UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY

Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

NUMERACY DEVELOPMENT
SUBJECT CODE: ECE 006
TOPIC OR LESSON 3: Planning for Success: A Good Beginning
WEEK: 4
SUB-TOPIC/S:
1.1. What Do We Mean By Counting?
1.2. The Development of Children’s Counting Skills
1.3. Numbers as Symbols
1.4. Nursery Rhymes

OVERVIEW OF THE TOPIC

Numeracy is the ability to recognize and apply Math concepts in all areas of life. Everyday activities like
counting, looking at shapes and talking about sizes can help children develop early numeracy and Math
skills.

Children start learning numeracy skills from the time they’re born. This learning happens from watching
and experiencing numeracy in action, especially in everyday play and activities.

This module will help you obtain a better understanding on how young children develop their counting
skills. It will also discuss numbers as symbols and its types. Moreover, you will be familiar with the
different nursery rhymes, factions and number sense.

LEARNING
OUTCOMES
Students are expected to demonstrate better understanding of the different strategies to encourage learners
to learn Math.

LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

a. Develop the concept of numbers and counting skills.

b. Memorize and recite some nursery rhymes.

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 ENGAGE

At a very young age, we learn the process of counting. Do you still remember how did you learn
counting? Ask your parents or guardians about the different ways they did in order for you to learn
counting.
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EXPLORE

Watch the video DIY One to One Correspondence Kids Activities, Homemade Rational Counting
Games for Preschoolers using the link https://youtu.be/praKs3RVBqo

Then, write what you have learned on the video.

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EXPLAIN

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY COUNTING?

Counting is the skill of matching set of objects with their corresponding number name . This is
sometimes referred to as one to one correspondence. It is the ability to count 1, 2, 3, while distinguishing
that there are indeed three objects that were counted, no more and no less.

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 Counting also means to take an account of a group of items to come up with the total.
Preschoolers love to count. They relish in participating in counting games, songs, and rhymes, but to truly
be capable counters, children must be able to do much more than simply recite 1, 2, 3, and so on.

The Five Stages of Teaching Counting

1. STABLE ORDER

Stable order is rote counting in the correct order using number names. It is basic 1, 2, 3, 4,
and so on. When a child is developing stable order counting skills he may skip numbers, 1, 2, 3, 5,
6… or may use the same number more than once, 1, 2, 3, 2…

2. ONE-TO-ONE CORRESPONDENCE

One-to-one correspondence is the understanding that each item is counted only once and
one at a time. For example, when counting a set of counting bears , the child does not count any
one bear twice and does not count any bear with another, assigning the same number.

3. CARDINALLY
Cardinally is the understanding that counting is quantitative and the last number
named is the total of the group. For example, when a child is counting a group of five butterflies,
she counts 1, 2…5 with the understanding that the number of butterflies counted is five, not any
of the previous numbers counted.

4. ORDER IRRELEVANT
The order of counting does not affect the total. For example, when counting a line of
buttons, the buttons can be counted forward, backward, or in any order and the total amount will
remain the same.

5. ABSTRACTION
Eventually, children come to understand that both objects and ideas can be counted. One
example of this is actually in phonological awareness lessons where children are asked to listen for
and count words in sentences.

Counting is really important and here’s why...

Research continues to stress the importance of building strong mathematical foundations in
preschool because the skills a preschooler brings with them into kindergarten has a strong influence on
their trajectory through elementary school. Children who tend to have the highest math scores at the end
of first grade are the same children who come into kindergarten knowing how to recite and count to 20.

Unfortunately, some studies state that as few as 10% of children entering kindergarten have
proficient counting skills. The same study established that the reason for this might be because parents
often think it the teacher’s responsibility to teach counting , while the teachers pass the responsibility
to the parents. Despite who is actually responsible, there is no doubt that without adequate counting skills
children have little chance of being successful in mathematics.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN’S COUNTING SKILLS

Research suggest that toddlers - even as young as 12 months - have a sense of how many there
are in a set - up to around three objects. This comes from their innate sense of number.

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 Counting is learned when the toddler starts making the connection between this innate sense of
"how many there are" and the language we use to count "one, two, buckle my shoe". This is the first stage
in learning Math and it's the building block for many early concepts.

Here are some stages of learning to count that you may notice your child going through at ages 3 to 5:

 Recognizing how many objects are in a small set without counting. So if you show your child
four apples they won't have to count them to tell you there's four.

 Knowing the "number words" from one to ten and their order.

 Know the sequence regardless of which number they start on. So if you say "start counting at
four" they will count "four, five . . .” as opposed to always counting from one.

 Conservation of quantity - This is where children realize that the number of objects in a set stays
the same unless any are added or removed. So if they count six cans of beans in a straight line,
then you rearrange the beans (in front of their eyes) into say two stacks of three - they will realize
there's still six without recounting.

 Counting non-visible objects - your child will realize they can count things they can't touch or
even see - such as sounds, members of someone else's family, or even ideas.

 Cardinality - This is knowing that the last number counted is equal to the quantity of the set. If
your child counts six oranges 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and then you ask "how many oranges are there"?
They know that it is 6.

Play is the child’s main way of learning. Every day is an opportunity for toddlers and
preschoolers to encounter numbers. For example, they celebrate their birthday every year, they ask their
mom to buy them their favorite snacks in the grocery store and many other more.

Some of the earliest language experiences come from various nursery rhymes and counting
books. Many songs are available as illustrated books to add pictures to the lyrics. Some of the most
common rhymes include the following:

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

One, two buckle my shoe.
Three, four, shut the door.
Five, six, pickup sticks.
Seven. Eight, shut the gate.
Nine, ten, a big fat hen.

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Baa, baa, black sheep.
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir
Three bags full.
One for my master,
One for my dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives in the lane.

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 Over in the Meadow
One in the meadow, in the sand, in the sun,
Loved an old mother frog and her little froggie one.
“Croak!” said the mother, “I croak”, said the one,
So they croaked and they croacked in the sand, in the sun.
Over in the meadow, in the stream so blue,
Lived an old mother fish and her little fishes two.
“Swim!” said the mother; “We swim!” said the two,
So they swam and they swam in the stream so blue.

Over the meadow, on a branch of the tree,

Lived an old mother bird and her little birdies three.
“Sing!” said the mother, “We sing!” said the three,
So they sang and they sang on a branch of the tree.

Everyday Household Chores

Children count objects around their house like their favorite toy cars, snacks, and learning
materials. They also count while making their meals, setting up the table and cleaning their toys. For
example, while making breakfast, children tend to count the number of pancakes cooked by their mother.
Children are detailed in telling their parents about they want like “I want 1 hotdog and an egg for
tomorrow” or “I want 2 boiled eggs and a cup of rice” for lunch. At the table, each person should have
one spoon, one plate, and a glass.

Picking up toys can be interesting if Math is integrated. The parents can ask children “How many
cars will fit in the garage? “How many toy people will fit in your new play set?” If guided accordingly,
children are disciplined to put their toys back to its place once done playing. Toys are organized, counted,
and sorted into the boxes. “All fruits and vegetables belong to this box/basket.” Clean up time can be a
math experience also. Let children count as they are cleaning their space and outing the things back to
their respective places.

Board Games
Board games are great tool for children to enjoy learning Mathematics such as Candy land,
Animal Crossing or Number Guess let children use number and critical thinking to have fun. Animal
Crossing and Number Guess from the book of games call Family Math (Stenmark, Thmpson, & Cossey,
1986). In Candy land, children use on or two-colored squares to make a move. In Animal Crossing, the
child shakes the die, labeled 1-2-3 to move around a circular grid. There are still a lot of different board
games children can choose from.

Number Guess is a game where each child covers a number from 1-9 after guessing whether the
number is greater or lesser, “Is the number greater than ________.”, “Is the number less than _______.”
Family Math is more applicable from Key Stage 1 or K through three.

100th Day of School

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 Like in other subjects where the first 100 days of the baby is discussed to determine whether the
child is malnourished and provide early intervention. Mathematics also integrates activities related to
counting 100. Teachers can purchase 100 straws and fins three coffee cans or three large plastic cups.
Adding machine tape is used to write the numeral of each day when children actually attend class.
Weekends, holidays and snow days are not counted. Each day, one straw is placed into a cup marked as
“1s”. When 10 straws are in the cup, they are bundled and moved to the “10s” cup. This regrouping from
1s to 10s continues until there are ten “10s” bundles.

Toddlers and preschoolers: tips for building numeracy skills

Talking, everyday activities, play and reading help your child develop communication,
imagination and other skills for understanding maths concepts. Here are some ideas.

Ideas for talking

 Use Math concepts to describe what you and your child are seeing and doing together. For
example, “Look at the fast cars” or “This bag is heavy”.
 When you’re preparing food, talk about what you’re doing. For example, “I’m cutting this orange
in half” or “let’s share these sultanas – one for me and one for you”.
 Point out and name the numbers you see, like the numbers on mailboxes, buses and road signs.
 When you’re out and about, talk about what’s near or further away. For example, “let’s sit on that
bench nearby to have our snack” or “It’s quite far to the lake. Would you like to ride in the
stroller?”
 Talk about activities that happen at certain times of the day. For example, “We eat breakfast at 7
am”, or “let’s go to the park before we have dinner at 6 pm”.

Ideas for everyday activities

 Make counting part of your everyday life. For example, count shells at the beach, fruit at the shop
and trees on the street. Or count toys together as your child packs them away.
 When you’re out and about, encourage your child to describe or compare shapes of leaves,
colours of flowers or sizes of birds.
 Go for a walk down your street and point out how each house or block has a number in a series.
Guess the number of steps between one house and the next.
 Use a growth chart or marks on a wall to measure your child’s growing height, and describe to
your child what you’re doing.
 Involve your child in cooking. Your child can help stir, pour, fill and mix. This helps your child
get familiar with concepts like counting, measuring, adding and estimating.

Ideas for play

 Go for a nature walk and let your child gather a mix of leaves, sticks, pebbles and other natural
items. Your child can sort them into groups based on size, colour, shape or what they do.
 Sing songs and read books with repeating, rhyming or rhythmic numbers. This will help your
child understand patterns.
 Play simple board games, card games and puzzles with shapes and numbers, like “Snap”, or
matching pairs or dominoes.
 Play outside games like “I spy”, hopscotch, and skittles and “what’s the time Mr Wolf”.

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  Play or sing music at different speeds. Your child can dance, jump or shake musical instruments
to slow or fast songs. Sing nursery rhymes slowly and then speed up.
 Race toy cars and talk about which came first, second or third.
 Help your child to arrange their toys in order from shortest to tallest.

NUMBERS AS SYMBOLS

Every one of us uses numbers in our day to day life. They are often called numerals. A number is
an arithmetic value used for representing the quantity and used in making calculations. Numerals are
the written symbols 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Without numbers, we cannot count things, tell time, and date
and calculate money. Human beings have been using numbers to count things from the past generations
until now. These numbers are used for measurement and for labeling. The counting numbers start from 1
and it goes till infinity. Young children develop the awareness of the name of symbols and its number
value.

Example:
If the teacher shows the picture to the children, they will say “There is one yellow butterfly”;
“There are 4 butterflies-2 purple and 2 red butterflies.”

The concept of ZERO serves as placeholder in the place value number system. The number 0 acts
as an additive identity for the real numbers and other algebraic structures. We use the number “0” to mean
nothing. For example, there were 5 apples, but now there are none. To represent nothing, we can use zero.

TYPES OF NUMBERS

 Even Numbers
- The numbers which are exactly divisible by 2.

 Odd Numbers
- The numbers which are not exactly divisible by 2.

 Prime Numbers
- Prime numbers are the numbers that have two factors only.

 Composite Numbers
- Composite number is a number that has more than two factors.

When the time is right, teachers use a number of mediums to help the process. These include the
following:

 Tracing a finger over sandpaper numerals

 Forming the numerals with clay
 Tracing the numerals using templates
 Forming the letters in wet sand or salt
 Forming the numerals on a chalkboard using a piece of wet sponge
 Following teacher’s directions using cue words, such as “9 is a balloon and a stick”
 Tracing the numerals by connecting dots on primary writing paper

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 ELABORA
TE
Choose one nursery rhyme from our module. Explain how this nursery rhyme helps your learners
develop their counting skills. Write also your guidelines on how you will integrate this nursery
rhyme in teaching a particular Math lesson.

EVALUAT
E
Create one manipulative/instructional material on how you can teach one to one correspondence.
Take a picture of that material and explain how you will use that in class.

SCOR
RUBRIC FOR EVALUATION E
3– The explanation is 2 – The explanation 1– The explanation is 0.5 – The 0–
RELEVAN

directly relevant to is relevant to the quite relevant to the explanation is not Has no
the topic. Every detail topic. Most of the topic. Only few of the clear and has a very explanation
CE

points toward the details contribute to details contribute to rough transition of

topic. the development of the development of the idea. The details are
the topic. topic. not relevant to the
topic.
3– The explanation 2– The explanation 1– The explanation 0.5 – The 0–
EVIDEN

ARGUM

shows at least 9 shows at least 6 to 8 shows at 3 to 5 explanation shows at Has no

CE/

correct/valid correct/valid correct/valid evidences most 2 correct/valid explanation

evidences to support evidences to support to support his/her evidences to support
his/her answer. his/her answer. answer. his/her answer.

2– The explanation is 1.5 – The 1– The explanation is 0.5 – The 0–

CLARITY

clear, has a very good explanation is clear, somewhat clear and explanation is not Has no
flow of discussion, has a good transition, has a rough transition clear and has a very explanation
every detail is most of the details from one idea to rough transition of
connected to each are connected to each another. ideas.
other. other.
2– The explanation 1.5 – The 1– The explanation 1.5 – The 0–
TECHNI-
CALITY

has no error in explanation has 1 to has 3 to 4 errors in explanation has at Has no

grammar, spelling, 2 errors in grammar, grammar, spelling, and least 5 errors in explanation
and punctuations. spelling, and punctuations. grammar, spelling,
punctuations. and punctuations.

OVERALL SCORE:

REFERENC
ES
Early Childhood Mathematics Fifth Edition Susan Sperry Smith ISBN-13:978-0-13-261368-2.

Jones, W. G. (2001). Applying Psychology to the Teaching of Basic Math: A Case Study. Inquiry, 6(2),
60-65.

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Perry, A. B. (2004). Decreasing Math anxiety in college students. College Student Journal, 38(2), 321-
324.

Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy in the Early Years Foundation Stage Anita M. Hughes

Sokolowski, Moriah & Ansari, Daniel (2017). Who is afraid of math?

What is Math anxiety? And what can you do about it?
Retrieved from https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2017.00057.

Tobias, S., & Weissbrod, C. (1980). Anxiety and mathematics: an update. Harvard Educational Review,
50(1), 63-70.

ADDITIONAL
MATERIALS

Counting in Preschool
https://stayathomeeducator.com/counting-preschool-number-sense-guide/#:~:text=By
%20definition%2C%20counting%20means%20to,%2C%203%2C%20and%20so%20on.

Early Numeracy Skills: How to Develop Them

https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/play-learning/learning-ideas/early-numeracy

How children learn to count?

https://komodomath.com/blog/how-children-learn-counting-a-parents-guide

PREPARED BY:

Ms. Desiree S. Isidro

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