What age level is Kumon Maths 3A designed for?
Kumon Maths 3A is the equivalent level of 5 years old.
In all Kumon subjects, the A materials are at the level equivalent to a 6-year-old, while children under 2 years of age study in a separate material called Baby Kumon, so it is generally safe to assume that 2A and 3A are for 5-year-olds, 4A and 5A are for 4-year-olds and 6A and below are for 3-year-olds...
What kind of teaching materials are Kumon Math 3A?
The aims of the Kumon Math 3A materials are as follows
To further improve the children's ability to write numbers and their understanding of number sequences, which they have developed up to 4A, and to build on this ability to learn addition of tens 1 to tens 3 and to develop the ability to move on to the 2A materials.
The most noteworthy addition is the introduction of addition. This is the start of a full-fledged study of arithmetic.
Let's take a closer look at the content of the teaching materials. Kumon Math 4A consists of 200 printouts, but let's check the breakdown.
| Material number | Content | | | --- | --- | 1-60 | Counts to 100 | | 61-70 | Counts to 120 | | | 71-130 | Counts to 1 | | 131-160 | Counts to 2 | | 161-180 | Counts to 3 | 181-200 | Counts to 3 |
More than 60% of the teaching material consists of addition. Let's look at each of these in detail.
Addition to 100 and addition to 120
The content here is almost the same as that covered in Arithmetic 4A. The maximum number increases from 100 to 120, but other than that, there are no major changes in the content, and it is a form of revenge for the previous content.
Addition 1, 2 and 3
Finally, addition begins. At first, the question is "What is the next number after 3?" and then gradually they will understand the meaning of the symbol '+1'.
Add up to 3
The children solve the equation to add 1 to 3 to the original number. The aim is to be able to read the meaning from the symbols without guidance.
What are the key points of attack for Kumon Maths 3A?
The key to mastering Kumon Math 3A is to realise the importance of parental follow-up.
The content of the material before and after material number 70 is very different
The atmosphere of the printouts and the content of the questions are completely different between the "Number to 100 and Number to 120" up to 3A70 and the addition after that.
The content up to 3A70 is largely the same as in the previous printouts. The content also asks about being able to write numbers and understanding the sequence of numbers, and the printouts have colourful illustrations.
From 3A71, however, the atmosphere is completely different. The print is now black and white and there are no animal characters. The questions are now addition questions, which is a big change from what they have been doing so far.
Of course, to answer the addition questions, students must be able to write numbers, so there is continuity in the teaching material. However, it is not surprising that the printouts can be confusing for the solvers.
Your child is likely to be resistant to print after 3A71
For your child, the material from 3A71 onwards can cause a lot of stress. Until now, the changes in the content of the material have been small, so it has been difficult for them to not understand the next piece of content. Even if they didn't understand the content at all, they could be distracted somewhat by the characters in the printouts.
However, from this point on, the material only contains simple problem-related content. If you don't understand the content, there is nothing you can do about it.
Moreover, if your child is from a family that started Kumon Maths at the age of three or four, by the time they reach Maths 3A, they will have become somewhat familiar with it. If you let that familiarity get the better of you, you may find that you are not able to follow up with your child as much as you would like.
Get over the barrier by providing a generous follow-up from parents.
This is where the key to success in Maths 3A comes in, whether or not parents are able to follow up with their children.
At this stage, the concept of addition itself is not that complex. The concept of a sequence of numbers has been dealt with in the teaching materials up to this point. Once you understand that "+1" represents the next number, solving the problem is not that difficult.
The difficult part is getting them to understand what this symbol means and what they are supposed to do in response to the problem. Understanding the concept is the key, rather than the need to learn new skills.
For children at this stage of learning this material, it is difficult for them to understand concepts from the words in the print alone. The key to success in Kumon Math 3A will be how well the concepts are communicated in conversations with parents, and whether or not parents are aware of the need for this.