When children have many opportunities to make and discuss comparisons, they become more competent with the procedural requirements of measurement. More →
Big Ideas
Many different attributes can be measured, even when measuring a single object.
Children who internalize the fact that a single object can be measured in different ways are more likely to think More →
A quantity (whole) can be decomposed into equal or unequal parts; the parts can be composed to form the whole.
An understanding of the parts-whole relationship within a set is a necessary foundation for operating on and with numbers. Children More →
Sets can be compared using the attribute of numerosity, and ordered by more than, less than, and equal to.
Some situations require comparing sets to answer the questions “how many more?” or “how many fewer?”. Cultivating an understanding of More →
Sets can be changed by adding items (joining) or by taking some away (separating).
Many problem situations involve change—adding to or taking away from a set. Such changes lend themselves to concrete models or More →
The quantity of a small collection can be intuitively perceived without counting.
Children are born with an ability to recognize sets of 1, 2, and 3 items, and with support, they can More →
Quantity is an attribute of a set of objects and we use numbers to name specific quantities.
Understanding of numerosity is central to number sense development. When children gain deeper knowledge of this Big Idea, they know More →
Numbers are used in many ways, some more mathematical than others.
At some point in their math development, children will begin to understand that numbers are not always for counting or More →
The same pattern structure can be found in many different forms.
Children must see all mathematics as a search for patterns, structure, and relationships, as a process of making sense of More →
Identifying the rule of a pattern brings predictability and allows one to make generalizations.
One way to think more precisely about how a pattern works is to identify its rule. This helps children begin More →