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Tagged as: Subitizing
Subitize: The Ability to "See" Small Amounts
All children are born with an innate ability to perceive the difference between 1 and 2 objects. With support and experience, they can quickly perceive and name “how many” for collections of 3, 4, and 5 objects. This mathematical ability is called subitizing. From the Latin word meaning suddenly, the term subitize refers to the ability to "see" a small amount of objects and know “how many” there are instantly without counting.
Not all arrangements of the same number are equally easy to subitize — preschoolers will recognize that there are 5 dots quickly if they are arranged like the corners of a square with a dot in the middle, but may be slower or less sure if the 5 dots are in a straight line, particularly if they are very close together. Understanding that subitizing is innate is a good start, but experience matters, too. Children need many experiences of noticing and naming small quantities in a variety of arrangements to strengthen their number sense.
While it’s important that adults get to hear children count out loud, it’s also important that they acknowledge when children correctly identify a small amount without counting it at all.
The above are excerpts from the Collaborative's book Big Ideas of Early Mathematics: What Teachers of Young Children Need to Know (2014).
Browse our collection of resources tagged SUBITIZING.
Series: Focus on the Lesson
Making the Number Ten on a Rekenrek
March 17, 2021
A good sense of the number ten is critical for building young children’s reasoning strategies. Here we see kindergarteners making the number ten on a rekenrek, a tool with red and white beads in groups of 5s with 10 beads on each row.
- Topic: Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, Kindergarten
- Tags Rekenrek, Subitizing
Series: Focus on Play December 29, 2020
New Use of Quantity Cards for Remote Preschool Math Games
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: Book Ideas August 11, 2020
3 Children’s Books Where Small Numbers Matter
As children start using number words, they don’t always have a sense of what those words really mean. Early on, we guide children to develop a meaningful number sense by focusing on small numbers.
- Topic: Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Family Math, More Fewer Less, Pat Mora, Sergio Ruzzier, Subitizing, Tana Hoban, Two Mice, Uno Dos Tres/One Two Three
Series: Focus on Play June 7, 2020
Quantity Cards
En Español También. Quantity is a particular amount of something, expressed as a number. Quantity cards for young children can have pictures of small sets such as dots, finger patterns, or 5- or 10- frames. The ones we have available on our site use a variety of pictures or "suits," since matching quantities such as fingers and dots can help develop ideas about equivalence.
- Age/Grade Level: 1st Grade, Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags En Español, 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: Hear from the Experts October 21, 2019
Cardinality is Critical Preschool Concept with Barbara Sarnecka
After years of studying 3- and 4-year old children of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, Barbara Sarnecka has zeroed in on the importance of cardinality.
- Topic: Counting
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Cardinality, Promising Math, Subitizing
Series: Focus on Play April 29, 2019
A New Focus for Familiar Card Games
En Español También. Here you can download cards and simple-to-learn game ideas to help young children build their understanding of early math concepts such as cardinality, composing and comparing numbers, and allowing them to subitize.
- Topic: Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Cardinality, Dot cards, En Español, Equivalence, Family Math, Games, Play, Subitizing
Series: Focus on the Child January 29, 2019
Many Ways to See How Many with Number Sense Activities
Regardless of how high a preschooler can rote count, a child’s sense of what those numbers actually mean develops gradually. We call this understanding number sense, and it requires relating numbers to real quantities.
- Topic: Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Dot cards, Estimation, Gesture, Subitizing, Unifix Cubes
Series: Focus on Play September 26, 2018
The Match ‘Em All Game
This bingo-like game allows children to think about numbers in different ways. It focuses children on the attribute of quantity of small sets and helps them build a more robust number sense.
- Topic: Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Dice, Games, Subitizing, Unifix Cubes
Series: Focus on Play September 25, 2018
The Hoop Game
This game played with a hula hoop and bean bags demonstrates all the math that can be explored with a simple tossing game. Each round gives children practice seeing and naming smaller parts of a total number in a variety of ways.
- Topic: Number Sense
- Age/Grade Level: Kindergarten, Pre-K
- Tags Games, Subitizing
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