Jamie Mei Journal One Number sense NN, Numbers with Natalie The three big ideas in early

math on number sense include children understanding that: 1. Numbers are used in many ways; 2. Quantity is an attribute of a set of objects; 3. Small collections can be intuitively perceived without counting. The activities I did with Natalie, age 4, tested to see if she understood the three ideas on number sense. The name of the activity is called NN, Numbers with Natalie. The objective is to see whether a preschool aged child has grasped the concepts of number sense by testing her understanding of the three ideas. Most of the activity involves asking questions centralizing around the ideas. The materials needed are Sponge Bob Graham crackers (Natalies favorite afternoon snack). Regarding the first big idea, I will test to see is Natalie understands coordinal numbers and ordinal numbers. Regarding the second big idea, I will test to see if she understands numerosity which is seeing quantity. The third big idea I will be testing Natalie to see if she understands the concepts of perceptual subitizing and conceptual subitizing, which is seeing items 3 or less without counting and seeing items of 4 or more without counting, respectively. Activity: We sat on a children sized table, I poured out about 15 pieces of graham crackers on a plate. Me: How many Sponge crackers are there? Natalie picks up the crackers with Sponge Bob on it and hold it in one hand, counting as she sorts. Natalie: Um.. 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Seven! Me: Good job! Now, how many Patrick crackers are there? Put the Sponge Bob crackers down first. Natalie places the Sponge Bob crackers in a corner of the plate. She proceeds to count the Patrick crackers the same way.

Natalie: 1, 2, 3, 4. Four Patricks! Me: Very good Natalie! Are there more Sponge Bob crackers or Patrick crackers? Natalie: More Sponge Bob crackers. Me: Why do you say that? Natalie: Because there are 7 Bobs, and 4 Patricks. Me: What does that mean? Does it mean 7 is more than four? Natalie pushes the two piles together. Natalie: Yes, see? 7 is more than four. Me: Can you place the Patrick cracks first, the Sponge Bob crackers second, and the other ones last, on the plate. I pointed to the right side of the plate, this is the front. Natalie pushed the Patrick crackers to the right side of the plate. She then pushed the Sponge bob crackers to the middle of the plate, and the remaining 4 crackers all the way to left side of the plate. Me: Very good Natalie! So, who is first in line? Who is in the front of the line? Natalie: Patrick Me: Who is second in line? Who is after Patrick? Natalie: Bob Me: And who is last in line, who is after Bob? Natalie: Theres 2 Gary and Sandy, and Mr. Crab. Me: You are so smart Natalie! You can have 4 crackers, because your four years old. Natalie looked at the crackers, she chose one of each of the characters, counted out 4. She held the crackers in her hands and proceeded to eat them. Me: Natalie, how old is your sister? Natalie: 3 Me: So, how many crackers should she get? Natalie:3 Me: Can you get 3 and give it to her?

Natalie: um.. she only likes Sandy. Me: Its ok, just grab any three. Natalie grabs three crackers, runs to give it to her sister. Reflection Based on the activity, I conclude that Natalie has a good understanding of number sense. Regarding the first big idea, she understands coordinal numbers, when I asked her how many of each cracker and which is more or less, Sponge Bob crackers or Patrick crackers. She understands ordinal numbers, when I asked her to place the Patrick crackers first, Bob second, and the rest last. She was able to answer and manipulate the answers correctly. Regarding the second big idea, she understands numerosity, when I told her she can have four crackers because she is four. I asked her how old her sister is and to bring that many crackers to her sister, she said her sister is three years old and brought three crackers to her sister. She understood that she is 4 years old, thus she can have 4 crackers. Her sister is three years old, thus she can have 3 crackers. She saw age as a quantity and related to the same quantity of crackers. Regarding the last big idea, Natalie has the ability of perceptual subitizing, grabbing three crackers for her sister without counting. However, she still has to count out four crackers. Because Natalie answered and responded to my questions correctly, I conclude that she understands the basics of the three big ideas of number sense. What I would do differently, is to use crackers with no characters on it, or all having the same characters. That way I can see if she is actually sorting out the characters when counting. For example, when I told her she can have 4 crackers, she counted out one of each of the characters. If I were to change the crackers to be identical, perhaps she can just grab four crackers without counting.