Printable Subitizing Cards

We use these subitizing cards for many games in our classroom. This past week we invited children to play a 'roll and record' game. Using one die or two dice, children would roll, subitize or add, and cover that number on their card using a holiday trinket. Click on the image of the card to download your own copy of the four subitizing cards!

Cultivating a Classroom Space for Math Learning

“Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. 

Beginning makes the conditions perfect.” 

Alan Cohen 

As we head back into the school year many educators are working thoughtfully to create environments that are rich with math possibility. In Reggio Emilia the environment exists as the 'third teacher' inspiring, supporting, and extending children's learning in rich and complex ways. I have been contacted by many educators asking for advice on how to best set up their classroom and routines in order to create as many opportunities for authentic math as possible. This has inspired today's blog post - how to cultivate a math rich learning space for children at the beginning of another school year. (I recognize that many areas will have Covid restrictions and following the advice of your local health unit will be important as you plan for your programming.)

When I reflect upon my own math pedagogy and practice these are what I think stand out as mathematically meaningful for the educators, children and families that share our space. Although this check list isn't all inclusive, I thought it might spark some ideas to support and inspire as we enjoy the final weeks of summer and start back in our classroom with open eyes, minds and hearts this year.

 

1. Make math a part of every space in the classroom and child's school world. In the classroom are there math tools and materials available for use beyond a 'math center or math shelf'? Do children see how math relates to every subject in the space (e.g., how materials are sorted and stored on the toy shelf, how measurement is used when children decide on a size of paper to use for their project)? Can they translate math tools and ideas into other spaces in their immediate school world (e.g., see how math relates to their walks in the hallway or work in the gym)?

2. Ground and build math concepts into known objects for children. When introducing, extending or innovating a math idea is it organic and natural to the child's explorations and world? For example, it is more natural to engage children in an exploration of measurement if they measure things in their immediate world using the stick they are playing with, instead of using a standardized ruler (e.g., "Can you find something the same length as your stick in the yard?", "What is taller than your body?").

3. Use available math moments with children. In our classroom we have a large block of uninterrupted play each day. It's sometimes challenging to manage children, materials and activities during center time. However I try to engage with children as much as possible in the activities, and take on the role of 'play partner' together with them. When I am actively playing I am able to closely observe what they are saying and doing, helping me to identify and extend the rich math learning that is organically occurring (e.g., helping children to recognize why their tower keeps falling, using math terms when they equally share the play dough, introducing math terms as they discuss how many cars are in their parking lot).

4. Become a math role-model for children, families, and colleagues. Even if math isn't your favourite subject, how do you discuss it within your school and classroom? Are you excited by new activities and resources? Do you demonstrate a growth mindset? When mathematical situations arise with children that you aren't sure of, can you use these opportunities to showcase positive thinking and problem-solving? Share your new math learning with others - suggest articles and books you're reading and post these throughout your classroom to enhance documentation displays.

5. Find the math in everything. Many educators plan forward by choosing curriculum and programming expectations and then building activities to fulfill these. Try back-mapping activities from time to time; embrace child-centered, organic experiences and then deconstruct them in order to identify the rich math concepts and curriculum expectations that they utilize. You'll be surprised to find that math happens in almost every experience children have in the classroom.

6. Try looking at life through a mathematical lens. When planning invitations for learning in your classroom, see what math you can sneak in as well. Changing one or two elements of the experience might be enough to engage children in rich math. It reminds me of how I used to sneak veggies into my children's meals - a little can go a long way!

7. Collaborate mathematically with colleagues. Share new ideas and resources informally. It's easy and effective to create math invitations and activities and share these within your school or division. If every educator plans one or two activities and these are shared, children will benefit from many rich and interesting games and activities without the burden of planning and preparation it would take one educator to accomplish the same.

8. Record and celebrate your math moments. Help children, families, and colleagues recognize that math happens everywhere in the classroom by creating a documentation display with photos, anecdotal observations and connections to curriculum. This bulletin board can be built over the course of the school year as artifacts of learning are continually added by staff and students. Keep sticky notes nearby and invite observers to record their own ideas and share them by posting the notes within the documentation.

9. Engage families in joyful math with children outside of school. Consider ways that you can promote and extend math for children after school. Encouraging families to play math games and activities together with their children will not only provide children with additional meaningful math moments, but it may help older family members reconcile their fear or dislike of math. In our classroom we send home family math bags once a week. These are filled with math invitations and materials so that children and their families can play games inspired by our classroom work.

10. Build your collection of math stories, songs and games. Children love to sing, dance and play games. Ask colleagues to share their favourite games and activities, and use these to help with transitions and other 'math moments' throughout the day. Quite often the words in songs can easily be improvised to match something happening in your classroom, and many rich storybooks have mathematical elements and problems embedded within them that can inspire children.

Different Number Fonts

It's always interesting to see how children innovate math materials. This week we provided pages with the numbers 1 to 10 written in interesting fonts. We offered each child a dabber and two dice and encouraged them to create their own games.

Observing before interjecting allowed me to notice the amazing math repertoire children brought to their experiences as they manipulated the dice, examined the paper, made connections between the different representations of the numbers, and created their own games.

 

 

Click here for a copy of the number pages to use in your classroom! 

Roll and Stamp

Today's math activity encouraged children to subitize, add, and identify numbers. They used one or more dice to first roll and add. They then identified the sum on their 30 grid and stamped it to record it. 

Some children used multiple dice. These differed and provided the additional challenge of adding many numbers together to help build number sense!

Rolling to 20!

We placed a basket of dice (showing the numbers 1 to 20) and some ten frames out today. 

The children are so clever; they immediately began creating math games to play with these tools. 

"Let's roll and see who gets what number!"

"And then we can put them on the right spot on the ten frame."

Mrs. McLennan: "Where will you put the dice that don't fit on the ten frame?"

"Following the number that it goes behind!"

First to fill their ten frame wins the game!

"I know...we can use two ten frames to play the game. The first one is for 1 to 10 and the second one is for 11 to 20!"

Race to 100

We continued with our fun math games today in an effort to help children subitize and calculate simple addition by using dice. We placed a hundreds chart, a basket of dice, and some game pieces on a table for the children to use.

 

Each child got a game piece. Everyone started at the number 1 and took turns rolling dice in order to move their player forward. The children were challenged based on how many dice they used; it was easier to roll 1 dice as you only needed to recognize the dots representing the numbers 1 - 6. To make the game more challenging we used more dice for some children - as many as 5 - and the children had to calculate how many spaces to move by adding the dice together or counting all the dots.

 

 

This simple game had children identifying the numbers from 1 to 100, adding more than two digits together, identifying the faces of a die, recognizing patterns in the hundreds chart, and thinking about probability terms (e.g., "If I roll more than 1 die I have a greater chance of getting to 100 faster than you"). We are always amazed by the abilities and enthusiasm of our children!

Creating Addition Sentences Using Dice

We offered the children blank paper, dice, and pencils today and were interested to see what would happen when they visited this centre.

The children naturally began to toss the dice and write addition sentences!  We offered a large hundreds chart so they could refer to a model of a larger number that they were unfamiliar with writing.

Many children eagerly wrote their addition sentences, recognizing the number represented on the face of the die without counting (this is called subitizing)!

Some children even challenged themselves to add three and four digits by throwing three and four dice at a time! Wow!

It was so exciting and rewarding for us to observe that the children were able to add the numerals in their heads without counting the dice. Some children throwing four dice were able to add two and two together in order to represent four dice with a two digit equation. Amazing!