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Subitizing with Dice Games - What Could be Easier?

5/10/2019

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Subitizing is such an important early number skill. When Early Years teachers begin Number Talks, they often begin with dot cards that encourage children to see patterns in groups of dots (rather than having to count each dot individually). The Early Years Number Talk Starter Pack that I first shared about this time last year has FREE dot cards to get you started (click the dot cards to download this 60 page resource if you haven't already).
I was demonstrating Number Talks in some early years classes recently, however, and I quickly realised that while my dinosaur egg subitizing cards were a hit, the fact that they had 6/7/8 dots on them meant that they were too difficult for the classes I was working with. Chatting with the teachers afterwards, I recommended dice games. Rolling dice and beginning to recognise the familiar dot patterns on them is an excellent way to encourage subitising for all children - but especially when children are just beginning to learn to subitize. 
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If your class needs practice with early subitising skills, click the link above left for a FREE sample with 2 dice games, as well as a fun Number Recognition listening activity. Like most of the math resource I've been making this year, these are all dinosaur themed (who doesn't love a dinosaur?).

The first dice game in this resource has children roll a single die and trace the correct numeral. Easy, fun counting - but eventually subitising - practice. The second game has children practice adding one to the number they've rolled. Children may well start by counting the dots each roll, but they'll soon progress to recognising the dot patterns and the associated number. 

The listening activity that is also included is always a favourite, and it lets you target both number recognition and listening skills. You call out a number and a color (instructions are given, although you can always make up your own), and  the children have to trace (or colour) that number using the color you've specified. 

If you like these free sample games and the listening activity, the complete (60+ page)resource is available by clicking on the first picture on the left below:
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Numbers to 10 with Dinosaurs!

1/9/2019

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My Early Years classes have always loved dinosaurs, and this year is no exception. So Numbers to 10 with Dinosaurs has been updated and is ready to go! 

As always, when children are working with numbers, they need both concrete practice (with manipulatives) and representational (picture) practice - and both should be linked to the abstract (the numeral itself). 

I love Dot Cards in the Early Years - they are such a powerful way to build number sense in young children (see any of my Number Talk posts - and go here if you want a FREE set of dot cards for your own class). I also wanted my classes to have practice with Numbers to 10 at a concrete level - how to do both? 

Well - you can have your class make their own Dot Cards for each number, cutting out and coloring Dinosaur Eggs to fill 10 frames in different ways. The act of cutting out and moving the eggs makes this activity concrete, rather than purely representational - something we should always be looking to do where possible. As an added bonus, classes get some fine motor practice as well! 

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My T-Rex Numbers to 10 booklet (picture at the top) has always been a great 'fast finisher' job. There are 2 pages for each number, and it works really well printed as a booklet. Detailed instructions are given in the file if you want smaller booklets, with only 1 of the 2 pages (so you don't have to think about which pages to print yourself!). 
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Every early years classroom I've taught in has had children who needed different levels of support and challenge. And that can be tricky! Over the years, I've made a variety of different Numbers to 10 Dinosaur-themed printables that let children practice different skills, depending on where they are in their own development. This file has 10 different printables, which target a variety of skills and knowledge, including number recognition, number matching, number amounts, early addition and early pre-subtraction skills. And including a dinosaur or a dinosaur egg on a printable never hurts! 

I hope the start of your school year is going well! If you are interested in this Dinosaur Number to 10 pack, click on any of the pictures...

And if you haven't already started to Count the School Days, it isn't too late to begin! You can get everything you need in this (FREE!) pack. 
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Independent Learning

29/6/2015

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Although I always thought I'd prefer to teach older children, I've loved being in Primary 1. On Friday, I handed out all of the children's work (neatly organised into Literacy, Numeracy and IDL folders - pretty amazing for me!) for them to take home. Their most recent Daily Writing jotter will go to their new teacher, but all of their old jotters also went home with them. It was fun to watch the children look through their past work. They were all amazed and pleased at just how much they've learned this year. In no other stage is the progress so obvious and exciting.

Yet one of the most important skills they've begun to develop this year is something that can't be seen in a jotter. They are starting to become self-directed, or independent, learners. It isn't perfect, and many reminders are needed, but the beginnings are there.

As an early years teacher, I've encouraged independence by being consistent and continual repetition. Young children learn by imitating - so we need to make sure they have a solid foundation for 'productive imitation'. I also think they benefit greatly from some free time (we call it 'choosing time' in our class), where they are in the driver's seat and can choose what they want to do.

In the picture above, one of my kiddos is quizzing another on his volleyball words. The 'teacher' just recently passed volleyball words herself, so it was lovely to see her helping her classmate (while also having the words reinforced for herself). During reading groups, we always have flashcards with key words from our book, and the children have been practicing ball words with me all year. They have seen this teacher-pupil interaction repeatedly throughout the year, so they can take ownership of it themselves.

Similarly with our dot cards. The familiarity of the routine makes it easy for the children to reproduce it in their own play. In addition to this pair, another group of 4-5 children were gathered around another 'teacher' to guess how many dots. They can repeat these routines independently because they've seen and participated in them so many times.

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Numeracy and Number Sense

22/6/2015

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As the year ends, I've been thinking a lot about how I teach number sense in maths. As I've been in Primary 1 (kindergarten) this year, that is my main job in numeracy. I want my kiddos to go up to Primary 2 with a solid understanding of early numbers and how you can combine and take apart numbers in different ways.

One of the resources I've loved this year (and which I think has made a positive difference to the numeracy learning in my class) is dot cards. I first heard about dot cards on Math Coach's Corner, and I bought her dot card set on Teachers Pay Teachers to get started.

Primary ones need lots of experiences counting concrete objects. But you also want them to start being able to subitise - to see groups of objects as a group, rather than having to count each one individually. Dot cards are a great way to develop this skill in a fun way.

As you can see from the side of one of my cupboards below, there are dot card rings available for kids to use in my class. I keep some rings out for the kids and some with me, that I use during our mental maths time. The kids love playing 'teacher' with these rings, and quizzing each other on 'how many dots' they see.
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As part of our mental maths at least 2-3 times a week, I use a routine similar to the one found in Number Talks: Grades K-5 - Helping Children Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies. Using one of the sets of cards, I flash a card for a few seconds. My kids love the challenge of figuring out 'how many' when I've told them that they only get to see the card for one second!

When they know how many dots are on the card, they put a 'thumbs up' on their chest (so I don't have hands waving in faces and distracting others who are still thinking). I then have several kiddos tell me 'how many dots' they saw. Once we have several answers (or, when everyone is on the ball, only one correct answer), I get the children to tell me 'how they saw their number'. Hopefully, kids will see groups of dots and be able to add those groups together - for example, in the dot card ring furthest to the left, I'm pleased when my kids can tell me they saw 4 + 3 = 7, although someone else might tell me they see 6 black dots + 1 white dot makes 7 - also great thinking.

I always write up the sums they tell me they see, so we can see how many different ways there are to 'see' the groups of dots. When kids tell me that they counted all of the dots, we write up 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 7. Kids can see for themselves that counting gets the right answer, but that there are faster, more efficient ways to get there.

As I'll be moving to Primary 3 next year, I've been thinking about how to continue to use my dot cards to develop number sense in older kiddos. I suspect that some of my kids will benefit from some of the dot card sets I'm currently using with my almost-Primary 2s, while I'll need to have a think about how to develop subitising skills for older children who are working with larger numbers.
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    About Me

    I have taught from P1-P5 (K-4th grade). You'll find a variety of resources and ideas appropriate for these year groups as you explore this blog. I'm glad you are here and I hope you find activities, ideas or resources that are useful in your own class. 

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