Foundational Math Topics
Age/Grade Levels
Content Formats
Series
Foundational Math Topic: Number Operations
When children focus on what happens when we join two sets together or separate a set into parts, they learn about how quantities change. When they have lots of experience comparing amounts, they become familiar with thinking about differences between sets. And when they have opportunities to see how a single large set can be composed of two or more smaller sets, they get comfortable with the fact that larger numbers contain smaller numbers. These ways of mentally modeling real situations are what we mean by number operations. Number and operations are key to many thought processes that occur in children's minds.
© Erikson Institute’s Early Math Collaborative. Reprinted from Big Ideas of Early Mathematics: What Teachers of Young Children Need to Know (2014), Pearson Education.
● A quantity (whole) can be decomposed into equal or unequal parts; the parts can be composed to form the whole.
● Sets can be compared using the attribute of numerosity, and ordered by more than, less than, and equal to.
● Sets can be changed by adding items (joining) or by taking some away (separating).
Series: Focus on Play
New Use of Quantity Cards for Remote Preschool Math Games
December 29, 2020
Whether teaching in-person with social distancing or online, the number one question we hear from teachers is how to adapt preschool math games for remote learning. Here are some game ideas that work equally well in person or online.
- Topic: Counting, Number Operations
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Family Math, Games, Play, Subitizing
Series: Focus on Play June 5, 2020
How to Adapt Math Card Games to Children’s Skill Level
En Español También. Card games provide meaningful practice of the basic number combinations. These common card games that children learn in school or at home can be revisited many times and can be adapted to children’s own math skills as they develop over time.
- Topic: Counting, Number Operations
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags En Español, Family Math, Games, Play, Subitizing
Series: Focus on the Lesson January 28, 2020
Launch Problem Solving with Understanding Using Three Reads
In this lesson launch, we see a third-grade teacher using reading comprehension strategies to help children understand a math story problem using a Three Reads strategy.
- Topic: Number Operations
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, Kindergarten
Series: Focus on the Child December 5, 2019
Egg Carton Story with Child 15
The math story this second grader solves is a change unknown story. There was a full carton of a dozen eggs but some were eaten, leaving only 3 eggs. After making sense of the problem, the child uses a counting up strategy to figure it out.
- Topic: Number Operations
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade
- Tags Child 15
Series: Focus on the Child December 4, 2019
Teddy Bear Picnic Math Stories with Child 15
A second-grade student solves a variety of addition and subtraction math stories. Using his fingers as math tools, he is able to solve the stories, even as what is known or unknown shifts.
- Topic: Number Operations
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade
- Tags Child 15
Series: Focus on the Child December 3, 2019
Capture It with Child 15
A second-grader works on basic number combinations as we see him playing a comparison card game, Capture It. He is accurate when comparing sums but is still developing his efficiency and flexibility, key indications of fluency.
- Topic: Number Operations
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade
- Tags Child 15
Series: Adult Learning February 25, 2019
Exploring Unit Block Relationships
Examining sets of unit blocks challenges educators to think about relationships of the blocks. A deeper understanding of the features of unit blocks empowers teachers to support children in ways that promote joyful math learning.
- Topic: Number Operations, Shape
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Blocks
Series: Focus on the Child November 17, 2018
Subtraction as the Inverse of Addition with Child 5
This second grader uses a known number combination (3 + 9) to solve a subtraction problem, showing an understanding of how addition and subtraction are related as inverse operations.
- Topic: Number Operations
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade
- Tags Child 5
Series: Book Ideas October 22, 2018
A Holiday with Too Many Tamales
How is it possible to have too many tamales? Well, Maria finds out in the holiday storybook Too Many Tamales by author Gary Soto.
- Topic: Number Operations
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Books, Family Math, Food, Gary Soto, Holiday, Seasonal, Too Many Tamales
Series: Book Ideas January 10, 2018
3 Children’s Books that Build an Understanding of Equivalency
Long before young children are writing equations with the equal sign, they are exploring how amounts that look different can actually be equivalent.
- Topic: Number Operations, Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags April Pulley Sayre, Balancing Act, Books, Ellen Stoll Walsh, Equivalence, Eve Merriam, One is a Snail Ten is a Crab, Twelve Ways to Get to Eleven