Numbers - birth to 11 - how?

**hbcm** · 15-07-2019, 09:25 PM

Hi. Silly question but it's been on my mind for days now!

I'm getting to the end of my first couple of weeks with my first 2 mindees. I've been considering their starting points and noting things down rather than doing observations yet.

For some reason this one stumps me:
Maths - Numbers - Birth to 11m: Notices changes in number of objects/images or sounds in group of up to 3.

I cannot think of a way to determine this in a baby of almost 1 year old. How can I incorporate this into an activity to check the child's progress?

Very grateful for any links or ideas please. I'm sure it'll be something I am overthinking but I'd rather check. Thanks so much.

Helen

**Dragonfly** · 16-07-2019, 11:55 AM

When babies/toddlers start I do starting points noting what they can do I.e can they sit unaided, have they started walking, do they interact with other children in baby babble ,drink from a cup lidded or not etc. I don’t go in-depth with maths etc keep to-prime areas under two.Once you’re noted what they can do you go from there like can they build a tower of blocks how many?.
maybe I’ve been doing it wrong all these years 😱

**moggy** · 16-07-2019, 12:18 PM

Put away the book and look at the child! Those statements are not check lists or milestones, they are not to be 'looked for' and ticked off (it even says so in Development Matters and EYO- it is a guide 'to make best fit judgements'). Look at the what the child is doing, then you can read all the statements in an age band and see if you feel if the child is roughly in their age-related band, or not.
You do not need to be determining if the child is doing a particular statement- get an over all feel for the child's ability and trust your own judgement, take a look at a wide range of those statements to get a gut feeling whether they are where they should be, or if they are lagging behind in any areas.

**Maza** · 16-07-2019, 04:03 PM

Also, the things you are 'noting down' ARE your observations. Observations don't have to be lengthy, they can be snapshots (a sentence or two) of the things you have noticed. As long as they inform your planning. x

**moggy** · 16-07-2019, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by Maza

Also, the things you are 'noting down' ARE your observations. Observations don't have to be lengthy, they can be snapshots (a sentence or two) of the things you have noticed. As long as they inform your planning. x

Simply observing is an observation- it does not need to be written down at all!

**moggy** · 16-07-2019, 06:26 PM

And just to add, yes some of the statements don't make much sense!

**mama2three** · 17-07-2019, 06:25 AM

For that statement though would baby notice if you took one of the pieces of food away from his plate , then look for it. If so he’s noticing a difference in amounts and object permanence .
Having said that I completely agree with maya and moggy , don’t worry about individual statements , it’s never been designed to use as a checklist x

**Maza** · 17-07-2019, 07:05 PM

Also, for that statement, I remember filling something in for my baby mindee years ago. It was autumn and we had a load of leaves on one half of the lawn. He kept crawling onto it so that he could throw the leaves around and squeal. He knew not to bother with the other lawn where there were just a few random leaves. There was a bit more to it than that, but I can't quite remember what it was which made me think that he knew the difference between 'one' and 'lots'. It just goes to show though, that your observations can take place in the most random of places/situations, like mama2three's suggestion of the food/plate. They don't always have to be through planned, adult lead activities, as long as you are always observing.

Just set up activities (look in the middle and right hand side of dev matters) and you never know what you will observe! You might not observe anything but at least you would be providing the child with opportunities to explore 'one' or 'lots'. A favourite of mine was to give mindee a treasure basket full of little bags of crisps (honestly, this would keep him entertained for ages) and then on another day just give him one big, jumbo bag in his treasure basket. The same with balls - lots of smaller balls in a treasure basket or just one bigger one. Once you start thinking you can get really creative with the most mundane, everyday objects. You would interact by using number names, or vocabulary such as 'so many', 'lots' etc.

**hbcm** · 17-07-2019, 10:13 PM

Thanks for all the replies. Thanks for the suggestions Maza, great ideas there!

I should have been more specific, I wasn't checking things off. More I had been looking at the statements in passing while I considered their starting points and that one confused me. It really had me racking my brain. I could not think of a way to even start should I choose to. I'm not planning on concentrating on numeracy for an 11 month old.

Great advice from you all. Thanks again xx