Tommy Math covers the KG2 math syllabus and consists of two workbooks. Each workbook provides:

• Exercises illustrating concrete situations and familiar objects, organized in 40 units.
• Comic strips about Tommy, a peaceful, dreamy cat who lives in a trailer with his friends. The comics present all the vocabulary related to the illustrations of the exercises; they introduce the math skills in an amusing context, and help children to clearly understand the instructions and solve the exercises.

With specific objectives in mind, the teacher’s guide provides many ideas for use in the math class, with the help of the comic strips and other activities. It provides:

• A presentation of the double page Tommy’s World.
• A presentation of the comic strips.
• The texts of the comic strips.
• Activities to carry out before working on the units.
• The solutions to the exercises.
• Illustrations to make cards for the activities.

The introductory activities are as important as the units. They must be prepared and carried out with care, tact, and perseverance. This work should be consistent.

Teachers should not limit themselves to the activities in this guide, but should try to create additional activities to teach a specific point.

All dialogs should be meticulously prepared in advance, with questions at the ready and nothing left to chance.

For the units where no activity is suggested, the teacher can draw his inspiration from activities detailed in previous units with similar objectives.

Our Convictions

• Every child can succeed in math.
• Math should be linked to other subjects, and to the everyday life of children.
• Math is a way of reasoning; it is also a network of strongly connected skills and ideas.
• Math allows the development of critical reasoning. It encourages creativity and facilitates decision-taking.
• Experiments are powerful tools that help children to connect concrete experiences to representation, and then abstraction.
• Children study and understand better in an active environment where they work together, think together and talk about the mathematical elements they are learning.

Our Advice

• Make sure you have a clear idea of the objective and plan of action before you go into class.
• Motivation is the basis of any successful action.
• The teacher’s “trilogy”: Motivate – Learn – Assess, three stages to respect. Never forget them.
• Examples and situations should be inspired from the everyday life of children.
• The language used by the teacher should be correct, clear, precise and concise. Do not speak a lot. Let the children express their ideas.
• Make sure subjects do not overlap.
• Do not introduce too many ideas at the same time.
• Make sure the work is neat and well done.
• Work at a steady pace whether the students are slow or quick.
• Make sure the children have understood the points in question.

How to Deal with a Child

• Treat him/her with respect.
• Make him feel confident.
• Trust him.
• Let him express his ideas.
• Encourage dialogs between him and his friends.
• Encourage group work.
• Encourage him to think, choose and be responsible.
• Have him understand that he can count on his teacher when he encounters difficulties.

The authors