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September 2004 PBS Ready To Learn is supported by a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Education, PR/Award Number R295A00002 Count

Numbers Pre K www.pbs.org/teachersource/prek2/theme/numbers.shtm K-2 www.pbs.org/teachersource/math/k-2_operations.shtm

Count! Ah, ah, ah! Throughout the early years of life, children notice and explore math in their world. They compare quantities, find patterns, navigate in space, and grapple with real problems such as balancing a tall block building or sharing a bowl of crackers fairly with a playmate. From the basics of shapes and numbers to more complex estimation and problem solving, you can sharpen your children’s math skills with resources from PBS Teachersource. This month on From The Start, explore math from shapes to solutions! Everyday on SESAME STREET, the Count is at his organ searching for the number of the day. After watching the count, then go on a trip to the grocery store with Feast For 10. Count to ten along with the family as they prepare their feast. Continue to examine numbers and counting as you toss caps into cans for an active math experience!

Web Resources:

VIEW: Sesame Street

Number of the Day Monday—Friday 7 a.m.

Each day Count von Count (aka the Count) sits at his organ and asks kids at home to guess what the number of the day will be as he plays each key. This segment can strengthen children’s understanding of what a written number looks like, and what it means.

What is the Number of the Day? Go to www.pbskids.org/sesame/number/index.html to play the "Number of the Day" game with the Count and find out!

Extend the learning…

Make the Count's Number of the Day your number of the day. If the number of the day is 9, find ways to highlight this number through everyday activities. Count 9 steps as children walk. See if they can count faster as they run! Find objects that add up to 9 in different ways. For example, three marbles, three bananas, and three pennies. 9 all together! Right before taking a nap, count sheep ~ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Still not sleepy? Count to 9 again!

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September 2004 PBS Ready To Learn is supported by a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Education, PR/Award Number R295A00002 Count

Pre-K Count on Clifford, Norman Bridwell Ten Black Dots, Donald Crews Over in the Meadow, A Counting Out Rhythm, Ezra Jack Keats K-2 How Much Is a Million? David M. Schwartz, Steven Kellogg (Illustrator) Big Buck Adventure, Shelley Gill, Deborah Tabola, Grace Lin (Illustrator)

READ: Feast For 10

By Cathryn Falwell Feast for Ten takes young readers on a trip to the grocery store and back home again through a family shopping experience every child can recall. What makes this book different is that it goes through the counting sequence twice—once while shopping and again on the arrival home where the big dinner is prepared. On the closing pages kids see the extended family gathered at the table enjoying the feast that all had a hand in preparing.

Other Recommended Books:

DO: Counting Caps

Children develop an awareness of their world by using their senses and their bodies. Giving them opportunities to learn new concepts using their bodies will help them build understanding in a meaningful way. You can help young children develop number sense, by creating active math games such as having them jump while they count. Children also need concrete objects to understand abstract ideas like what the number six means. This game involves concrete objects and allows children to “feel” math. Collect coffee cans ands caps from water bottles or milk jugs. (You can also use a bucket or half of a milk jug-be creative!) Use a marker to write a number on the outside of each can. For younger children, draw dots with the number to help them develop an understanding of what the numbers represent. Let children count the number of dots on each can. Then ask them to try to toss that many caps into the can. You can focus on one specific number (perhaps the number of the day) or have them count and toss from one all the way to ten. Happy counting!

Math is all around us. Every day as children play they are using mathematics without even realizing it. Don't believe it? Ask yourself these questions: At the grocery store, do they want to play with the scales? At home, do they like to pour water in and out of cups? Do they like to stack pots and pans? Sort things? Do they like to counttheir toys, their friends, or just about anything? You probably answered yes to many of these questions. These and many more everyday activities build your children's growing understanding of mathematics. Mathematics helps children make sense of the world around them and find meaning in the physical world. Through mathematics, children learn to understand their world in terms of numbers and shapes. They learn to reason, to connect ideas, and to think logically. Mathematics is more than the rules and operations we learned in school. It is about connections-seeing relationships in everything we do.

Number sense and numeration: Number sense is much more than merely counting, it involves the ability to think and work with numbers easily and to understand their uses and relationships. Number sense is about understanding the different uses for numbers (describe quantities and relationships, informational tools). Number sense is the ability to count accurately and competently, to be able to continue counting-or count on-from a specific number as well as to count backwards, to see relationships between numbers, and to be able to take a specific number apart and put it back together again. It is about counting, adding, and subtracting. Counting and becoming familiar with numbers will help your children understand all other aspects of math.

What parents can do:

Count anything and everything! Count real things to help children use their own experience with objects to better understand numbers. Therefore, one of the best math activities you can do with your children is to have them count real objects.

To help children learn to count accurately and efficiently, up and down:

• Point out that counting lets them know how many things there are in a group. • Point to the object as you recite each number name. • Use fingers to count. Put up a finger one at a time as you count it: fingers are tools

you always have with you. • Help your children count without skipping numbers or counting something twice.

To help children learn that numbers are used to describe quantities and relationships, encourage them to:

• Sort objects looking for similarities in either color, shape, or size. • Sort objects looking for differences, like which box is bigger.

Talk to your children about what numbers are used for, such as keeping score in a game, or finding an apartment or street address.

With your younger children count, "1 for me, 1 for you, 2 for me..." With your older children try counting items by 2s (2, 4, 6, ...) or by 5s (5, 10, 15, ...).

Have fun counting out loud anything that has quantity-food that you eat, stairs as you climb them, shoes as you put them away, or the number of times the phone rings before you are able to answer it.

Practice understanding quantities. Ask your child questions about which is bigger or smaller, who is taller or shorter, or which bag has more or fewer raisins.