Week 5 – Pre-Number

Part 1-
The big ideas that came from the lecture and tutorial this week are Pre-number. Pre-
number is the term used for a person who is just starting out with their counting, eg:
sorting, matching, ordering and comparing. These are all skills that will be developed over
time.
For myself, sorting, matching and ordering were simple maths and is really easy to do,
however, comparing numbers was always my challenge. Now after learning all the different
skills associated with Pre- Numbers, I am confident that as a teacher, I will be able to teach
and support the children/ students when they are having trouble understanding.

Part 2 –
The mathematical skill of pre-number is the five counting principles which are:
1. One on one correspondence
2. Stable order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …. 9.
3. Cardinal principle
4. Abstraction
5. Order of irrelevance
The skill of number understanding is used best by showing the children/students a pattern.
The Caldwell pattern for younger children (Early Years and the junior school) is a pattern
that they can design themselves and then count how many of each colour or block shape
they have. Exploring patterns requires active involvement and physical involvement. Within
the language model students language and materials language is important as the
children/students are visual learners and can count anything that interests them.

Part 3 –
A common misconception that students have with pre-number is that thinking that just
counting one, two, three is enough and that it is all they need. However, children need to be
able to show that they can do the five counting principles. Another common misconception
is that they think all numbers are the same but need that visual to see the difference
between them all, eg: Quantity 5KG isn’t the same as 5L.

Part 4 –
The year level I have chosen for this skill of pre-number is Establish understanding of the
language and processes of counting by naming numbers in sequences, initially to and from 20,
moving from any starting point (ACMNA001 - Scootle) Elaboration - identifying the number
words in sequence, backwards and forwards, and reasoning with the number sequences,
establishing the language on which subsequent counting experiences can be built.

I chose this year level as it like many others, students need to use pre- number on a regular
basis. For the older students the use of pre-number can be used when doing an array or even a
picture graph.

The following URL from scootle is about number trains. The activity number trains is where the
younger students are able to put the trains carriages into sequence and once completed, the
train is able to take off.
www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/L2317/index.html

Part 5 –
Week 5 – Pre-Number

I have personally created this resource of reading and re-enacting. This resource is about
reading the students a book “The very hungry caterpillar- Eric Carle” once the book has been
shared as a class, the students with the help of the teacher will re enact the very hungry
caterpillar, adding on more food so all the students get to have a go. This activity links to literacy
– Interacting with others
Listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others in informal and
structured classroom situations(ACELY1646 - Scootle ) Elaboration - sequencing ideas in
spoken texts, retelling well known stories, retelling stories with picture cues, retelling information
using story maps

Part 6 –
1. When teaching Pre- number to students or small groups of children, it is important to
start off with familiar items to count.
2. Establish understanding of the language and processes of counting by naming numbers
in sequences, initially to and from 20, moving from any starting point (ACMNA001 -
Scootle) Elaboration - identifying the number words in sequence, backwards and
forwards, and reasoning with the number sequences, establishing the language on which
subsequent counting experiences can be built.
3.
A
B C
D E F
G H I J
K L M N O
P Q R S T U
V W X Y Z

Another example can be counting the letters in people’s name and their own.
R E N E E
Through this, the children are able to use colours to make patterns.