Take a Look Inside the RED Box...

This is a comprehensive, research informed TOOLKIT designed to help children become fluent with numbers by developing deep conceptual understanding and giving children many opportunities to construct relationships among numbers, to work with numbers in different ways, to make sense of basic facts and to be able to retrieve them.

 

 

Each Fluency with Numbers TOOLKIT is full of RICH and MEANINGFUL TOOLS and TASKS which help to support and build Early Number Sense. It’s all about helping children to SEE number, FEEL number and HEAR number.  It is highly engaging. You can also choose from subsequent  Number Fluency Toolkits, RICH TASKS (available as a digital download) or TOOLS

Here are some of the magical ingredients that are packed into THE RED BOX that help children become fluent with numbers...
The TASKS come with 10 DOUBLE SIDED COUNTERS and 2 WOODEN DICE  in an organic cotton calico bag. Handy to carry around with you on the go! 
A BAMBOO WIPE - BOARD is included to support mathematical graphics or to practice writing numerals. A dry wipe pen and a calico eraser are also included.
At this early stage, in mathematics, it is  important that children are supported as  they  build their understanding of  mathematical symbols on their own informal marks, rather than tracing over or copying numerals or colouring in worksheets.

 

A  gorgeous soft, calico cotton, pocket-sized TEN FRAME is included in the RED BOX. It can be folded up and kept in a pocket and taken outside where upon, children can be encouraged to find something interesting to place in the ten frame and see what treasures can be found!

The use of ten-frames was developed by researchers such as Van de Walle (1988) and Bobis (1988). Various arrangements of counters on the ten-frames can be used to prompt different mental images of numbers and different mental strategies for manipulating these numbers, all in association with the numbers' relationships to ten.

 

 

A NUMBER PATH is a COUNTING TOOL - each number is written within a rectangle or other shape, and it is easier for young children to use when counting. Number lines are conceptually too difficult for young children to understand and instead we should be using number paths (Fuson, et. al., 2009). Note that a number path looks an awful lot like a number line, however you’ll notice that each “square” is labelled explicitly instead of at the “end” of each unit (on each notch). This is to promote children explicitly counting each square to make the thinking much more accessible for early counters. 

In a number path game, children build confidence as they practice counting, use one-to-one correspondence, and learn that numbers come before and after other numbers. Having experience with a visual model like a number path will

help  children be prepared for later mathematics learning.

 

The numeral cards are blank on the reverse so that they can be used for screeing. This technique called 'screening'  is used because we believe it is likely to support children's imaging (used in the sense of making a picture in the head).

We recommend turning the numeral card over to create a screen. 

A ten frame is a simple tool that helps children:

keep track of counting
see number relationships eg odd and even numbers, doubles, near-doubles, number bonds
understand and learn the number bonds of numbers to  10
develop their understanding of place value.
The ten frames can be five-wise (used horizontally) or pair wise (which are used used vertically).

 

  • Pair Wise Populated Ten Frames
This configuration emphasises, the idea of doubles, and one more and one less than doubles and odd and even numbers.
Unlike five-wise configuration which encourages links to five.
Key Questions:
How many?
How do you know?
  • Populated 'Five Plus' Frames (five-wise)
  
These pictorial representations can be used for subtitising too and ascribing numerosity (a value). They can also be used to help children visualise parts and wholes. They can be used either horizontally or vertically. 
By working with a small set of numbers, children can start to understand what numbers mean and what they represent. These can support the five principles of counting too.

 

 

Each Fluency with Numbers TOOLS. TASKS  and TALK BOX is full of resources to help support children's number journey. The boxes come with a unique QR code  which links to digital content to help support and build Early Number Sense.