1st grade math - what should I be asking?

[KrisM]

DS1 is in 1st grade. He likes math. A lot. Today, I happened to talk with an aquaintence who subbed for his room last week. She asked the kids to tell her a simple equation to get the number 58. They do this daily with different numbers, so the kids are used to it. DS1 said "2 plus 2 plus 1 times 12 minus 2".

In the car last week, he was asking me to quiz him on math, so I did. He knows most of the multiplication tables up to 6 really well. I asked him 'what is 64 divided by 8'. He said 8. I asked how he got the answer. He said "I know 5 times 12 is 60 and that leaves 4 left over. So, I made the 12s into 4s and found 16 4s that I turned into 8s and got 8 of them".

So, he likes math, and is good at it and is logically figuring out answers to things he hasn't learned.

He is bored with adding and subtracting in 1st. He needs the money part, the telling time part, and other parts, but the actual mathematics part is not challenging at all. I want to talk to his teacher about getting him working on more challenging things, but I don't really know what to ask for. I don't want him doing worksheets at home at a higher level. I could use some ideas before talking to her.

Thanks.

ETA: If you think I shouldn't ask for him to be challenged more, please let me know that, too!