And a close up of one of them...
* Children chose the numbers they wanted instead of me choosing which numbers to use. Mainly because all the numbers, with the exception of numeral one, need practice.
* Equal, more, and less are math terms we use daily. The older ones obviously grasp the concept, the 4 year old understood more but was challenged with coming up with a number less than. Which, not surprisingly...she understands adding sets but has more difficulty with subtracting from a set. Tends to go hand in hand. :-) The three year old needed help in both more and less but once we added in our fingers as manipulatives he was successful. We kept it short and sweet for him and did only two numbers. We did three numbers with the 4 year old and four numbers with the 5 year olds.
* Stickers easily make an activity theme related and adds a nice fine motor component. You could have your child use stamps as a variation if you desired. I know stickers can add some expense!
* When children are forming the numbers, encourage proper formation. Either write the number on a scrap paper to show them or use tactile numbers to trace. I always sing part of the number formation song as we write it. Hand over hand is quite appropriate if need be.
* I did not suggest they do 1 more or 1 less. Any number they gave me that was more/less was acceptable. Allows for a little more "choice" in the activity. If you are introducing or working with a number line you may wish to do just one more or one less.
* Reinforce that "none" equals zero. At first I was disappointed when they chose the number one but it turned out well because we were able to reinforce the number zero. The kiddos who haven't been with me as long as the others needed that reinforcement.
* I did use the symbols for equal, more, and less. Do I expect them to remember the more/less symbols? Not really...but it helps with future learning. It'll look familiar to them when they enter grade school and they begin to see those symbols. The equal sign they all tend to remember because we use it so frequently and that will help with math facts and so on.
* Something I may change in the future: I may use a larger sheet so that there is room to write each numeral in the boxes, especially for the older ones. Get more number formation practice in.
* Something I'd keep the same: I had folded the paper and then traced on the folds with crayon to easily mark each box. That worked very well as a visual.
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