

Instructions: This game can be played in a large group, small group and pairs. Start off in a
large group with all children holding hands including the facilitator. Tell the
children that they will count to 100 out loud and on every number ending in 0,
they will jump (10, 20, 30, 40, etc). After you pass 20, ask the following questions:
 What number will be jump on next?
 Will we jump on 45? Why not?
 Which number comes after 66? Will we jump on 67? Why not?
 How long before we get to 100?

At the end of the game, ask children if they saw a pattern-can someone name all
the numbers they jumped on? (10, 20, 30, etc. up to 100).

Play again. Count to 50 this time and jump on numbers ending in 5 and 0 (5, 10,
15, 20, 25, etc.). After 20, ask the following questions:
 What number is after 20? Will we jump on it? Why not?
 How many more jumps until 50?
 Will we jump on 50?
 Did you notice a pattern?

Make smaller groups of 4-5 children per group. Play other variations of this
game to get children thinking about number. Start easier (count to 20, on 0s
only; count to 100 and jump on all numbers ending in 0) and then become more
complicated.
Variations: Count to 100 and jump on 5s (5, 10 15, 20, etc.). Count to 100 and jump on 2’s.
Count to 100 and jump on odd numbers.

Activity Name: Number the Ways

Materials: Number cards

Skill area: Addition, number sense

Instructions: This game is played in groups of 4 and each group gets one deck of number
cards.

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 The facilitator writes a number on the board*. In their groups of 4, children put
together cards that will add up to the number. The facilitator asks each group to
present their algorithm and writes these on flip chart paper. The facilitator
provides another number and the game continues.

Variations: For more advanced problem solvers, the facilitator can ask children to think of
more than 2 addends (for example 3+4+2=9 instead of 6+3=9). This game can
also be played to build subtraction skills.

*The number can vary, depending on where students need support. For example, if students are beginning
to build addition skills, the number should be between 5 and 10. As students become stronger in their
addition skills, the facilitator can have them build larger numbers.

Activity Name: Oral/Choral Counting with Flashing Fingers

Materials: None
Skill area: Place value, counting
Instructions: In a large group, have students orally count the numbers by ones and tens, while
showing the amount with fingers. For example, for the number 40, say (and
show) two fists in the air, open them as you count numbers in tens) “Show
40…ten, twenty, thirty, forty!” (children open the palms four times, to show forty
fingers). For the number 54, say and show 2 fists in the air: “Show fifty-four …
ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty” (open them five times) “… and … fifty one, fifty two,
fifty three, fifty four!” (show four fingers)

Variations: As students get used to the activity, challenge them to show the numbers on
their
own (without adult guidance). This game also be played in pairs with one
student saying/writing the numbers, and the other showing it with fingers.

Activity Name: Guessing a Number Partner Game

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Materials: 10 counters and a paper bag
Skill area: Addition
Instructions: Place 10 counters (or other small counting item like stones, seeds, or shells) in
front of the students so all can see. Call one student to the front to count the
counters out loud to make sure there are 10 objects. Bring a paper bag (or box,
or container), put 3 of the objects in it, and close the container (so students
cannot
see inside). Ask one student to come to the front and count the remaining
objects outside of the bag. Then ask the group if they can guess how many
objects are in the bag. Call on one student to explain how they know this. Then,
open the bag and confirm how many objects are hidden.

Variations: As students become familiar with the game, have children play the game in pairs,
or make the game more challenging by increasing the number of objects.

MEASUREMENT

Activity Name: How tall are you?

Materials: 1 piece of string per group of 4, 1 ruler per group of 4

Skill area: Estimating and predicting length, using a ruler and measuring accurately

Instructions: Have children work in groups of 4 to measure one another. Have them use
string first and record how many ‘string lengths’ they are. Next have them use
rulers to get the actual measurement. Once they have recorded their height,
they should write their names in the height table that was created earlier.
Variations: Children can see how their height varies when they use other non-standard
units

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 of measurement like pencils, their feet or hands, or sticks to measure
themselves.

Activity Name: Going to the Market

Materials: 4-5 everyday items that children will be familiar with and are available in the
market where children live (for example-a bag of rice, some vegetables,
eggs,
pencils, a notebook). Set of pretend money in common denominations
(one set
per group of 4-about 4 of each denomination), scotch tape, flip chart with
drawing of coins, name and amounts written out (like the example below).

Coin Name Value

Penny $0.01 or 1¢

Nickel $0.05 or 5¢

Dime $0.10 or 10¢

Quarter $0.25 or 25¢

Skill area: Naming, recognizing, and identifying money, addition

Instructions: Divide students into smaller groups of 4 and give each group a set of pretend
money. Tell them that they will be using the money to buy items from the
market. Before beginning the activity, remind students of the name and amount
of each coin-refer to your flip chart where these amounts have been written
down. Point to each coin, say the name and the amount it represents. Ask these
questions to gauge understanding:
 What is the name of the smallest value coin (penny-1¢-insert name and
value of smallest coin in your currency)
 Which coin has the greatest value (quarter-25¢- insert name and value
of largest coin in your currency)
 Which is more-a dime or a nickel (Insert names of 2 coins in your
currency).
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  How do you know this? (check to make sure child understand that
each coin has a value and one coin’s value is greater than the other-
nickel is worth 5¢ and a dime is worth 10¢)

Next, place the items in front of the children. On a small piece of paper, create a
price tag for each item and tape it or place the price tag in front of the item.
Make
sure to put the appropriate symbol in front of the item-for example 45¢-
notebook. After each item has a price tag, and children are aware of how
much each item costs, ask each group to work together and use the pretend
money to identify the correct amount for item 1. They should come up with an
exact amount. Once all groups have finished with item 1, ask one group to
come up and “buy” the item.
Have the group members count out the money and see if they did this correctly.
After they count out the money correctly, have one member write the addition
algorithm on the board. For example, for a 45¢ (insert appropriate amount in
currency) notebook, an addition algorithm can look like this:

25¢+10¢+10¢=45¢ (insert appropriate alogortihm)

Ask the rest of the students if they identified another combination of coins to add
up to the correct amount for the item. Ask the group to come up and
demonstrate this and also write the algorithm out.

Continue the same process for the other items. Some questions you can ask in
between each item and at the end of the activity:
 Which item costs the most?
 Which costs the least?
 Which item can be purchased for only 2 coins?

Variations: As children build their skill in this concept, you can ask them to use the least
amount of coins to arrive at the total amount or the most amount of coins. You
can also give children a certain amount of money ($2.00) for example, and ask
them how many items they can buy for that amount of money.

Activity Name: Guessing Which is Bigger (Capacity)

Materials: 2 (or more) containers-one tall and thin the other wide and short
Skill area: Measurement, capacity, depth

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Instructions: Make sure to measure the capacity of the containers beforehand, so you know
which is bigger. Have students examine the container, and ask them which
container
may hold more (water, rice, etc., be specific) Then have them confirm their guess
by filling them with water, rice (any kind of grain), sand, etc. The results may be
surprising to children.
Variations: You can use containers that look very different but have the same capacity.

Activity Name: Measuring with Steps

Materials: Scotch tape
Skill area: Measurement, size, distance
Instructions: Gather students around you and measure out 2 meters (or longer) by placing
scotch tape on the floor or drawing lines in the ground. Ask students to guess
how many “steps” the length may be. Ask one student to walk across the length
with normal steps. Ask another student to walk across the length with smaller
“baby” steps. Ask the third student to walk across the length with bigger “giant”
steps. Compare the numbers of steps that each took, and lead a discussion
among the students on why these amounts varied. It may seem obvious to them
that the numbers are different because the sizes of the steps were different.
Probe deeper and ask them to explain why. Why do we have fewer steps when
steps are bigger and more steps when steps are smaller?
Variations: For older and/or advanced children, have them measure the actual length of the
different steps they took using a tape measure, ruler, or a nonstandard object
(like a
piece of string), and see how many baby steps it takes to make the normal step
and the giant step. Help them discuss why using the smallest unit makes sense
in comparing the difference, and introduce the idea of standard measurement
units.

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GEOMETRY

Activity Name: Finding Shapes

Materials: Pattern blocks-3 equilateral triangles and 1 square per pair, math journal, pencil

Skill area: Composing shapes, identifying shapes within other shapes

Instructions: Pair students up and pass out the materials to them. Draw the following shapes
on the blackboard: rhombus, trapezoid and hexagon. Tell students that they
must create these three shapes using the 4 pattern blocks they have-they do not
have to use all the pattern blocks. Tell them to start with the rhombus and walk
around as they try to do this. Have them copy the designs into their notebooks.
after about 10 minutes, ask one pair to share their rhombus and call them to the
front to draw it on the flipchart. Discuss if any other pairs did this differently.
Talk about the properties of a rhombus (4 equals sides, acute and obtuse inner
angles). Continue with the other shapes. A rhombus can be made with 2
triangles, a trapezoid with 3 triangles, and a hexagon with 2 triangles and one
square:

Activity Name: Shape Hunt

Materials: Paper and pencil for each student
Skill area: Identifying shapes
Instructions: After a unit in the classroom on geometry, take children for a shape hunt outisde.
Ask children to choose one or two “favorite shapes (e.g., circle, triangle)” and
have them keep record of where they find the shapes by drawing them on a
piece of paper. Afterwards, have children share their shapes and where
they found them.

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Variations: You can play this game indoors as well and can make it more challenging by
giving
students a shape (a circle or square or triangle) and have them locate as many
objects
with that shape.

Activity Name: Guessing the Hidden Shapes Game

Materials: Paper bag, various everyday objects (spoon, pencil, blocks, stones, etc.)
Skill area: Identifying shapes, using geometric terms
Instructions: This game is best if played after a unit on geometry where students have learned
terms for some geometric objects (cylinder, cone, square, etc.) Place some small
objects with various shapes (e.g., building blocks of different shapes, everyday
objects from kitchen or classroom) in front of the students. Have them talk about
these objects among themselves first-they can describe the shape, color, what
the object is used for, how it feels, etc. Next, place one of the of the objects into
the paper bag, making sure children do not see the object. Ask one of the
students to put his/her hand in the bag, without seeing inside, and guess which
object it is. Ask how he/she would know (encourage the child to describe the
objects using geometric terms). Open the bag and confirm.
Variations: Objects that are similar to each other can be used to encourage students to pay
attention to details. Once students are familiar with the game they can play in
pairs without adult supervision.

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 Appendix C: How to Guide on Making Math Story Books

A. Core Mathematics Content Topics for Children in Grades 1 & 2

Good math story books should address important mathematics content topics in relevant and
meaningful ways, and make them accessible to children. There is a general consensus across different
nations as to what appropriate core mathematics content topics are for children in early elementary
grades (Grades 1 & 2; for example, Chile, Ireland, Japan, United States). Here, the topics are
summarized into three content strands: Numbers and Operations, Geometry, and Measurement:

Numbers and Operations

Prerequisite knowledge: Know counting numbers; understand cardinality; compare quantities (very large
and very small quantities (100 marbles compared to 5), and quantities that differ by a small amount (8
marbles compared to 7)
 Know the meaning of addition and subtraction, understand how they relate to one another, and
how they can be used to solve everyday problems.
 Understand how numbers are organized within the base ten place value system, and find
answers to simple addition and subtraction problems by working with numbers using the place
value system.

Geometry
Prerequisite knowledge: Notice simple shapes (e.g., triangle, circle) in the everyday environment
 Know attributes of simple shapes.
 Compare simple shapes by their attributes (this sometimes means composing and decomposing
shapes).

Measurement
No prerequisite knowledge at this age; learning trajectories are simple and laid out.
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  Directly compare objects for their different aspects (e.g., standing two children side by side to
see who is taller; placing two sticks side by side to see which is longer; holding two stones in
both hands to see which is heavier)
 Indirectly compare objects for their different aspects (e.g., measure the length of one table using
a string, lining the string to the other table, and seeing which is longer)
 Understand the benefit of using standard measures (e.g., meter, gram) to compare objects and
communicate with others.

While these are appropriate milestones for learning, it is also important to consider what children have
experienced prior to learning these concepts. Prerequisite knowledge listed above may vary according
to early childhood experience and/or typical societal and family expectations. If children come to
classrooms without prerequisite knowledge, appropriate experiences must be provided to nurture it
while new concepts are introduced. Good children’s math books should consider the diversity among
children’s backgrounds and prior experiences and accommodate possible differences by addressing
prerequisite knowledge while introducing new topics.

These topics do not need to be addressed separately. They can be introduced together in books and
different learning contexts. For example, composing a large shape by combining smaller shapes can be
presented in relation to a concept on addition and part-to-whole relationships. Comparing sizes of two
objects (length, weight) requires knowledge of the subtraction concept. The more explicit connections
teachers, parents, and books can make for children across content topics, the deeper children’s
understanding of the topics will become.

B. Themes for Developing Math Stories

When writing math story books that are to be translated and adopted in many different cultures, it
becomes crucial to consider appropriate themes that can potentially span across different societies.
What seems typical and appropriate in one country may not be relevant at all in other countries, and
adaptations may be required to become more universal. For example, going swimming at a pool may
be a common and appropriate theme for children who live in the United States, but in order to make
the activity more relevant, we may consider and expand the context by just using “swimming” and leave
the setting to be open for river, ocean, or pool (or any other places children may enjoy bathing),
because that may be more appropriate in more cultures. Having a lunch at a restaurant may be
relevant for children in many Western societies, but we may alter the theme by focusing on “sharing a
meal with other people” without the restaurant context, as it may be more universal.

Some suggestions for topics to use in developing math stories are as follows:
 Preparing and sharing meals/food: cooking together with family members, family dinner,
community feast, party, etc.
 Market and shopping: going to stores/market, describing market/shopping activities, etc.
 Farming and agriculture: planting, harvesting, working together with others in fields, etc.
 Seasons: Describing seasons or changes of seasons (if the culture indeed has seasons).
 People in the culture, communal activities with others: Family, friends, neighbors, schools,
community
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  Natural environment: Nature (trees, flowers, ocean, mountains, rivers), animals (farm animals,
pets), insects and bugs

We want to take advantage of children’s interests and everyday experiences to introduce new math
concepts and to make relevant connections. Talking about families and friends, emphasizing emotions
as children engage in community and cultural activities, and capitalizing on culturally-valued settings,
we can stretch their learning and make it more meaningful and familiar.

Holidays and festivals are ideal topics for the books, since it is likely for children to have significant
experiences with the events. Cultural rituals (e.g., celebrating holidays) teach young children what is
important in the culture, and how people relate with each other through special activities for the
occasions. Using these settings in books requires a certain level of cultural knowledge as it should be
avoided using them in a superficial manner (we do not wish to create negative feeling among members
of the cultures). If unsure about a specific practice, it is better to confirm with local community
members who are deeply familiar with the culture first.

C. Appropriate Language Uses

The following are some suggestions around language to consider when designing books for young
readers:

 Use simple words and phrases.

 Whenever possible, use simple words and phrases so children will understand the
meanings readily, and the text will be translated easily into different languages later on.
 In writing the story, think of different ways you can express the same core idea, and
choose the simplest and most child-friendly terms in the book.
 Similar sentences to children’s own language patterns are easier for them to follow.
 The rule of thumb is for each sentence to be less than 8 words long, and each word
should be 1 – 2 syllables. If a sentence becomes too long, consider cutting it into two
separate sentences.

 Use repetitive text.

 Repetitive text can invite children’s interest, as children can take a part in the
predictability of the story as it unfolds.
 In the repetition, the uniqueness of the text in each page should focus on the math
concept addressed in the book. For example, in the book, “Plate for Everyone,” as guests
arrive, the same repetitive greeting is given by a family member. In this way, the focus
math concept is highlighted, and children’s attention are drawn.

 Use correct math terms.

 Math terms that are abstract and/or unfamiliar to children may be used in books if it is
considered appropriate/important for children to learn them in the culture. But in doing
so, we want to make sure the abstract terms are introduced within meaningful contexts.
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 For example, the word “rectangle” may be introduced in a friendlier way if the word is
associated with a picture of a familiar object (e.g., book, door) and accompanying text
explains how the shape looks like an everyday object.
 Avoid making the math story books simply a ‘text’ that teaches math skills and
vocabulary. We want the books to nurture children’s meaning-making process, by
embedding math concepts in interesting and relevant everyday contexts. In some cases,
it is advisable to use only child-friendly terms in the books, and keep the formal
vocabulary in the activity guide section for teachers and parents to read. It is more
important for adults to be aware of the correct terms and concept-building processes so
that they can appropriately guide children’s learning with the books and activities, and
less important for children to memorize and use the abstract terms right away.

D. Visual Representations of Math Concepts

Math concepts can be communicated through some form of representation (symbolic, oral, visual, etc.),
and visual representations are ideal for both small children and adults. Since drawings and pictures are
how children initially learn about math concepts and connect with more advanced concepts later on, it
is very important to consider the constraints and opportunities each visual representation may bring.
For each math concept, consider what is important to be communicated, and choose a representation
that highlights the importance. The examples below will provide further details on this idea.

Numbers and Operations

As discussed above, the key learning milestones for young elementary school students in this content
strand is to understand how addition and subtraction work and to use the base ten place value system
with larger numbers (greater than 10). In learning quantities, very young children initially see units
within a total – if units are not represented, they won’t be able to add or subtract quantities. Thus, it is
important to show single units within the total.

1. Addition of objects under 10

For example, in showing how many tomatoes (or any vegetable items) in total (addition concept), it
would be helpful to use the following representation below:

Example: Mum has 7 tomatoes in the basket. The neighbor brought 2 tomatoes from her garden. A
concrete illustration might look like this:

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A semi-concrete illustration may be shown like this:

If we want to emphasize the ten-ness of the quantity (even when the quantity is less than 10), we may
place the quantity in the ten frame like so:

This representation allows children to see not only how 7 and 2 tomatoes make 9 together in the story,
but also how the total (9) is in relationship to 10 (1 less). While the concept of ‘making of 10’ may not
be the core concept of the book, it is always a good idea to ‘subtly’ show 10 in the illustration, so
children can notice the number structure if and when they are ready. It is also a good idea to show
numerical/symbolic representation along with the illustration (e.g., 7 + 2 = 9).

2. Discussing numbers larger than 10

For numbers larger than 10, we always want to emphasize groupings of tens and ones.

For example: It’s harvesting season and at the end of the day, many people return from the field. Maileen
counts 12 people sitting at each table.

We can, of course, use real-life like illustrations to show the details of people sitting at tables. But in
order to highlight the math concept, we may simplify the context and represent the situation as below:

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And/or possibly this:

10 2

10 2

Or this:
Two groups of 10 and 4 more people
20 + 4 = 24 people

In any way we can, show how a quantity may be represented in groups of tens and ones (also in
hundreds, if appropriate). In activity sections, suggest how teachers and parents can lead children to
notice and discuss ten-ness of number structure in story contexts, to extend their understanding in
meaningful ways.

Geometry
Geometry concepts naturally lend themselves to visual representations. Most spatial reasoning that
happens in everyday life can be shown using pictures, and geometry concepts are ideal for picture
books.

When describing shapes in books, we must make sure the description matches the illustration. For
example, if we say the square has four equal sides, the shape on the page must have four sides that are
equal. If not, that can draw children’s attention and lead them to wonder why, which can cause them to
understand the concept inaccurately. Additionally, it is important to illustrate shapes in some variation,
in terms of sizes and orientation so children see that not all shapes look the same.

1. Discussing different types of shapes

For example, if we are discussing triangles, we want to show different kinds of triangles (not all of them
have three equal sizes) and in different orientations (not all of them with their bases on the bottom with
pointy apex on the top).

Example: Different Triangles

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It’s in the examination of different shapes in the same category (e.g., triangle, rectangle) that children
will develop the understanding of shared attributes, thus it is important for the illustrations to show
different variations of the same shape.

When we want to highlight particular attributes of shapes, to help children understand them, we must
be mindful not to lead their attention to other characteristics of the shapes that are salient. For
example, by varying colors of different shapes, children may notice the color variation rather than
attributes of the shapes. It is fine to put subtle emphasis by bolding certain lines and shapes, but we
want to make sure these emphases won’t become critical aspects of children’s understanding. For
example, in constructing a larger shape (e.g., trapezoid) with smaller shapes (e.g., triangles), we may
emphasize the fact that there are several smaller shapes within the original larger shape, but we also
want to make sure children know that these shapes are independent of each other and the larger shape
can exist alone without smaller shapes.

Example: Trapezoid and Triangles

Measurement
Similar to Geometry, it is important to show measurement accurately in the illustrations as discussed in
the story. For example, if the text says, “A child is holding one stick that is is twice as long as another”,
make sure the illustration shows the situation accurately, as some children may notice the difference
and question what it means to be “twice as long” later on.
Example: A child with two sticks, one twice as long as another

For any everyday story context, using everyday items for illustration is always recommended, while we
can emphasize math in the items that can be easily dismissed unless noted.

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Example: “It will be a very hot day today,” Papa says. “The forecast says it will be 32 degrees. We have to
water our plants.”

32
30
20
10
0
-10
-2

One of the purposes of math story book is to take advantage of children’s interests and everyday
experiences and mathematize them. Using various representations is important as children gradually
make connections between everyday context and how math works in such a context. Careful and
purposeful design and use of illustrations make math concepts more accessible to children.
Appendix D: Materials List

Numeracy Boost Materials List

Item Picture of sample Approximate quantity
1-6 number Two number cubes for
cube every group of 4
students.

Number cards See attached sample of a complete deck. One deck for every four
(each deck has -Pictures should be made locally relevant. students.
four each of 0- -Half of the decks should be printed in red and the other half
10 cards and a should be printed in black so that these cards can be used in
wild card) the place of playing cards (to reduce association with
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 gambling)

Sample Number
Cards

Pattern blocks One set for every 25

students

Each 250 piece set

contains: 25 yellow
hexagons, 25 orange
squares, 50 green
triangles, 50 red
trapezoids, 50 blue
parallelograms, 50
tan rhombuses
Please note: it's
important that these
blocks are made in
proportion to each other.
Two trapeziums fit exactly
inside one hexagon, 3 blue
rhombuses fit exactly
inside one hexagon, and 6
triangles fit exactly inside
a hexagon. Please ensure
when purchasing/creating
these blocks, the above
specifications are met. If
creating, please use the
attached template. These
can be cut and laminated
for extra durability.

Pattern Block
Template

Rulers (30cm) One 30cm ruler for every

4 students

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Meter stick One per classroom

String 1 spool per

classroom/community

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Sticks and 20 sets of 10 for each
rubber bands. group of 4 students.
These can be any kind of
sticks that are locally
available. Make sure
they are of the same
length and do not have
sharp edges.

Various This can be any locally

counters available counting object-
(bottle caps, does not have to be store
toothpicks, bought. Make sure there
sticks, buttons, are plenty of these, as
shells, stones, these will be used in
straws) every activity!

One number line per

Number line classroom.
(0-50)

1. Create a strip of paper that is 15cm in height and is

about 5 meters long.
2. Draw a straight, bold line across the middle with
dots at every 10cm interval (see sample).
3. Number each dot with large numbers from 0 to 50
4. Laminate the number line.
100s chart One 100s chart per
classroom

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 1. Take a 1.5meter by 1.5 meter square paper.
2. Section the paper with lines so that there are 100
squares (10x10)
3. Write in the numbers from 0 to 100
4. Laminate

Two-color 20 counters per group of

counters 4 students.

Template for Two

Colored Counters

1. Flatten soda bottle tops or obtain something

similarly flat and disk-shaped. Paint one side red;
paint the other side yellow. Use paint that does not
come off easily.
2. Hand draw or use a computer program like Word to
make circles. Color one set of circles red and the
other yellow. Cut circles out and glue them back to
back so one side is red and the other yellow.
Laminate for extra durability. Or use the attached
template.

Tangram 1 set per group of 4-print

pieces out, cut and laminate
template Tangram Template pieces individually.

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Tangram 1 pattern sheet per group
Pattern-Cat of 4. Print out and
Tangram Pattern-Cat laminate.

Tangram 1 pattern sheet per group

Pattern-Boat of 4. Print out and
Tangram laminate.
Pattern-Boat

Tangram 1 pattern sheet per group

Pattern-Candle of 4. Print out and
Tangram laminate.
Pattern-Candle

Tangram 1 pattern sheet per group

Pattern-Chair of 4. Print out and
Tangram laminate.
Pattern-Chair

Tangram 1 pattern sheet per group

Pattern-Dog of 4. Print out and
Tangram laminate.
Pattern-Dog

Tangram 1 pattern sheet per group

Pattern-Rabbit of 4. Print out and
Tangram laminate.
Pattern-Rabbit

Tangram 1 pattern sheet per group

Pattern-Swan of 4. Print out and
Tangram laminate.
Pattern-Swan

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 Appendix E: Take Home Calendar for Parents

Clap 7 times. Pass a ball Count from Use a How long can What’s
Do Clap 10 times. 15 times 1-50. Clap you stand on shaped
Jump 6 times. exactly. on 5s. Jump to fill a one foot? like a ?
Jump 9 times. Bounce the on 10s. Time it.
ball 7 times +
exactly. 6?

Which is more- How many Will you How many in all? How many steps? How many Which leg can What’s the What

? 7or 10?
6 or 9?
Show me.
more rolls
until 15?
Show me.
clap on 16?
Will you
jump on 25?
Add 2 more?
Take away 3?
Count by 2s.
BIG steps?
Little steps?
spoons?
Use a bigger
spoon.
you stand on
for longer?
How long is a
minute?
most
common
shape?
shapes
were
formed?

Why 1=one= 1=one= 5, 10, 15

5+5+5=15 6÷3
2=two= 2=two= 3x5=15
2x3
2+3

Touch your Count every Practice skip You have 10. Measure your How many more What’s closer Draw a Stack pots,
nose 6 times. tree, every counting by You get 3 more. arm. Use a string. spoons of rice to home-school house in smallest
++ .
house you
see.
2s, 5s, and
10s.
How many in all? Then use a ruler. until you’re
finished?
or the market?
Estimate, then
the sand.
Name the
into
largest.
time it. shapes you
used.

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 Certificate of Excellence
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Participated in the [YEAR]

Family
Math Day

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 Appendix G: Project Monitoring and Evaluation Tools
Math Camp Student Attendance Record
Facilitator Name_____________________________Village Name__________________________
Name Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Session 4 Session 5 Session 6 Session 7

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 Math Camp Facilitator Feedback Form
Facilitator Name: Village Name:

Math Camp Session: Date:

Questions
Instructions for Attendance Circle and Bar Graph
implementing activities
Yes No_________________________________________________________
were clear and easy to
follow Read Aloud

Yes No_________________________________________________________

Reinforcing activity

Yes No_________________________________________________________
Reflection and Discussion

Yes No_________________________________________________________

Mental math

Yes No_________________________________________________________

Overall for this session

Yes No_________________________________________________________

Children understood Attendance Circle and Bar Graph Activity

the concept being
Yes No_________________________________________________________
introduced in the
activities Mental math activity

Yes No_________________________________________________________

Reinforcing activity
Yes No_________________________________________________________

Around the World

Yes No_________________________________________________________

Read Aloud

Yes No_________________________________________________________

Children enjoyed and Yes, children enjoyed all activities

participated

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 Children did not enjoy the following activities because:

How would you

improve this session?
What overall feedback
do you have on the
math camp sessions?

Math Camp Observation and Evaluation Form

SC Staff Member Name: Village Name:

Math Camp Session: Date:

Questions

Facilitator knowledge, attitude and practice Facilitator used guidebook to lead session:
Yes
No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator had prepared materials for session before hand:
Yes
No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator was confident in teaching the subject and explained
concepts well:
Yes
No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator interacted well with students
Yes
No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator was able to answer students’ questions:
Yes
No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator used materials from math tool kit during the
session:
Yes
No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator needs support in the following areas:
___________________________________________________________________
Student experience Students were interested and actively engaged:
Yes No_____________________________________________________________

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 Students asked questions:
Yes No_____________________________________________________________
Students seemed to enjoy the session
Yes No_____________________________________________________________
Students worked together either in pairs or groups
Yes No______________________________________________________________
Materials, set up and space Space for the session was adequate, safe, and comfortable:
Yes
No___________________________________________________________________
Teaching materials were available during the session
(flipchart, marker, scotch tape, etc.):
Yes
No___________________________________________________________________
Students were using materials during activity time:
Yes
No____________________________________________________________________

How would you rate the overall Math at Home 1 2 3 4

session? (Circle one)
5

poor fair average above

average superior

Action items for follow up:

Math at Home Observation and Evaluation Form

SC Staff Member Name: Village Name:

Math at Home session: Date:

Questions
Facilitator knowledge, Facilitator used guidebook to lead session:
attitude and practice Yes No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator had prepared materials for session before hand:
Yes No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator demonstrated the activity for parents:
Yes No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator was confident in teaching the subject:

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 Yes No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator interacted well with participants
Yes No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator was able to answer participants’ questions:
Yes No_________________________________________________________
Facilitator needs support in the following areas:
___________________________________________________________________
Participant experience Participants were interested and engaged:
Yes No_____________________________________________________________
Participants asked questions:
Yes No_____________________________________________________________
Participants seem to enjoy the session
Yes No_____________________________________________________________
Materials, set up and Space for the session was adequate, safe, and comfortable:
space Yes No___________________________________________________________________
Teaching materials were available during the session (flipchart, marker, scotch tape,
etc.):
Yes No___________________________________________________________________
Math at Home Calendar was used by facilitator for demonstration:
Yes No____________________________________________________________________
How would you rate 1 2 3 4 5
the overall Math at
poor fair average above average superior
Home session? (Circle
one)
Action items for
follow up:

Math at Home Facilitator Feedback Form

Facilitator Name: Village Name:

Math at Home session: Date:

Questions

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Instructions for Welcome and sharing
activities were clear
Yes No_________________________________________________________
and easy to follow
Introduction of new topic

Yes No_________________________________________________________
Demonstration of new activity
Yes No_________________________________________________________

Reflection and wrap-up

Yes No_________________________________________________________
Overall for this session

Yes No_________________________________________________________

Community members Please provide some brief comments.

understood the
concept being
introduced
Activity was relevant to Please provide some brief comments.
the context and culture

How would you

improve this session?

Was the training for

the Math at Home
sessions adequate?

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 Family Math Day Tracking Sheet

Village name:__________________________ Date:________________________

Name of activity________________________ Number of attendees____________

Brief description of activity

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 References
Baroody, A. J., Lai, M., & Mix, K. S. The development of young children’s early number and operation
sense and its implications for early childhood education. In B. Spodek & O. Saracho (Eds.), Handbook of
research on the education of young children. 2, 187-221, 2006. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Duncan, G. J., Dowsett, C. J., Claessens, A., Magnuson, K., Huston, A. C., Klebanov, P., et al. School
readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 2007. 43(6), 2007. 1428-1446.

Ginsberg Herbert P., J S, Lee, and J S Boyd. “Mathematics Education for Young Children:
What It is and How to Promote It”. Society for Research in Child Development. Social Policy Report
Brief, 22(1), 2008.

Jordan, Nancy C. “The Need for Number Sense.” Educational Leadership. October/November 2007:
63-66.

Levine, S.C., Suriyakham, L.W., Meredith L. Rowe, J.H., and. Gunderson, E.A. “What Counts in the
Development of Young Children’s Number Knowledge”. Developmental Psychology. 46.5, 2010. 1309-
1319.

Ramani, Geeta B. and Bob S. Siegler “Reducing the gap in numerical knowledge of low and middle
income pre-schoolers”. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 32, 2011. 146–159.

National Association for the Education of Young Children and National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics.
Position statement. Early childhood mathematics: Promoting good beginnings, 2002.
http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/psmath.asp

National Council for Teachers of Mathematics. “Standards for Mathematics for PreK-2”, 2000.
http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=3498

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