Counting and Beginning Number Sense

Learning Progression: Counting and Beginning Number Sense

Learning to count seems so easy, right? You begin by singing number songs and counting objects. However, did you know there is a learning progression to counting and that success in mathematics begins with developing a sense of number through counting and quantity? Often I have TK-K teachers or parents tell me that their child can count to 20, and they can, which is excellent. They think that because their child can count to 20 that they understand what 20 means. This is not always true. They need to develop the understanding that 20 has value. Counting from 1 to 10 or even 100 is helpful, but this skill alone is not the same as learning how to count. Students are great about reciting number names. For example, if you show the student a dice, and they will say “3". Then we ask them to count the dots to prove that there are six dots and they may say 1,4, 2. Students may even count correctly 1,2,3, but when asked to touch and/or move the objects as they count, they may touch two objects at a time or keep counting when they already have counted all the items. The child is relating a symbol to a number but does not understand that the word six, represents the value of six. Learning to count is way more complicated than we think. It is important that we take time as teachers/parents to understand and develop the important skills of learning to count and number sense in our students. Graham Fletcher is kind of a math genius, so please take the to watch the video above. The video will help you develop an understanding of the progression.