Can you subitize?

We've moved on in Math from patterning and are now examining numbers to 20! Here was our learning goal last week:

Subitizing is looking at a group and knowing instantly how many there are, without counting each individual item! As adults, we do this when we roll a dice. You don't need to count the six dots, you just know that two rows of three dots is six. Subitizing is a very important skill that develops number sense and helps us understand how numbers are related. 

We are enjoying several games to develop our ability to subitize! This challenging skill is much more fun when it is disguised as a game. 

Here is a group playing a game on the SMARTboard together:

Another group took on the challenge of playing a BINGO game:

These students are playing Snakes and Ladders, but rather than roll a dice, they are using subitizing cards:

Our memories were tested with this subitizing memory game:

Ready to subitize? Below is a link to a subitizing YouTube clip. Numbers appear on a 10-frame, a handy way we sometimes count in class. We know that a full frame is 10, and just one full row is 5. Sometimes seeing the empty spaces is more helpful than looking at the full spaces, too. Careful, it's fast!