Subitizing

My students love to SUBITIZE. Subitizing is like quick images. It is simply the ability to quickly identify the number of objects in a set without counting.

 

 

Perceptual Subitizing is the instant visual recognition of a pattern such as numbers in a ten frame. Conceptual Subitizing involves recognizing smaller groups and adding them together, for example “I see five dots on the top row and 4 dots on the bottom row. So, that is 5+4 =9.

 

I'll show my students a dot card, ten frame, a domino, etc. for about three seconds because I don't want my kids to count the dots. Then I ask them what did they see. My kiddos come up with answers like "I saw 6 dots, I saw 4 dots on the top and 2 dots on the bottom, I know 4 and 2 is 6, I saw 3 groups of 2, I saw 2+2+1+1, I saw 4 missing, 10-4=6. 2 x 3=6." Yes, even some of my 1st graders are multiplying using this technique. It's amazing how their number sense has improved tremendously. 

Here are some of the different Subitizing cards that I use in my classroom.

 

 
If you want to try Subitizing you can pick up this resource here.

Thank you for visiting and have a fantastic week!