Knowing how many at a glance: a week of ready-to-teach maths

Five days of lessons for Foundation Number, all about subitising: knowing how many are in a small group without counting one by one. Print this pack and the week is prepared: each day has a one-page plan and a student worksheet, plus cut-out cards, a mini-check and every answer.

Start here: five minutes to Monday

1. Skim the week at a glance on the next page.
2. Print the five days. Each day is two A4 sheets: a plan and a worksheet.
3. Cut out the two card sheets once; the dot cards and finger cards are reused all week.
4. Open the free interactive unit on your board. Every plan tells you which picture to flash and when.
5. Teach straight from the plan. Timings, talk prompts, misconceptions and answers are all on the one page.

No maths background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each plan explains the idea in plain words, lists the misconceptions children bring, and gives model answers, so you can walk in and teach it.

One day, one lesson

The five lessons fill a week of maths, one short lesson of about 40 minutes a day. Run them in order: each day stands on the one before. Every lesson can also split into a quick warm-up and a main session if your timetable runs small blocks. At this age, keep it warm and playful: a few brief flashes do more than one long sitting.

The week at a glance

One short lesson a day for a week. Each day stands on the day before, so run them in order.

How the week builds

Day 1 flashes the smallest groups, one to three, that a child knows in an instant. Day 2 adds four and five through the familiar dice and domino faces. Day 3 shows those numbers on fingers, in more than one way, so a child learns that four is four however it is placed. Day 4 looks inside a group to see its parts, and Day 5 plays it all as a game. It grows alongside counting and naming numbers to 20, and it lays the felt sense of quantity that addition is later built on.

Materials for the week (one trip)

• From the classroom: scissors, pencils, this pack printed, and a few real dice or dominoes if you have them.
• From the craft box: a small tub of counters, buttons or bottle tops to make groups of up to five.
• Cut out once, use all week: the dot flash cards and the finger cards in this pack. No maths equipment to buy.

Dear families

This week in maths, Foundation is learning to see how many are in a small group without counting. It is called subitising, and it is one of the deepest building blocks of number. You can help in a few playful minutes a day.

Try this at home

• Flash your fingers for a moment, then hide them: how many did you show? Take turns.
• Play with a dice. Can your child say the face without counting the dots?
• Drop two, three or four buttons on the table. Cover them quickly and ask how many.
• Spot small groups out and about: two birds, three apples, five steps. Say the number, do not count.

My flash practice this week

Fill one row a day. Tick when your child knew how many without counting.

Printed from the free seegongsik Knowing how many at a glance teaching pack · seegongsik.com/au/foundation/number/AC9MFN02/pack

See it in a flash (1 to 3)

The week starts with the numbers a child already knows in an instant: one, two and three. Flash a small group, hide it, and ask how many, before there is any time to count. That instant knowing is subitising, and it is the whole point of the week.

We are learning to

• say how many are in a group of one, two or three without counting,
• trust the answer we see in a flash,
• notice the difference between seeing how many and counting them.

Success criteria

• I can say how many without counting, up to three.
• I can tell you that I saw it, I did not count it.

You need

The dot flash cards (cut-out sheet 1), one set for the teacher and a set per pair. A few counters or buttons. The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after flash and tell. Start Session B by flashing a few cards again, then go on to snap and say.

Watch for these ideas

• Counting the dots quietly under their breath: the flash is meant to stop counting, so keep it brief.
• Guessing wildly instead of looking: slow down, flash again, and let the pattern land.
• Thinking a bigger arrangement means more: two spread wide is still two.

Answers

• Write how many: 2, 1, 3, 2, 3 across the row of cards.
• Draw the dots: any two dots, then any three dots; the arrangement does not matter.
• Ring the threes: the three-dot cards are ringed; the ones and twos are left alone.

How many did you see?

Look at each group of dots. Write how many. Do not count them one by one — just see it.

Write how many

Draw the dots

Draw a group of 2 dots, then a group of 3 dots. You can put them anywhere.

Ring the threes

Put a ring around every card that shows 3.

Dice and dot patterns (4 and 5)

Four and five are harder to see in an instant than three, unless the dots sit in a pattern the child already knows. Dice and dominoes use the same faces over and over, so today the class learns to know four and five at a glance.

We are learning to

• know the dice face for four and for five without counting,
• read a domino as two small groups,
• say how many when the dots sit in a familiar pattern.

Success criteria

• I can name the dice face for four and five at a glance.
• I can say how many are on a domino.

You need

Real dice and dominoes if you have them, plus the dot flash cards (cut-out sheet 1). The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after four and five. Start Session B with quick faces.

Watch for these ideas

• Counting the pips one by one: the dice face is meant to be known whole, not counted.
• Mixing up four and five: five has the extra dot in the middle.
• Reading a domino as one big muddle: it is two small groups, each easy to see.

Answers

• Write the number: 4, 5, 3, 5, 4 across the row of dice.
• Ring every 5: the three five-faces are ringed; the fours and the three are left alone.
• Draw the pattern: a four face (corners) and a five face (corners with a middle dot).
• Dominoes: 3 and 2 make 5. 2 and 2 make 4. 4 and 1 make 5.

Know the dice faces

Say each face at a glance, then write the number.

Write the number on each dice

Ring every 5

Put a ring around every dice that shows 5.

Draw the dice pattern

Draw the four face, then the five face. Put the dots where a dice puts them.

How many on the domino?

Each domino has two groups. Write how many altogether.

Show it on fingers

Fingers are the pattern a child always carries with them, and five fingers give a natural anchor for five. Today children show four and five quickly, and in more than one way, so they learn that four stays four however it is placed.

We are learning to

• show four and five on our fingers at once, not one at a time,
• show the same number in more than one way,
• see that four is four however the dots are arranged.

Success criteria

• I can flash four and five on my fingers.
• I can say that four is still four when it looks different.

You need

The finger cards (cut-out sheet 2) and the dot flash cards (cut-out sheet 1). The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after four in many ways. Start Session B with partner flash.

Watch for these ideas

• Putting fingers up one at a time and counting: the aim is to show the whole number at once.
• Thinking a row of four is more than a square of four: moving them does not change how many.
• Losing track past four: five is the whole hand, a helpful anchor.

Answers

• How many fingers: 3, 4, 5, 2, 4 across the row of hands.
• Colour the fingers: four fingers coloured, then five fingers coloured.
• Ring the fours: the square, the row, the diamond and the L-shape are fours; the five-face is not.

Show it on fingers

Read each hand at a glance, then write how many fingers are up.

How many fingers?

Colour the fingers

Colour 4 fingers on the first hand and 5 fingers on the second.

Ring the fours

These dots are moved around. Put a ring around every card that shows 4.

See the parts inside

A bigger group is easier to know when you see it as smaller parts. Five is three and two; four is two and two. A child who sees the parts inside a group is quietly getting ready for addition.

We are learning to

• see a group of five as three and two,
• see a group of four as two and two,
• say the two parts that make a small number.

Success criteria

• I can see two smaller parts inside a bigger group.
• I can say that three and two make five.

You need

Counters in two colours, or the dot flash cards (cut-out sheet 1). The worksheet, one per child.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after see the parts. Start Session B with hidden part.

Watch for these ideas

• Counting all the dots again after the split: the point is to hold one part and see the other.
• Thinking a number has only one pair of parts: five is three and two, and also four and one.
• Forgetting the whole: after finding the parts, come back to how many altogether.

Answers

• Colour 3 of 5: two are left. Colour 2 of 4: two are left.
• Read the parts: 5 is 3 and 2. 4 is 2 and 2. 5 is 4 and 1.
• Draw 5 in two parts: any split that makes five, such as three and two or four and one.

See the parts inside

Every group has smaller parts hiding inside. Find them.

Colour a part

Here is 5. Colour any 3 dots. How many are not coloured? ____

Here is 4. Colour any 2 dots. How many are left? ____

Read the parts

The gold dots are one part, the blue dots are the other. Write the two parts.

Draw the parts

Draw 5 dots in two parts. Colour one part gold and one part blue.

The flash game

The last day gathers the week into a game. Dots, dice and fingers all flash by, and children say how many at a glance. Then the mini-check gives you a quick, warm picture of who can see the numbers to five without counting.

We are learning to

• say how many we see in a flash, up to five,
• read dots, dice and fingers all at a glance,
• show what we have learned this week.

Success criteria

• I can say how many I saw, up to five, without counting.
• I can do it for dots, dice and fingers.

You need

The dot flash cards and finger cards (cut-out sheets 1 and 2). The worksheet, one per child, and the mini-check (back of the pack).

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the flash game. Start Session B with the mini-check.

Watch for these ideas

• Counting when the picture stays up too long: keep the flash brief so seeing beats counting.
• Reading a dice differently from dots: the amount is the same, whatever the picture.
• Rushing past mistakes: a wrong call is fine, flash it again and let the pattern land.

Answers

• Warm up: 2, 5, 4, 3, 4 across the row of pictures.
• The flash game record varies: check each written number matches the card you flashed.
• My best number varies: any number the child can see quickly is a fine answer.

The flash game

Dots, dice or fingers — just say how many you see, then write it.

Warm up: write how many

Play the flash game

Your teacher flashes a card. Write how many you saw each time.

Dot and dice flash cards

Cut out the cards. To use them, flash one for just a moment, hide it, and ask how many. The brief flash is the point: it stops counting and lets the child see the amount at a glance. One set per pair is plenty.

Dot cards (dice arrangement)

Dot cards (another arrangement)

Dice cards

Teacher note: the same amount appears in two arrangements, so children learn that four is four however it is placed. These are the patterns the flash pictures use on screen.

Finger cards

Cut out the cards. Hold up a card, or copy it on your own fingers, and ask how many. Use them to show four and five quickly, and to show a number in more than one way (Days 3 and 5).

Show these fingers

A second set

Teacher note: five fingers is a whole hand, a natural anchor for five; four is a hand with the thumb tucked in.

What we know: seeing how many

Look at each picture. Say how many, then write it. Do not count one by one.

Answers and marking guide

Answers

Question 7: three gold and two blue make five. Question 8: the five-dot card is the one in the middle.

A quick three-level guide

Eight questions, four ideas. A child at standard names the amounts at a glance, up to five, and can see a five as its parts. At this age, watch how they answer as much as what they write: seeing beats counting.

Weekly class record

Jot a tick as you move around the room; the mini-check fills any gaps. A tick a day is plenty.

The five columns are the five days: see 1 to 3, know 4 and 5, show on fingers, see the parts, and the flash game.