To understand the importance of subitizing activities in the classroom you must first know what subitize means. I’ll admit, the first time I heard the word subitize I had no clue what it was. In fact, when you type subitize it gets flagged as misspelled!
What Is Subitizing?
Subitizing is the ability to instantly see how many without counting. For example, look at the picture below. How many fingers do you see?
Did you have to count 1-2-3-4-5? Probably not. Most likely you just recognized that there are 5 and said “five”.
Types of Subitizing
There are two types of subitizing, perceptual and conceptual. Perceptual subitizing is when someone looks at a visual pattern such a dots on dice and instantly recognizes how many. Conceptual subitizing involves recognizing smaller groups and combining them. Knowing your student’s subitizing abilities helps you to plan and understand what your students need.
Subitizing and School
Many children enter kindergarten able to perceptually subitize to 5. These students recognize how many based on a pattern. Once students can recognize the pattern they can learn to subitize conceptually. In order to support this progression, it is important to integrate subitizing activities within your classroom.
5 Ways To Integrate Subitizing Activities Into Your Day
Subitizing activities can be completed throughout the day. They do not have to be during math and they do not require a lengthy amount of time. Subsequently, subitizing activities are easy to squeeze in. Here are 5 ways to integrate subitizing activities.
Number Talks
Number talks are a great way to work on subitizing. They get your students communicating about what they see and their thinking. In my classroom, we started our math block with Number Talks. Students would gather on the rug ,and I would quickly flash a card. The image is shown briefly so that students are not trying to count. Next, students volunteer to share what they saw. Finally, we would look more carefully at the picture and discuss the different patterns and combinations.
Check out the book Number Talks: Whole Number Computation, K-5 ,for more information.
Time Fillers
Have a few minutes to fill? Standing in line waiting while students use the bathroom? These are prime opportunities to do subitizing activities. Grab these free “Quick Image” Subitizing Cards below and have students call out the amount or show you how many using their fingers. Don’t have cards or pictures available; use your hands. Show students different finger combinations and have them tell you how many.
Math Center Subitizing Activities
Math centers are the perfect time to integrate subitizing activities. In math centers, students can practice subitizing through matches, sorts, and other center activities. Activities such as Subitize and Sort make a great center. The activity stays consistent throughout the year, changing themes each month. Thus the center becomes independent and is great practice. Students look at the different representations (finger, tallies, ten frames, dice, dominoes) and subitize to determine how many. Then they match it to the correct number.
Give students manipulatives and Code Cover-Up mats for another subitizing activity perfect for a center. Each mat has 3 numbers, and students subitize to find the different representations. They follow the code and cover the numbers accordingly.
Brain Break Subitizing Activities
Many teachers are already using brain breaks during their day to help students’ minds reset and get their wiggles out. How great that you can use this time to do that and sneak in a little subitizing practice. Check out Youtube for lots of fun subitizing videos. Jack Hartmann’s Subitize Rock and Harry Kindergarten Music’s Subitize With a Pirate are just a few of the many subitizing songs available.
In addition to using Youtube videos for brain breaks, there is Subitize & Exercise. Subitize & Exercise Brain Breaks are slideshow subitizing activities. The slides are projected for the class to see. Students will see an image (ten frames, tallies, dots) and subitize. On the next slide, it will show how many and give an exercise to be completed as they count to the number shown. Subitize & Exercise gets students subitizing, moving, and counting, all in a matter of minutes!
Games for Subitizing
Students love games. Use the word game, and suddenly an activity has a whole new meaning. The beauty of games is you can play them during any subject. How does playing a reading game support subitizing, you ask? The tools you use to determine how many spaces to move your game piece, how many cards to pick, etc. Have students roll a die, pull a domino, or spin a ten-frame spinner, and now you’ve integrated subitizing within another subject!
Practicing subitizing is crucial to students’ development of number sense. I hope these ideas have been helpful and gave you some new ideas on integrating subitizing. Have any additional ideas? Please share them in the comments below!
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I also had no clue what subtilizing was the first time I heard it! Thanks for the subtilizing dot freebie! I plan to use it digitally as a “PowerPoint” during number talks with my kinders. Great resource!
Thank you so much for reading my post and checking out the freebie! I hope they work well with your kinders.