Unit Four: Connecting Numerals to Quantities
Go back to Unit Three: One-to-One Correspondence
Go back to Developing Preschool Number Sense
Learning Objective
- Learners will state an example of an assessment to figure out if a child can connect numerals to quantities.
What Is "Connecting Numerals to Quantities?"
When a child sees a numeral, states its name, and can find an according number of objects, the child has connected a numeral to its quantity. This is a skill that begins to develop in the preschool time period, and continues to develop through Kindergarten and beyond. By the end of preschool and before Kindergarten, children should have understandings of the numbers 0-10. This includes having the skills to connect numerals from 0-10 to their quantities. Common core standards require that children in Kindergarten go up to the number 20, so exposure to and practice with numbers in preschool is very important ("Number and Operations").
Classroom Integration
Music
(available on Spotify, iTunes, and other media sources) Add finger play movements to these songs to reinforce the "quantity" piece of this concept.
- "Five Little Ducks," by Raffi
- "Monkeys and the Alligator." by Dr. Jean
- "Five Little Monkeys"
- "One Potato, Two Potato," by Juice Music
- "Nick Nack Paddy Wack," by Juice Music
- "Five Little Speckled Logs," by Juice Music
- Explore the listed artists further for more great math and educational songs!
Numeral Dice
When children recognize numerals, use numeral dice during activities. You might have your students roll a die and make a certain number of play-dough cookies, show you that number of manipulatives, or have them roll the die and add that number of objects to their art project. This idea of using a die was mentioned in the last unit, so whatever activities you might do with dot dice you can also do with numeral dice. Here is an example of what you might do with a numeral die.
Teacher: "Roll the die."
Student (rolls die)
Teacher: "What number did you roll?"
Student: "Three!"
Teacher: "Can you show me three balls?"
Student: (quietly moves balls into a group) "Here they are."
Teacher: "Great! Can you show me how many balls there are?" (This is a good way to have students double-check and prove their work)
Student: "One, Two, Three!" (The child touched a ball for each number he said)
Teacher: "Excellent counting! You were very careful. I like how you touched a ball each time you said a new number."
At this point, the teacher and student can continue on with the game. The results of this activity are a good way to formatively assess students.
Ten Frame
The ten frame is a good tool to use when children are connecting numerals to quantities.
When using the ten frame, children place one object in each frame. Let's say for this activity, the children are using numeral cards, toy ___, and a ten frame. If the child chooses the number 4, their ten frame might look like this:
It might also look like this:
Both representations are acceptable because each object has its own spot, and both representations show the same number.
Ask the Child to Show Their Work
At the end of and during all of the above mentioned activities, ask the child many questions to check for understanding and to reinforce concepts. You might ask the child:
- What number did you make?
- Show me how many you have.
- Count the (object name) to make sure there are (number).
- Why do you have (insert number here) objects?
- How did you count?
- What do you notice?
How do we Assess Children?
It's one thing to notice and mentally recall a child's counting behavior, and another to actually record instances where the child shows their mathematical understanding. Assessment in the preschool classroom is quite formative, as it is developmentally appropriate to assess young children as they play and go about their daily routine.
For this assignment, describe a way in which you might assess a child's ability to connect numerals to quantities, from the number 0-10. Be as detailed as possible, explaining the activity or situation in which the assessment is to occur, and the way in which assessment data is recorded.
Next, describe how you might remediate a child who struggles with the activity. Let's pretend that this particular child recognizes the numerals 1-10, but can only produce quantities up to five. Explain three distinct ways in which you can reinforce number skills with this child.
Please submit your response in the Discussion page of this unit.