Post 5: What is subsitizing?

 Post 5: What is Subitizing?

Personal Objective: 

    I want to teach you all of what I said I would in my last blog. I am amazed at the latin word subitize which originates from the Latin word meaning suddenly, or “to suddenly recognize small quantities of a larger set without counting.” Its a skill that will easy teach pre k students how to recognize numbers and understand "how many" without counting. Moreover, they will understand to count on from a known patterned set, combine numbers from sets and further develop mathematical fluency. Also, we teach children to begin using patterns as they count and add/take away manipulatives, When math is made fun and children are provided with several and varied hands-on experiences with manipulatives and numbers in authentic ways children's flourish a love for math. They also develop a strong foundation on strong number sense and  have less anxiety about math and take more risks as mathematicians. 

Common Core Standard:

1. Counting & Cardinality Know number names and the count sequence CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.A.3 Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects). 2. Practice Count to tell the number of objects CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.B.4 Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.

3. Know number names and the count sequence PK.MATH.1. [NY-PK.CC.1.] Counts to 20

4. Counts to tell the number of objects PK.MATH.3. [NY-PK.CC.3.] Understands the relationship between numbers and quantities to 10, connects counting to cardinality 5. PK. MATH.3b. [NY-PK.CC.3b.] Explores and develops the concept that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted, (cardinality). The number of objects is the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they were counted.

Why is Subitizing Important? Math researchers have identified the ability to subitize as an important part of developing basic number sense skills. They’ve discovered that overall, when young children can see numbers in patterns, they also have stronger number sense skills.

Types of Subitizing: There are two components of subitizing; conceptual and perceptual.

Perceptual subitizing is instantly recognizing how many are in a small set, usually up to 4 or 5.

Conceptual subitizing is recognizing smaller groups within a larger set and adding those small groups together, such as two dots plus two dots equals four dots, or three dots and three dots makes six dots.

How to Teach Subitizing: When it comes to teaching your students how to subitize, it’s important to start with perceptual subitizing. Your students will be more successful if you ask them to recognize smaller sets first (From 1-5), before moving on to the larger sets like 6 and up. Conceptual subitizing is  is learned after the perceptual skill.

Subitizing Activities: Practice subitizing with a game, Quick Images from the math program Investigations. In this game you show cards with dot patterns quickly to the students in large group. The students have to identify how many dots they see without counting and hold up the corresponding number of fingers.

Other Activity:

0-20 Number Matching Game

A matching game using different representations of the numbers 0 to 20.

A. When teaching students to represent whole numbers from 0 to 20 in different forms.

The number forms include: standard form, written form, dots, pictorial model.

B. Print the cards on cardstock and cut them out. Then, use them in a variety of ways:

1. as a math center activity – students match the cards together by number.

2. as a ‘Go Fish’ game where the four number representations form a book.

3. as a random group generator – give each student a card. When they find their matches, they have their group of 4.

4. as a memory game – using a small number of cards, lay them facedown in a grid. Students turn over two cards. If they match (any of the number representations) they keep the cards. If not, they flip them back over. This can be played individually, with a partner or small group, or as a whole class.

Other Resources:

https://youtu.be/6yyz_OycV4A

https://youtu.be/j0ceWNFCuUQ

https://www.teachstarter.com/us/teaching-resource-collection/subitizing/

https://sites.google.com/site/numbersense11/subitizing

https://sites.google.com/site/numbersense11/counting

Teaching Subitizing

This site provides printable dot cards and other printable activities for teaching subitizing.  Teachers can find games to be played with dot cards and number talks based around these cards.  This site provides resources that fit the common core standards of Counting and Cardinality (K.CC.1, K.CC.4) and Number and Operations in Base Ten (1.NBT.1, 2.NBT.2).

Reflection:

I came across the word Subitizing and I had to research it. I was very intrigued and loved my findings. I can help my students with mad and expansion of their vocabulary. I also understand that  the basic foundation of math is understanding numbers and quantities. One of the best ways to develop these understandings, or number sense, is through handling objects and counting them by subsitizing!