Saturday, 19 September 2015

Article: Developing "Five-ness" in Kindergarten


              Janice Novakowski’s article pertains to children’s ability to understand 
at their own developmental level how a certain number of objects, in this case five can be representing in a number of different ways. The role of five including being able to count to five is essential in order for the children to understand how to count to ten.  In order to help children learn what five means they are given many ways to represent five from drawing to building blocks to using Popsicle sticks to create designs involving five. Children can also be asked to pretend that that have five objects, and to draw or craft them in a certain way. If they do not grasp this understanding a teacher can provide further examples.

               One of the activities that I thought was helpful in demonstrating number sense to the children came from a reading and arts activity. They were read, Ten Black Dots and afterwards created artwork around five black dots that had been placed on a sheet of paper. This allowed them to use their imaginations.  One child drew a snowman and another a house. Using literature in a meaningful way allows for number sense to be more likely to be understandable, as well as memorable for young children.  Learning is made fun rather than being a chore.

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