Number Confidence Week 7th-11th November 2022
The organisation behind Number Confidence Week is National Numeracy. Their aim is to help raise low levels of numeracy among both adults and children and to promote the importance of everyday maths skills. They quote that 49% of adults have the numeracy skills
expected of a primary school child; and a lack of numeracy can make people more vulnerable to debt, unemployment, poor health and fraud.
In support of Number Confidence Week we wanted to reflect on how we encourage numeracy in our children. Children up to five years old, begin to:
– Learn about basic measurement, shapes, spaces, positions, numbers, order and patterns
– Understand the sequence of numbers
– Understand positional words such as in, on, outside and under
– Develop an awareness of time
– Learn number rhymes and songs
One, two, buckle my shoe
Three, four, open the door
Five, six, pick up sticks
Seven, eight, lay them straight
Nine, ten, a good, fat hen
Eleven, twelve, dig and delve
Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting
Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen
Seventeen, eighteen, maids are waiting
Nineteen, twenty, my plate’s empty.
At home, you may wish to undertake activities such as:
Cooking or baking: involve your little one in measuring ingredients and setting the oven timer
Finding the same amount of different items to help your child understand what numbers mean. For example, find 3 spoons, 3 hats or 3 socks.
- Building towers from duplo or blocks – talk about the colours, shapes, patterns, structures and numbers of items
- Playing with containers, such as how many socks can you fit in the box?
Encouraging pre-school children to feel comfortable with numbers, will lead to number confidence once they are at school, and beyond into adulthood.
