Our PreSchool Blog

The preschoolers have been practicing one-to-one correspondence. It is important to always start at the top and count left to right. When we reach the end of a row we need to start back at the beginning of the next row. Teaching children a method for counting can help with accuracy. It is easy to forget which objects we have counted when we are just pointing in any order we want! We rolled the dice, counted how many we got, then counted using our magic finger to discover which animal we needed to color. This is a really important foundational skill for math in general. Games such as Candyland, Monopoly, and Chutes & Ladders are great ways to practice one-to-one correspondence. Any time a child has to count objects individually is a GREAT way to practice at home!

We counted dots on dice to decide how many leaves to put on our fall tree.

The preschoolers practiced one-to-one correspondence today while playing with megablocks. When you are counting with your preschooler make sure to only say a number aloud when your finger touches the object, or in this case, the black dot. We always count from left to right. After we counted dots it was time to find the right number and build a match. This is a super easy and fun way to practice math skills. Try with some blocks at home!

When counting, the concept of “one-to-one correspondence” is the understanding that each object being counted represents “one more.”

Before a child understands one-to-one correspondence, he will count by rote memorization. When asked to count a small group of objects, he will likely count quickly through the numbers he has memorized and randomly touch the objects being counted instead of touching and counting each object just once  (schoolsparkes.com).  This is a very important early math readiness skill and an EASY on to incorporate into your daily lives.  Count the stairs as you walk up, a few cheerios while your enjoying a bowl for breakfast….the sky’s the limit!  Have fun counting!

Our class is traveling to the Great Barrier Reef this month as we visit Australia during our country studies.  After learning about the difference between an octopus and a squid, we dove straight into our small math groups today and worked on number recognition and one to one correspondence.

This is a great way to practice one-to-one correspondence with your preschooler at home. Use any blocks or legos and masking tape to create a fun and extremely helpful counting game. The more practice the better when it comes to learning numbers!

Any time your preschooler has the opportunity to count individual objects is wonderful practice. Encourage your little one to count anything and everything!

The Early 3’s had a blast using their fine motor skills to fill a pasta strainer with pipe cleaners! This is a simple activity you can do at home to keep your child busy all while helping them strengthen and fine tune those muscles! Try it with dried spaghetti noodles!