Numeracy Evening Reception

Numbers Recognising numbers Cardinality of numbers – how many in a set. One to one correspondence – items can be counted in any order but only one number for each item and that number refers to all the items that have been counted so far. Comparison – which number is bigger/smaller. Composition of numbers – how do we make a number e.g. three is made up of one and two.

Visual Aids Children need lots of visual aids to secure numbers and their meaning. In school for example we use: Unifix cubes Teddy bears Number lines Counting songs with pictures e.g. Five currant buns.

Unifix Cubes and Teddy Bears We use these to help children to visualise numbers and sums.

Take away a bun and add a penny. Five Currant Buns This song can be used for counting, addition and subtraction. Take away a bun and add a penny.

Addition in Reception We introduce the mathematical vocabulary add, plus, total, sum. We begin to develop a range of strategies such as: Adding two visual sets Using fingers, cubes or bears Number lines

How many bears will we have if we add both sets together? Adding Two Visual Sets There are four bears in this set There are two bears in this set How many bears will we have if we add both sets together? There are six bears so we know that 4 + 2 = 6

Number Bonds We begin to teach number bonds or number facts within 5. For example: 1 + 4 = 5 2 + 3 = 5

Subtraction in Reception We introduce the mathematical vocabulary take away, subtract, difference between. We use visual aids as with addition We use the idea of ‘what is left?’ We use lots of counting songs e.g. five little speckled frogs and five little men in a flying saucer

Counting Songs We sing five little speckled frogs regularly, to help give the song meaning we use visual aids on the IWB as well as our fingers. Children like singing them and they are learning at the same time!

Where do we start? We begin by taking away one, then two and move up from here. We use problems and real life stories to help children to visualise what it means to subtract.

Problems/Stories If we had a calculation: 5 – 2 = ? We might say “If I had 5 bears and gave two of them to my friend, how many bears would I have left?” 5 – 2 = 3 Then we would take away the two bears to give to a friend. We would begin by counting out 5 bears We would be left with 3 bears so 3 is the answer to our problem.

Problems/Stories Another way we might give the same problem is to say “I have 3 bears but I need 5 bears, how many more do I need?” This would be worked out in the same way, it is important that children are made aware of these different approaches and are clear that they mean the same thing.