Young children’s natural curiosity to learn about the world around them, make kindergarten a special place in which to develop number sense. In Kindergarten Math Groups, children are encouraged to explore numbers through sorting, patterning, and counting activities which provide them with rewarding experiences to foster the development of their number system.
The activities help children become fluent with number words in both forward and reverse order and to begin counting with numbers other than 1. They purposefully count objects and make comparisons between counts. These games give me an opportunity to assess their thinking.
The concepts of “more,” “less,” and “same” are basic relationships contributing to children’s overall understanding of a number. The activity was conducted in a spirit of inquiry and requests for explanations. “Can you show me how you know this group has less?’
By playing dice games, children start to recognize the dot arrangements on dice. Subitizing is one of the four interrelated aspects of early numerical knowledge. These activities encourage reflective thinking about patterns. Children will then begin to recognize larger amounts without counting, by finding smaller groups within larger amounts.
