Early Childhood Mathematics Number Readiness Chapter 6

“Because the concept of number is foundational to building more complex mathematical understandings, this chapter focuses on the importance of understanding children’s prenumber knowledge. It includes how to assess prenumber knowledge and how to develop quality teaching ideas to enhance prenumber concepts.”

“Emergent Mathematics”  To talk about the early experiences necessary to develop good mathematical knowledge.  Immersing children in mathematics, giving them an opportunity to interact with mathematical ideas in a very ‘hands-on way’.

Patterns & Combinations  Patterns are inherent in math and recognizing patterns are necessary if children are to acquire counting and number operations and early algebra skills.  Patterns should be experienced visually, auditorially, and kinesthetically.  Patterns should begin simply with an AB repetition.

Six Pre-Number Concepts Young children develop a sense of number through kinesthetic experiences. Children should acquire these prenumber concepts before formally working with numbers.  Classification: making decisions about certain attributes of objects and sorting them based on that classification.  Class Inclusion: to see relationships between groups at different levels. It is related to logical reasoning.  Number Inclusion: to understand the meaning of addition – the concept of putting things together.  Seriation: the ordering of objects and events. Child must make comparisons and decisions about differences.  Number Conservation: the ability to maintain the equivalence of sets despite their arrangement and have conversations about what they see.  Set Equivalence: Child must form an equivalent set and be able to match sets for equivalence.

Building The Concept of Number Number Relationships Young children must experience 7 essential relationships to build mathematical understanding associated with number development. One-to-One Correspondence: between a set and the counting number. For example, placing one napkin to each family member. More, Less, and Same: making comparisons between numbers. Rote Counting: just being able to count without actually counting objects. No conceptual understanding. Rational Counting: to count with meaning. Counting (saying a number for each item/object) and understanding that the number you say for the last item represents the total of the objects in the set. Counting Sets: the child is shown a set of objects and is to write the number for that set. Counting On by Adding One More: using manipulatives, students can see you adding one more to the set. Numeral-Set Association: children recognize the various representations of a number.

Technology and Young Children  It is the careful selection of developmentally appropriate Internet activities, computer software, and calculators that makes the difference in what young children can understand and accomplish.

Calculators  Some calculators can be used for counting by having the child count and push the equal key to see if the counting number matches the calculator display. –Make sure your calculator is on 0. –Press “+ 1 =“ on the calculator. –Press “=“ on the calculator as you count the set of objects.

Computers  Many computer programs are available for number recognition games, counting games, classification tasks, and exploring shapes and patterns.