From our Foundation Classrooms

Numeracy  

This term Foundation students have been exploring their growing number sense. They have been connecting numerals/ symbols to quantities and to number words. They have been ordering numbers from zero up to ten. Students have shown they can represent collections using drawings, by placing counters in tens-frames, rolling dice and checking the numbers, sorting shapes and stacking Unifix Blocks.

We have also been building on our subitising skills - the ability to instantly recognise small amounts - in conventional configurations like on the face of dice, fingers, or by playing the Drop Game, where students drop a handful of coloured discs and count the collection of two colours.

Ask your child how to play the Drop Game they are MASTERS! 

Why does subitising matter?

This ability helps children develop their number sense and move beyond one-to-one counting. Careful counting will always be important in maths but subitising will help them increase efficiency and conceptual understanding as students go on to skip count by two, fives and tens.

How can you help at home?

-Quickly flash an amount of fingers or play board games with dice. 

-When you are walking along the street, point out house numbers on letter boxes. Ask your child what number comes next. What number comes before? What number was skipped?

-The shops are filled with numbers for children to point out. Foundation students still have an emerging number sense so positively praise your child when they can identify individual digits even if they are part of much larger numbers. Ask them to hold up that many fingers.

-At half time, have your child tell you the score or point out numbers they recognise.

Numeracy is where maths meets the every day. Ensuring children see all of the many places where numbers are used helps them understand how relevant math is. 

Building confidence, with lots of praise, supports a growth mindset.