Learning to Use a Calculator

I found a cheap 1st grade level Buzz Lightyear computer program for Jonathan and it arrived this past week.  It is a little beyond him, but he'll have room to grow into it.  One of his favorite games so far is a marble rolling game with Jesse, the cowgirl.  As he places the tracks in place, a flag with math problem pops up.  He has to choose the answer to the problem from the list of “connectors” at the bottom of the screen.  He was having trouble because he cannot do math in his head yet but he desperately wanted to get the marble to roll down the track.  So, I decided to teach him how a calculator works.  It took about a day before he really understood, but now he's got it.

Working hard…

Mom, stop taking pictures!

Ok, I'll smile 🙂

He gets so excited now when he puts a double digit addition or subtraction problem into the calculator and the answer pops up matching a number at the bottom of the screen.  He “reads” the problem out loud and yells with glee when he finds the answer that matches the calculator.