Soroban knowledgePublished 05/10/2026

Getting your child ready for grade 1 math: what should they know? 5 skill areas, 5-minute daily games and a free checklist

As grade 1 gets closer, many parents in Hanoi start to worry: can my child add and subtract yet? Should they study ahead? We are Japanese, teach soroban to children from age 5 in Hanoi, and hear this question almost every week. The short answer: grade 1 math is taught from the very beginning – what your child needs to bring is a feel for numbers and the habit of sitting down to learn.

A girl at a trial lesson, sitting at the desk with a soroban sign.

Short answer

Before grade 1, your child doesn’t need to add and subtract up to 100; they need to understand small numbers and be used to sitting down to learn.

Count objects correctly up to 20; count back from 10 to 0
Read and write 0–10; see 1–5 objects and know how many at once
Split and combine small numbers: 5 is 2 and 3; the “10-friend” pairs
Name shapes; understand above/below, in front/behind, left/right
Get familiar with the days of the week and telling time to the hour
Stay on one task for 10–15 minutes; hold a pencil correctly
Play with numbers 5 minutes a day – no thick workbooks needed

What does grade 1 math cover?

Under Vietnam’s 2018 general education curriculum, grade 1 math mainly covers:

Numbers to 100: counting, reading, writing, comparing
Addition and subtraction within 100, without carrying or borrowing
Flat shapes (square, circle, triangle, rectangle) plus cubes and rectangular boxes
Measuring length in centimeters (cm)
Telling time to the hour on a clock
The days of the week

The grade 1 teacher will teach all of this from the first lesson. Grade 1 is also the year children learn to read and write – a lot of new things at once. So the family’s job is not to teach ahead, but to build the “foundation” that lets your child learn with ease.

A soroban lesson in a primary school classroom – one abacus on every desk.

For the kinds of “thinking math” problems many centers teach grade 1 children, see What is grade 1 “thinking math”?.

What does a child need to know before grade 1? 5 skill areas

These are the things that make grade 1 feel easy for your child. They don’t need to master all of them – every child has their own pace.

A. Numbers and counting

Count from 1 to 20 and back from 10 to 0; count objects correctly up to 20; read and write 0–10; see 1–5 objects at a glance; compare more, fewer, the same.

B. Splitting and combining

5 is 1 and 4, 2 and 3; the “10-friend” pairs with objects (7 and 3, 6 and 4…); small problems like “3 candies and 2 more makes how many?”.

C. Shapes and position

Name a square, circle, triangle and rectangle correctly; understand above/below, in front/behind, left/right.

D. Measurement and time (getting familiar)

Longer/shorter, taller/shorter; the days of the week; time to the hour on a clock, just at a “getting familiar” level.

E. Learning habits

Sit at a desk on one task for 10–15 minutes; hold a pencil correctly; get things ready and put them away alone; follow a 2-step instruction.

We have turned these 5 areas into a list where parents tick “Can do” or “Still practicing”, with 10 games on page 2: Download the checklist (free PDF, in Vietnamese). It is not a test – pick 1–2 “still practicing” items to play with your child.

More important than “studying ahead”: 3 priorities

Plenty of children can recite numbers to 100 but get stuck when the teacher asks “7 is how many and how many?”. The difference comes from three small choices parents make:

Put first

Number sense: seeing 3 candies and knowing “three” at once
Saying how they think: “how do you know?”
Correct, even if slow

Easy to put first by mistake

Reciting to 100 by rote
Filling whole notebook pages with numbers
Fast, even if guessing

Number sense over memorizing numbers. Reciting “one, two, three… one hundred” is different from understanding that 7 is “5 and 2”. When your child looks at a small group of objects and knows how many right away, they have the foundation for mental math later on.

Talking more than writing. A 5-year-old’s hand is still weak; writing a whole page of numbers can tire children out and make them afraid of math. If your child can explain it in words, they understand – the writing will follow.

Understand first, speed later. First your child gets it right with objects, then without them. At this age, right but slow is far better than fast but guessing.

The goal before grade 1 is not that your child knows a lot – it is that your child likes numbers.

Getting ready by age: 4, 5 and the summer before grade 1

Age 4Play with numbers every day
Count real objects up to 10, compare which group has more, name circles and squares. Picking up beans and coloring help little hands get nimble. The goal is for numbers to feel fun.
Age 5Understand numbers to 10, count to 20
Count back from 10, split 5 into 1 and 4 or 2 and 3, see 1–5 objects at a glance. Practice sitting at a desk for 10–15 minutes. This is also the age when a child can start a soroban Kindergarten class.
Summer before grade 1Pull it together and get used to classroom habits
The “10-friend” pairs with objects, reading and writing 0–10, getting familiar with the days of the week and time to the hour. Your child gets things ready, puts them away and follows 2-step instructions.

Tip

Don’t try to finish the whole list over the summer. One skill your child feels confident in is worth more than five they were pushed into. If your child is already comfortable with everything, move on to slightly harder games rather than teaching the grade 1 textbook early.

5 five-minute math games to play at home every day

No books needed – things around the house are enough. Pick one game a day, play for about 5 minutes and stop while your child still wants more.

Little market
Set out toys as a “shop”, each priced at 1–5 coins. Your child pays with paper coins and counts the money.
Counting the stairs
Count up on the way up and count back on the way down. Once your child is confident, try counting by 2s.
Sharing snacks
“6 candies shared between 2 people – how many each?”. Your child hands them out one by one, then counts – no need to know division.
Quick fingers
Quickly hold up some fingers (1–5, then 6–10) and your child says the number right away – without counting each finger. With 7 fingers, your child gradually starts to “see” 5 and 2.
Start at home
Play for 1 minute before dinner. When your child gets almost all of them right, switch to dots on cards or beans laid out in rows of 5.
“10-friend” cards
Make number cards 1–9. Draw one card, and your child finds the card that makes 10 with it – at first, check with 10 beans. This is the foundation for adding past 10 in later grades, and for soroban.

The other five games (shape hunt, clock hands, my calendar, setting chopsticks and counting bowls, mini board game with dice) are on page 2 of the checklist: Download the checklist (free PDF, in Vietnamese). Remember the rule “a little, but regularly”: 5 minutes a day beats 1 hour at the weekend.

What not to do when getting your child ready for math

Some ways of preparing easily backfire:

Hours of workbook pages every day
Timed speed races while your child still counts on fingers
Teaching the whole grade 1 math book ahead – children get bored in class
Demanding neat numbers before your child holds a pencil correctly
Comparing your child with siblings or the neighbors’ kids
Doing it for them, or giving the answer as soon as they are slow

If your child starts avoiding it or saying “I’m bad at math”, that is a sign to ease off. A child who starts grade 1 thinking “math is fun” already has the biggest advantage. If sitting still is hard for your child, My child can’t focus when studying has more ideas.

Kindergarten class for 5-year-olds at Kodomo Soroban Center

We run a Kindergarten class for children from age 5 at our center in Vinhomes Gardenia. The teaching follows Kodomo School – a Japanese school network since 1976, with about 90 locations in Aichi and Shizuoka.

3–5 children per class, so the teacher watches each child
Slower-paced than the primary class, learning through games and a real abacus
Getting familiar with numbers and with splitting and combining – areas A and B of the checklist
Sitting posture, pencil grip, getting ready alone – exactly area E of the checklist

See how a lesson works, What age should a child start soroban? and the class schedule at our center. The trial lesson is free – sign up on our Contact page or call or message us on Zalo at 096.802.8484.

Frequently asked questions

What math should a 5-year-old learn?

At 5, children learn best through objects and games: counting objects correctly up to 20, counting back from 10, recognizing the numbers 0–10, seeing 1–5 objects and knowing how many at once, splitting 5 into 1 and 4 or 2 and 3, naming shapes and comparing more and fewer. About 5 minutes a day is enough.

What math does a child need to know before starting grade 1?

They don’t need to add and subtract up to 100. What helps most is counting and reading and writing 0–10, splitting and combining small numbers, knowing the basic shapes and above/below, left/right, being familiar with the days of the week and time to the hour, and staying on one task for 10–15 minutes.

Should my child study the grade 1 curriculum ahead of time?

There’s no need. Grade 1 math is taught from the beginning, and studying the whole book ahead often leaves children bored in class. Spend the time on number sense, putting their thinking into words and the habit of sitting down to learn – that is what school needs them to bring.

Is it a problem if my child still counts on their fingers in grade 1?

No. Fingers are a good tool when children are starting out. Play games like “quick fingers” and “10-friend” cards so your child gradually sees numbers in groups of 5 and 10 instead of counting one finger at a time.

Should my child learn soroban before starting grade 1?

They can, if they can count to 10, recognize the digits and sit for about 15 minutes. Soroban lets children see 5 and 10 clearly on the abacus and builds the habit of sitting down to learn. At Kodomo Soroban Center, the Kindergarten class takes children from age 5, with a free trial lesson.

Try a free soroban lesson

Classes of 3–5 children at Vinhomes Gardenia (Hanoi), 60 minutes each, taught exactly as in Japan. Phone · Zalo 096.802.8484.

Book a free trial

Kodomo Soroban Center – teaching team

Written by the teaching team of Kodomo Soroban Center, following the method and textbooks of Kodomo School (Japan, teaching soroban since 1976). The center is licensed by the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, and our project is a 2026 EDU-Port Nippon supported project of Japan’s Ministry of Education (MEXT).

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