K-4 Mathematics Resources for Parents/Guardians

In this video, we talk about how word problems are really just simple stories with numbers—and how you can support your child in making sense of them. Don’t worry if you’re not a math expert—what matters most is helping your child understand the story. Start by reading the problem out loud together. Then, make it fun and familiar by using your child’s name, their friends, or everyday activities they enjoy. Acting it out with toys or snacks can make a big difference—this kind of playful learning helps children “see” what’s happening and figure out the math naturally. We also share why it’s okay to move away from old tricks like “altogether means add,” since those can sometimes confuse more than help. Just remember: when kids understand what’s going on in the story, the right math often comes naturally. And with your support, they’re already off to a great start!

In this video, we walk you through how to help your kindergartener solve simple addition problems using linking cubes—but really, any small objects you have at home will work, like paper clips, pennies, or buttons. We go through two fun examples—one about Jesse collecting red plates and another about Amber picking flowers— demonstrating how to help your child understand what's happening in the story first, then use physical objects to model the problem.

You’ll see three different counting strategies your child might try: counting all the objects, counting on from the smaller number, or counting on from the larger number. Every child thinks a little differently, and that’s okay! We encourage you to keep the problems fun and relatable—tie them to things your child enjoys or sees in everyday life. And if your child is a first grader, no worries—these same ideas can be used with slightly bigger numbers, all the way up to 20.

In this video, we explain that subtraction is trickier than addition because there are two different ways to think about it: "taking away" (like giving stickers to someone) which kindergarteners learn first, and "finding the difference" (like comparing how many more stickers one child has than another) which is introduced in first grade. We show how to use linking cubes and other hands-on tools to help your child visualize both types of problems, emphasizing that the "finding the difference" problems are more challenging because nothing is actually being removed - your child is just comparing two amounts. The video stresses that this is difficult work for young learners, so be patient and give your child plenty of time to practice with these concepts using physical objects like linking cubes, ten frames, or number lines. Remember to read problems multiple times and ask your child to retell them in their own words to help them truly understand what's happening before they start solving.

In this video, we explain how addition and subtraction are actually related - your child can often solve the same word problem using either operation and get the same answer. For example, when asked "How many soccer balls are in a basket of 5 balls if 3 are footballs?", your child could think "3 + what equals 5?" or "5 - 3 = what?" and both ways lead to the answer of 2 soccer balls. We show examples from both kindergarten and first grade levels, demonstrating that this flexibility helps children understand math more deeply. The most important thing is to let your child choose which operation feels easier to them for each problem, as this choice-making helps them become more fluent with how addition and subtraction connect to each other.