1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,240 When I started teaching, I had the choice of kindergarten, third grade, or fifth 2 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:09,760 grade. And I was like, I'm not a math person. I think I'm just gonna do 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:14,960 kindergarten. I could definitely do kindergarten math, right? 4 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:25,560 Hello and welcome to Making Number Sense Makes Sense, a podcast for elementary 5 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:29,320 teachers, specifically early elementary teachers, looking to really make an 6 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:34,900 impact in the number sense of their students. There is a trend that I've seen 7 00:00:34,900 --> 00:00:40,120 going around of teachers asking other teachers what grade they teach and what 8 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:44,400 grade they would never teach. So lots of elementary teachers are like, oh I teach 9 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,920 fifth grade, oh I teach third grade, and when they say what grade would you never 10 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:54,200 teach, they say kindergarten. And a lot of times you're like, why? And it's I think 11 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:58,040 they think of it as like, oh these kids are so little, they need so much support. 12 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:04,800 But when you're actually in kindergarten, they're very capable and you think 13 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:10,000 that's kind of what we're gonna work on. The content itself isn't really that 14 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:15,880 hard. But if you think about letters in the alphabet, it's actually really hard 15 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:20,280 to teach somebody how to read. And in the similar way, it can be really hard to 16 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:25,360 teach people how to count, how to count correctly, and how to count accurately in 17 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:29,680 a way that will enable them to use that counting knowledge and build a number 18 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:34,320 sense so that they can use that information to solve problems, math 19 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:38,720 problems, any problems in the future. So as I said, I thought you know what, this 20 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:43,880 can be easy. I've got this pattern sorting, counting. I can definitely teach 21 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:49,320 this math. And so I'm there working on it and I notice that some kids are just 22 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:55,160 having a really hard time learning how to count. Like something that I'm saying is 23 00:01:55,160 --> 00:02:00,800 just not making sense. And I don't know, and I wasn't sure how to get them from 24 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:05,400 this I don't understand what you're talking about, to actually understanding 25 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:11,280 the concept of counting and the concept of number. So there started my deep dive 26 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:17,600 into early elementary math and how to teach kids how to count. So what I found 27 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:23,200 out is there's lots of different stages to counting. So in the next couple weeks, 28 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,920 I'm going to be going through each of those stages talking to you about what to 29 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:30,960 look for and what you can do to help students move from the counting stage 30 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:36,240 that they are at to the next counting stage. So counting can definitely be 31 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:41,120 tricky. And in a previous episode, I talked about the aspects of number if you 32 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,360 want to learn more about that. But the aspects of number are knowing the number 33 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:50,560 sequence, so the verbal, knowing the quantity. So if I say four, you know how 34 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:54,240 many that is, and the symbolic representation. So the squiggle of four 35 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:58,640 means those four objects, and you can count that high to know that that's what 36 00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:02,880 the name of that number is. And when you can develop those together, you can use 37 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:08,320 the strategy of counting to solve other problems. So the first stage of counting 38 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:13,440 that you might see is called an emergent counter. An emergent counter is a 39 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:18,240 little one, a student, who might be getting stuck on number words or sequences. 40 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:24,080 They might have a hard time matching numbers to objects and identifying the 41 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:28,720 number symbols and knowing what that quantity represents. So if you're working 42 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:34,160 with a student and you ask them to count something for you, you might see students 43 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:38,280 skipping numbers in the number sequence. So they might say one, two, six, four, ten, 44 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:44,080 and so on and so forth. You might see them saying more than one number when 45 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,160 counting objects. So if I have three objects and they get to the third, they might go 46 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:53,320 three, four, five instead of just saying one, two, three. You might also kind of 47 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:56,840 see them have, I call it the hover finger, where they just kind of move their 48 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:00,040 finger on top of the things that they're counting, but they're not actually 49 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:06,120 matching a numeral to a value. You might also see that they're not yet familiar 50 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:10,880 with common dot patterns, like the ones that you might see on a dice. If you're 51 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,880 seeing students as emergent counters, there are some things you can do to 52 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:19,960 support them in kind of solidifying that and moving to the next stage. So the 53 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,520 first thing that they will need to practice, well not the first thing, but 54 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,520 one of the things they'll need to practice is the number sequence to be 55 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:30,480 able to count high enough to know what the quantity of the collection that 56 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:34,280 you're trying to have them count is. So in a previous episode, I talked all about 57 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:38,080 things you can do for rope counting and that would be really helpful to look 58 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:42,000 back on, as well as some activities you can do for one-to-one correspondence to 59 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,680 help kids with the number sequence. So quickly lots of movement and counting 60 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,120 movement songs, counting songs, that kind of thing can really help students 61 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,360 learn the number sequence. The next thing they'll need to work on is developing 62 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,920 one-to-one correspondence. So ways that you can work on that, especially if 63 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,920 they're just emergent counters, is just kind of having them match different 64 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:06,320 quantities together to understand if I have one over here, you need one over 65 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:10,720 there, and there's lots of ways that you can do that. You can use cards, you can 66 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:15,360 use dice, you can have them just put things on top of others. This is also a 67 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:19,680 really great opportunity to bring in a lot of play. If you have a play kitchen, 68 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:24,440 you might say, oh I need to set the table for five of my friends, what will we need? 69 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:29,600 So for each friend, they would need to get a plate, a cup, and then they're 70 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:33,440 starting to match, okay one person needs one cup, needs one fork, or whatever 71 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:38,360 you're playing, each person will need one thing, and that can also help them kind 72 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:43,360 of understand the concept of one-to-one correspondence. Kids also really love 73 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:47,880 stories, so you might use a themed counting mat, I will link some down in 74 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:54,040 the description, and have them create stories around numbers and around 75 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:58,280 counting. So maybe you have a space scene and they have little astronaut 76 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:02,720 counters, and you might say okay five astronauts are in the rocket going to 77 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:07,280 space, can you get out five astronauts, and then they can work on counting five, 78 00:06:07,280 --> 00:06:10,480 and that's something you can do in small groups. So if you have a group of students 79 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:16,040 who are emergent counters and needing extra practice, that's a great way that 80 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,160 you can kind of monitor all of them at the same time. If you don't necessarily 81 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,360 have a play kitchen or have enough for everybody to be playing at the same time, 82 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,880 that's something you can also do to support your emergent counters. And while 83 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:32,440 working on that, take opportunities to do a lot of repetition of the numbers, and 84 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:39,760 matching the quantity to a numeral. And I don't necessarily mean having kids just 85 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:43,960 sit there and you know copy five a million times on a worksheet, that's not 86 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:48,000 what I'm saying, just kind of making it meaningful for them. So if I'm setting my 87 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:54,520 table again with five kids, I might have a number five card out, be like okay, this 88 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:59,080 is the number five, I have five friends. So with these five friends I need to get 89 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:05,080 my five plates, my five forks, my five cups. And then they can start to kind of 90 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:09,760 put those things together, the number sequence, the quantity, and the written 91 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:14,880 numeral. And something that can be really helpful for students at this point is 92 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:20,600 for them to kind of keep track or set goals for their accounting. Now, especially 93 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,560 at the beginning of the year, they might not even know what goal they're working 94 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:30,280 on. So this is where it can be really helpful to bring in a visual goal setting 95 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:35,440 chart or sheet so kids can know what it is that they're working on. I will put a 96 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:39,760 link in the show notes to examples of this and kind of how to use a goal 97 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:45,920 setting sheet. But this can be really helpful for motivating students into 98 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:49,720 wanting to learn how to count. And these goal setting sheets are not 99 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:54,120 necessarily for the whole class to see where everybody is. It's really a 100 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:58,160 chance for that student to be able to reflect on their own learning and know 101 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:02,120 what they're working towards with you. And that's something that you guys can 102 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:06,240 keep checking on and growing on. And positive momentum in those little goals 103 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:11,000 helps kids keep going and want to accomplish the next goal and the next 104 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,960 goal. So it's really setting them on a trajectory of I don't know this yet, but 105 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:18,840 I'm going to learn and I'm gonna have fun while I'm doing it. Because especially 106 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:22,160 in kindergarten with an emergent counter, if you have emergent counters in 107 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:27,920 kindergarten, it should be fun. They're still kids. They're little. I really love 108 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,920 to see kids having fun and especially in math math is definitely a place where 109 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:36,280 kids can have a lot of fun. We want them to keep that love of math and love of 110 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:42,240 learning throughout the year and beyond. So this was emergent counters. Students 111 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:45,560 who don't yet know the number sequence might still be still having trouble with 112 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:48,960 one-to-one correspondence and might have trouble remembering the numeral 113 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:54,000 symbols, which can often be the trickiest part for them to learn. So next week, I'll 114 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,360 move on to the next stage. If you have a minute you've been enjoying the podcast, 115 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:02,280 I would love if you can leave a review to let me know what you're liking, what 116 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:06,600 you'd like to see from me next. I also have a link in the show notes to a Google 117 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:10,600 form. If there's an episode I did that you'd like more information on, maybe like 118 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:16,440 a part two, you can leave me all of the suggestions at the Google form in the 119 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:21,720 link in the show notes. Until next time, keep counting everyone!