What is Number Sense and How to Develop It For Early Learners
Number sense is a crucial part of child development, especially since it is a fundamental foundation for developing your child’s numeracy skills. But how do you define number sense, and how do you help your child develop it? What is Number Sense? Number sense refers to how a child understands, relates to, and connects with numbers. It goes beyond a simple understanding of numbers and leans toward becoming flexible with them. It allows them to understand how to use numbers simply by exploring them in fun, unique ways (through books or daily play) with the support of tutors, parents, and even their peers. Children with a strong number sense are highly likely to move beyond surface-level understanding or memorisation and gradually develop a strong grasp of mathematical concepts as they grow older. This would mean that children can provide reasons for their answers, ascertain number relationships, and make numerical predictions for various situations. A prior study from 1988 had indicated that babies have an innate number sense. The study found that babies could discern numerical quantities simply by looking at pictures of dots, and that their focus time differed when the number of dots changed. Further studies over the years have also found that number sense starts very early. It only shows that with meticulous teaching and support, a child can gradually expand their number sense in ways that support their personal development, including excelling academically and in their future careers. Components of Number Sense There are several core components that would be the foundation of number sense and all mathematical learning. Counting & Cardinality Not only are children able to count numbers in sequence, but they also understand that numbers come in a set order and can apply one-to-one correspondence, where objects and things possess numerical value. Meanwhile, cardinality teaches that rearranging a set of items does not change the total number; only the order of the items is altered. As such, five lines of four bean bags per line is the same as two lines of ten bean bags per line. Number Relationships Children can identify various number patterns and recognise small quantities without counting. They can understand the concept of addition and subtraction, and possibly even multiplication and division, with proper teaching to support their developing knowledge. They can even break down numbers into parts and reassemble them, like how 6 + 4 is the same as 8 + 2. Numerical Operations Children can learn to perform mental maths that helps them understand and subsequently solve problems, whether it is addition, subtraction, or a combination of operations. Magnitude & Quantity Children can understand the difference between high and low numbers (e.g., 10 and 1) and also compare, identify, and estimate various quantities. Estimations Children also learn to approximate numbers, such as rounding to specific place values. Real-World Applications Children can apply what they have learned to various real-world situations, helping them understand how numbers and maths are crucial to their daily lives. It can start with something as simple as counting change, finding out discounted prices, and even telling the time. How to Develop Your Child’s Number Sense One key way to develop your child’s number sense is to teach them through play. That does not necessarily mean your child does not need maths revision, but research has found that meaningful, educational playtime can help reinforce your child’s lessons and strengthen their number sense. The best way to start is to be involved with your child’s learning journey, starting with shared reading and numeracy activities. You can read storybooks aloud together, focusing on aspects that highlight mathematical concepts, and allow your child to work on them with gentle parental guidance to ease them into things. You can also let them participate in daily activities, whether it is preparing ingredients for lunch, organising small items for storage, or even counting birds while out and about. Board games and songs are also perfect companions for teaching numeracy and number sense, especially since they primarily focus on specific topics. Both are fairly straightforward and fun learning tools because they encourage repetition that gradually instils the lessons. Of course, you are not limited to these; your teaching tools can come from various everyday objects, which also help foster a sense of curiosity and creativity throughout their lessons. Even revision sessions can be fun. Infusing fun and tying it to real-world contexts are great ways to maintain your child’s attention while developing their number sense. Even the simple act of making funny voices can go a long way toward entertaining early learners while still building their interest in maths. Grow With Me is committed to supercharging young learners with a host of fun, engaging activities that help to develop their number sense. Our numeracy classes for kids help children learn through play, offering exciting classroom sessions that build strong foundational numeracy skills. Enrol with us today!
The Benefits of Phonics: When Should Children Start Learning
Building your child’s language and literacy early has plenty of benefits beyond their formative years, going beyond simple amusements to keep them happy. Learning through play, whether through fun and engaging reading sessions or outings where they can explore the world around them, offers the foundation for a young mind to develop essential skills that will help them as they grow older. Phonics, in particular, are a cornerstone to helping your child succeed in life. But when exactly is the right time to start? What is Phonics? First things first: phonics teaches children how to read and write by focusing on the sounds and letters that make up individual words. Think of it as the building blocks to helping children learn how certain letter combinations sound. This allows them to speak the words and gradually become accustomed to simple and complex words, slowly becoming second nature to them over time, just like it is with us adults. Proper phonics tutoring ensures that children understand what they need to read; otherwise, they will get frustrated when they cannot decode words, which will cause them to lose interest in reading. Developing fluency always begins with small steps, which is precisely what phonics aims to achieve. Children will first start with recognising sounds and their associated letters, then slowly familiarise themselves with sounds that varied combinations of letters make. As their comprehension develops, they can blend sounds to form a word. When they repeat this process, they build up their vocabulary, begin communicating with others, and understand what is being said. What are the Benefits of Phonics in the Early Years? Phonics is a crucial foundation for any young child’s ability to communicate well and improve their literacy, which will help them succeed as they grow older. Develop Spelling With proper guidance, children can easily decode words and their meanings, blend letters and sounds together to form coherent words and improve their spelling capability. They can recognise words based on their learned patterns, allowing them to pronounce them correctly every time. Repeated sessions ensure these basics become second nature to them, starting at manageable levels and slowly working their way up, ensuring preschoolers establish a solid foundation to carry them through their education and beyond. Improve Fluency As their spelling and comprehension gradually improve, their fluency also steadily enhances. Words that were once difficult to pronounce are now a breeze, and they can quickly start to read on their own with minimal difficulty. The result is a positive loop where more reading helps to augment their capabilities even further, eventually culminating in a greater understanding and grasp of linguistic and phonemic awareness. As a result, preschoolers also gain a substantial boost in their self-esteem and confidence, which should be nurtured to help them improve their literacy over time. Overcome Reading Difficulties There will be occasional hurdles with phonics; overcoming them does not mean pushing the same lessons until they understand what to do. Thankfully, various phonics lessons can help to strengthen your child’s fundamentals and ensure they can understand how to approach certain letters and sounds. It may take some word blending, guided reading sessions and other teaching methods to help them with this. The critical thing to remember is not to rush the process; engage with your child with an assortment of fun activities to help maintain their attention and encourage their growth. Sometimes, all it takes is a slight change to the format to get preschoolers to understand and apply what they are taught. Knowing where they can improve will help to inform a better phonics lesson plan by addressing key areas of concern and ensuring they can keep up with their peers with little difficulty. Cognitive Development The brain takes time to develop, so phonics lessons are a small part of a lifelong journey to enrich your child’s life with the knowledge to help them thrive. Learning to read, write, and speak are all essential components of healthy cognitive development: as your child’s capacity for literacy, comprehension, and communication skills grows, so does their capacity for completing more complex activities. Eventually, mastering the basics of phonics shifts their cognitive load from the structure of words to interpreting words and what they mean. Creative Development At the same time, their creative avenues also begin to show as they become more familiar with the world and the people around them. Their creative endeavours allow them to express themselves and demonstrate their understanding of what they have learned, giving way to further development as they learn new concepts, words, and other elements through their self-expression and constructive feedback from others. Think of it as their outlet for practising what they have learned while giving them more confidence in their abilities! What Age to Start Phonics Classes? The question is when you should start sending your child for phonics classes. Is there a recommended age range? Is it too late if they reach a certain age? Ideally, the earlier your child can start phonics classes, the better. It is normal to start them as early as age three to five, as they are developmentally ready to learn the ropes. Lessons will primarily focus on building phonemic awareness and giving them the means to know letters and sounds, then using those to form words. However, readiness alone does not solely stem from their age: consider their memory, thinking, and attention span, among other aspects, and see how you can use that to your child’s advantage. Starting your child at a specific age range is relatively straightforward. At ages 3 to 4, start with fun activities that help them recognise letters and sounds, then blend them to teach them words. Keep them engaged with songs, dance, and toys to give them ample opportunities to learn and stay interested. At ages 4 to 5, you can start your child with formal phonics classes so that they can take what they have learned so far and grow with the help of a tutor. They will eventually be
5 Success Criteria with Reading for Preschoolers: Why Is Reading Important For Children?
Children learning reading at an early age can do them a lot of good as they grow. It can help them learn how to communicate and understand the world around them, allow them to develop their literacy skills, and help steer them towards success as they grow older. At Read With Me, we take great pride in helping build your child’s vocabulary, language and literacy by emphasising the importance of reading for preschoolers and how to nurture it (and your child’s development) to help them learn. The Importance of Reading for Children Even before your child can speak, reading to them can have benefits that slowly take root in allowing them to learn how to talk and interact with you, your family members, and their new friends and teachers. Cognitive Development Preschoolers start as blank slates, ready to absorb anything and everything they see, hear, and touch. By teaching them to read, you help them gain an understanding of the world around them and make sense of how they should interact with this wondrous world. Even if they cannot sound the words just yet, something as simple as holding a book can be instrumental in developing their cognitive capabilities. It is always in the small steps that lays a foundation for kids to learn and grow. Teaches Communication and Empathy Throughout their reading and learning journey, children will also learn how their interactions affect the world around them, and they will be offered plenty of teachable moments on how to communicate with others and even develop empathy. That is an essential stepping stone for allowing kids to build social connections as they slowly understand the complexity of emotions, cultures, lifestyles, and more while also allowing them to understand their own feelings and how to handle them properly. Improve Focus and Discipline Children are curious and excitable as they explore the world around them, so it is no surprise that getting them to sit down for a reading session can be a little tricky at first. You may find them distracted by something else, fidgeting anxiously in their seat, running off to do something else, or even dozing off out of boredom. But as regular reading sessions occur more often, kids will eventually settle down into reading with you or their tutor, pay close attention to the story, and ask questions about it. In turn, this steadily helps improve their concentration, attention span, and memory retention. Inspiring Creativity Reading opens up avenues for your children to express themselves, especially as they continue to build an understanding of the world around them. Children can use their imagination to envision themselves exploring new worlds they have read about, drawing or writing about things they have recently learned, and even giving them unique ideas that further develop their creativity and open doors to all kinds of creative opportunities that can help them even as they grow older. Five Criteria for Success with Reading for Preschoolers Our team of tutors at Read With Me is equipped to help your child slowly develop their reading skills and build their language and literacy skills in the process. They ensure that your child can understand the world around them and shape them into bright-eyed students eager to learn and explore through self-expression, creative endeavours, and other ways to help them develop themselves over time. Reading is an essential cornerstone to your child’s gradual success. Reading Together Naturally, having read-along sessions with preschoolers is a fundamental part to help them learn, so our tutors will pick a story suited for their age range and set up a cosy atmosphere for the children to sit down and be a part of the storytelling. We will also engage with the children in various ways to help them pay attention, learn new words, and even ask questions or offer their creative input to make for a fun time for everyone involved. From here, we can help to inculcate a love for reading in these young minds and provide ample learning opportunities through additional reading sessions; eventually, we can have them read to their friends with a little encouragement from our tutors! Teaching the Basics of Sounds and Words Reading is also a good way to slowly introduce new words and sounds that children can learn through the use of blending, sight words, and vowel exercises, gradually building their familiarity with common words and pronunciations. We will gently encourage the kids to slowly build their confidence and grasp of specific words, especially ones that may be tricky for preschoolers to pick up without proper guidance. As their confidence grows, we can slowly introduce more complex words to aid their command of language and better understand how to spell and pronounce these words. Be Interactive It is not enough for tutors to just read from the book and ask a few questions. Engaging their interest goes beyond simple question-and-answer sessions: we will add as many elements of interactivity to keep kids engaged with their reading, whether by introducing new words and sounds or by having fun activities related to the story, including crafting art related to what they like about the story, having fun word searches using words they are familiar with, and testing their understanding of how to use certain words in sentences. We pay close attention to what each preschooler has to say and continuously encourage them to shine in every activity. Repetition is Key Variety is the spice of life, especially where children are concerned. Even so, our tutors will find unique ways to repeat core lessons and activities to further strengthen the preschoolers’ fundamentals. Learning through play offers a myriad of ways to teach children everything they need to know through different perspectives and teaching methods, so that no two lessons are alike despite having the same content or goal. Infuse Fun in Reading Incorporating fun and games is a new approach to learning that reinforces the lessons of our activities through memorable activities that your child will take
Our 10 Fun Language and Literacy Activities for Preschoolers
About Our Literacy Activities At Read With Me, we offer a robust selection of learning activities aimed at preschoolers to give them a solid foundation in language and literacy, combining the Power of Play with essential phonic skills that give your children an exciting and imaginative way to learn and develop linguistic and literacy skills. With years of experience to support our meticulously developed learning methods, we aim to support and empower your child’s development towards learning essential fine and gross motor skills, as well as their reading and writing capabilities. An early start with language and literacy activities for 3-4-year-olds (and older) ensures they learn the basics to help them enjoy learning in school and set them up on a remarkable journey of life-long learning. Here are 10 fun language and literacy activities that can help support your child’s learning and development. Literacy Activities: Building Preschoolers’ Motor Skills 1. Tracing Activities Simple tracing exercises involving letters, shapes, and simple patterns are an excellent way to train their hand-eye coordination and fine motor control. Our teachers will demonstrate how to trace these patterns with a pencil while teaching them the pattern’s meaning and how to say it right. With sufficient practice through this activity, they can practice precise movements and build their confidence in trying other fine motor tasks. 2. Dot Stickers We use small dot stickers to allow children to complete images or create complex patterns, aiding them with verbal and nonverbal cues to help them understand what to do. These stickers can even be used as a memory-aiding tool by drawing letters and patterns on the dot stickers and then on a piece of paper; we then instruct the children to match the stickers to the corresponding patterns on the paper, helping to establish pattern recognition in a fun, engaging way. 3. Colouring Fun A fun way to let children express their artistic side, we give them coloured pencils and watercolour paints to help them create drawings of their own or even to fill in colouring picture books with whatever colours they fancy. Not only is this an activity that helps them learn about properly gripping and controlling their colouring pencils and paint brushes, but it also strengthens their hand-eye coordination, especially when colouring between the lines. 4. Careful Cutting Under our close guidance, children can use child-safe scissors to learn how to cut out various shapes and patterns, cutting along lines to create artistic projects that they can freely colour or stick to their workbooks or Manila cards as part of a presentation. This activity helps them develop fine motor control and precision, especially when closely following the lines they need to cut. Rest assured, our teachers will ensure the safety of each of our students during this activity. 5. Pasting Cut-outs With the cutting activity complete, we move on to the pasting activity, where the cut shapes and patterns can be pasted with non-toxic glue to assemble an art presentation or even used as puzzle pieces to create something unique. Each piece can be combined into one giant picture representing a shape, pattern, or something the children want to design. This activity helps the children strengthen their hand muscles and improves their coordination in pasting each shape into place. Reading Activities: Building Preschoolers’ Reading and Writing Foundations As part of the learning process, we also engage with play-based classes that help bring out the children’s reading skills, giving them plenty of opportunities to step out of their comfort zone and learn something new with their friends. Reading should be a fun-filled process of imaginative play and joyous learning of the fundamentals, allowing the children to recognise simple words and eventually create complex sentences independently. 6. Word Blending Sound is a core part of the communication process, so it helps to teach preschoolers how to speak clearly while understanding the message they want to send with specific words and terms. A simple start is combining sounds to create words, known as blending; this process shows children how sounds are combined to form words. Its complementary activity is segmenting, where a word is separated into its individual sounds. Teaching children blending and segmenting in tandem is essential for them to understand how words a word is broken down into its individual sounds, allowing them to gradually understand long and unfamiliar words as they read and recite what they learn. 7. CVC Words CVC refers to a word with a sound pattern of consonant sound, vowel sound, and consonant sound; CVC is an abbreviation of this pattern. Word blending and segmenting establish the foundations for CVC words, giving children the ability to recognise the sounds of individual letters or letter combinations that make one sound (like the “ar” in “bark”) and then blending them into a whole word that they can understand. 8. Sight Words Sight words use pattern recognition to help children quickly and confidently recognise common words, meaning they will know the word on sight without breaking it down to fully understand it. Sight words typically teach children the most common words that are frequently used so they can concentrate on learning new and unfamiliar words instead. As the children become familiar with these sight words, we will gradually move on to non-phonetic words that are trickier due to difficult spellings and pronunciations: terms like “buy” and “walk” may be considered non-phonetic. Teaching them non-phonetic words can also help them recognise similar words, like “guy” and “talk”, with the prior examples. 9. Vowel Exercises Vowels are surprisingly harder for children to learn than consonants, as some may mistakenly believe that some vowels sound similar to each other. Some children may even mistakenly miss a vowel when asked to spell a word containing a vowel. The main reason for this is because they cannot accurately tell between a short vowel sound (like the letter “a” in “cat”) from a long vowel sound (like the letter “e” in “be”, as though there are two “e” letters) To tackle
