Teacher Netta's Notes

One of the goals I made for the New Year was to expose the Pre- Kindergarten students to more challenging math concepts, such as math equations. As a result, for the month of February, I created a heart addition work for the kids to practice.

I created 19 cards, each card equaling a different sum ranging from numbers 2-20. The child has to use their one-to-one correspondence skills to count all the hearts on their card to find the total pictured.

I have noticed that all the Pre-Kindergarten kids can count to ten, but once above, they get stuck on a few numbers. One trend I see is the two numbers thirteen and fourteen. A few of our kids are saying thirteen as "firteen" because they struggle to make the "th" blend. Because of this, they skip fourteen and go straight to fifteen. Another trend I see is that a child will simply forget to add a number. They will go straight from fourteen to sixteen, forgetting the fifteen in-between for example.

If there is ever an opportunity, please continue to work with your child to master saying numbers 11-20 in chronological order. The "teens" are the trickiest in my opinion because they don't follow any other number pattern! I will continue to help each child with their counting and sequencing as well at school!

Another great part of this work is that the child gets to practice writing the sum of the number equation. No Pre- Kindergartener has mastered writing all numbers 0-9 yet, so being able to practice how to form certain numbers has been a valuable reminder for each child. 

So far I have seen the kids take a great interest in this activity especially because there is a dry-erase maker involved. The kids love using them!

Have a great week!