Making Numbers Make Sense

Counting and Cardinality in kindergarten, is more than just numbers in order - it's the foundation for a concept called cardinality, which is one of the most important building blocks for future math success. 

What is Counting and Cardinality? 

• Counting is the ability to recite numbers in the correct order and match each number to an object (one-to-one correspondence).
• Cardinality is the understanding that the last number said when counting a group of objects tells "how many" are in that group. For example, if a child counts five blocks and says "1,2,3,4,5." then understands there are five blocks total, they have grasped cardinality.

Why is Cardinality so important?

Cardinality helps children make the leap from rote counting to understanding numbers as quantities. Without this understanding, numbers are just words in a sequence. With it, children begin to see numbers as meaningful. which supports more advanced math concepts such as addition, subtraction, and place value. 

I love teaching Math in kindergarten - math is all around us, in everything we do! We start out our day by counting how many of us are at school and how many of us are home that day. This starts out a great addition/subtraction conversation. Sometimes we count children, sometimes we use our 100 chart and at times we use our number line. We add a day to our calendar, we have numbers on our floor to line up...numbers, counting is everywhere! We graph how we get home, how many boys and girls are here - the students love to graph - (sometimes we use our pocket chart and sometimes I will put it on the screen. All About Me Graphing

A great way to teach counting are manipulatives. Get some counting bears, dinosaurs - your students will love to count, sort, graph, build and play. Make sure you give them a lot of time to first explore before using them as "math tools." I like to give them ten frames, five frames, egg cartons so they can organize their objects. 

Play dough is also a favorite! Put out Math Mats to create easy centers for exploration. 

Build that strong foundation so addition and subtraction will come easier to your students. Here is an apple math mat for the fall. Add a marker and you are ready to go!

 Here are more Math centers for the fall to get you started: (Click on the picture to check it out!)