Make practising counting and remembered facts part of your daily routine.
In order for children to develop fluency they need to have a daily routine where they practise:
- Counting;
- Remembered facts;
- Using number relationships to do calculations.
Children need the opportunity to:
- Talk mathematically;
- Discuss and solve problems;
- Be creative;
- Use reasoning skills.
Use the flik flak to practise number bonds
Look for patterns within numbers and help children understand that whole numbers are composed of smaller numbers e.g. fold the Digit Dog flik-flak in half as shown:
Ask:
How many dogs can you see altogether?
What else can you see? I can see 3 dogs with red hats and 3 dogs with green hats. Three and three more equal six altogether. I can see two groups of 3. I can see 2 groups of 2 and 2 groups of 1.
Repeat by folding the flik-flak in other ways.
Now what can you see? What do you notice?
How many with red hats? How many with green? How many altogether?
How many on the top row? How many on the bottom? How many altogether?
I can see 8 with one missing.
Use the flik-flak as a quick way to practise number bonds to 10 (the pairs of numbers that add togther to make 10).
Show children the flik-flak and ask:
“How many dogs can you see?” “How did you count them?”
Explore the numbers of dogs in each row and column. Ask questions such as “Which row has most dogs?” “Which row has the fewest dogs?” “Which row has one more than the bottom row?”
Explore the groups of dogs you can see. I can see 5 dogs on the top half and 5 dogs on the bottom, 5 + 5 = 10. I can see 5 with red hats and 5 with green 5 plus 5 equals 10. I can see a group of 7 in the middle and 3 others, I can see 4 on one side and 6 on the other.
Before continuing, make sure children are confident that there are 10 dogs altogether.
Fold the flik-flak:
Ask:
How many dogs can you see now?
How many dogs are hidden? How many dogs can’t you see?
How do you know? Explain your thinking.
“How many dogs altogether?”
You want children to realise that they know there are 10 dogs altogether, that they can see 5 of them and need to work out how many of the dogs they can’t see. They might:
- Count on from 5 to 10
- Take away the 5 from 10
- Use or visualise the Numicon shapes
- Use their knowledge that 5 and 5 equals 10
Expect children to explain their thinking.
Fold the flik-flak in a different way:
Ask the same questions.
“How many dogs can you see now?”
“How many dogs are hidden?” “How do you know?” “Explain your thinking”.
“How many dogs altogether?”
Keep folding the flik-flak to explore all the combinations of numbers to make 10.
Digit Dog Challenges 