Text-Number & Numeration Pre-K - Grade 2 PDF

A Series for Teaching Mathematics
Developing Essential Understanding of Number & Numeration Pre-KGrade 2
Developing Essential Understanding

How do composing and decomposing numbers connect with the properties of
addition? How does the use of unit in counting connect with the use of unit in
relation to fractions? What do you say when a student thinks that measuring an
objects length with a ruler means counting all the marks on the ruler from the
objects left edge to its right?
How much do you know and how much do you need to know?
Helping your students develop a robust understanding of number and numeration
requires that you understand this mathematics deeply. But what does that mean?
This book focuses on essential knowledge for teachers about number and numeration. It is organized around five big ideas, supported by multiple smaller, interconnected ideasessential understandings. Taking you beyond a simple introduction,
the book will broaden and deepen your mathematical understanding of one of the
most challenging topics for studentsand teachers. It will help you engage your
students, anticipate their perplexities, avoid pitfalls, and dispel misconceptions.
You will also learn to develop appropriate tasks, techniques, and tools for assessing
students understanding of the topic.
Focus on the ideas that you need to understand thoroughly to teach confidently.
d
iea
Move beyond the mathematics you expect your students to

Essential
Understanding
learn. Students who fail to get a solid grounding in pivotal
Series
concepts struggle in subsequent work in mathematics and related
disciplines. By bringing a deeper understanding to your teaching, you can help
students who dont get it the first time by presenting the mathematics in multiple ways.
Essential
Understanding
of
Number &
Numeration
Pre-KGrade 2
The Essential Understanding Series addresses topics in school mathematics that are
critical to the mathematical development of students but are often difficult to teach.
Each book in the series gives an overview of the topic, highlights the differences between
what teachers and students need to know, examines the big ideas and related essential
understandings, reconsiders the ideas presented in light of connections with other
mathematical ideas, and includes questions for readers reflection.
4-11/3500k/v2/VP
ISBN 978-0-87353-629-5
13492
13492
NCTM
9 780873 536295
Developing
Essential
Understanding
Series
d
iea
Developing
Essential Understanding
of
Number and Numeration

for Teaching Mathematics in
PrekindergartenGrade 2
Barbara J. Dougherty
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa
Alfinio Flores
Barbara J. Dougherty
Volume Editor
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa
Rose Mary Zbiek
Series Editor
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware
Everett Louis
California State University East Bay
Hayward, California
Catherine Sophian
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Honolulu, Hawaii
Copyright 2011 by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc., www.nctm.org. All rights reserved.
This material may not be copied or distributed electronically or in other formats without written permission from NCTM.
Copyright 2010 by
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc.
1906 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191-1502
(703) 620-9840; (800) 235-7566; www.nctm.org
All rights reserved
Second printing 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Developing essential understanding of number and numeration for teaching
mathematics in prekindergarten--grade 2 / Barbara J. Dougherty ... [et al.].
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-87353-629-5
1. Number concept--Study and teaching (Preschool) 2. Number
concept--Study and teaching (Primary) 3. Numeracy--Study and teaching
(Preschool) 4. Numeracy--Study and teaching (Primary) I. Dougherty,
Barbara J.
QA141.15.D48 2010
372.7--dc22
2010007353
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is a public voice of mathematics

education, supporting teachers to ensure equitable mathematics learning of the
highest quality for all students through vision, leadership, professional development,
and research.
For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from Developing Essential
Understanding of Number and Numeration for Teaching Mathematics in Prekindergarten
Grade 2, please access www.copyright.com or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.
(CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit
organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users. Permission does
not automatically extend to any items identified as reprinted by permission of other publishers and copyright holders. Such items must be excluded unless separate permissions are
obtained. It will be the responsibility of the user to identify such materials and obtain the
permissions.
The publications of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics present a variety of
viewpoints. The views expressed or implied in this publication, unless otherwise noted,
should not be interpreted as official positions of the Council.
Printed in the United States of America
e-Book ISBN: 978-0-87353-790-2
iii
Contents
Foreword ............................................................................................................ v
Preface ............................................................................................................. vii
Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1
Why Number and Numeration? ................................................................
Understanding Number and Numeration .. ...................................................
Big Ideas and Essential Understandings .... ...................................................
Benefits for Teaching, Learning, and Assessing .............................................
Ready to Begin ............................................................................
1
2
3
4
6
Chapter 1 .............................................................................................. 7
Number and Numeration: The Big Ideas and
Essential Understandings
Big Idea 1 ......................................................................................... 10
Essential Understanding 1a ................ .................................................. 10
Essential Understanding 1b ................ .................................................. 11
Essential Understanding 1c ................ .................................................. 15
Essential Understanding 1d ................ .................................................. 16
Essential Understanding 1e ................ .................................................. 17
Big Idea 2 ......................................................................................... 19
Big Idea 3 ......................................................................................... 27
Big Idea 4 ......................................................................................... 32
Big Idea 5 ......................................................................................... 35
Conclusion ........................................................................................ 41
Chapter 2 ......................................................................................................... 43
Connections: Looking Back and Ahead in Learning
Addition and Subtraction ........................................................................ 43
Multiplication .................................. ................................................... 45
Rational Number .................................................................................. 46
Early Algebraic Thinking ........................................................................ 49
Conclusion ...................................... ................................................... 50
Chapter 3 ......................................................................................................... 51
Challenges: Learning, Teaching, and Assessing
Developing Counting .......................... ................................................... 51
Number as a Foundation for Symbols and Representations ............................... 55
Number Understanding as a Basic for Conceptual Problems .............................. 57
Conclusion ...................................... ................................................... 58
References . .............................................. ........................................................ 59
Foreword
Teaching mathematics in prekindergartengrade 12 requires a
special understanding of mathematics. Effective teachers of mathematics think about and beyond the content that they teach, seeking
explanations and making connections to other topics, both inside
and outside mathematics. Students meet curriculum and achievement expectations when they work with teachers who know what
mathematics is important for each topic that they teach.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) presents the Essential Understanding Series in tandem with a call to
focus the school mathematics curriculum in the spirit of Curriculum
Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics: A
Quest for Coherence, published in 2006, and Focus in High School
Mathematics: Reasoning and Sense Making, released in 2009. The
Essential Understanding books are a resource for individual teachers and groups of colleagues interested in engaging in mathematical
thinking to enrich and extend their own knowledge of particular
mathematics topics in ways that benefit their work with students.
The topic of each book is an area of mathematics that is difficult
for students to learn, challenging to teach, and critical for students
success as learners and in their future lives and careers.
Drawing on their experiences as teachers, researchers, and
mathematicians, the authors have identified the big ideas that are
at the heart of each books topic. A set of essential understandings
mathematical points that capture the essence of the topicfleshes
out each big idea. Taken collectively, the big ideas and essential
understandings give a view of a mathematics that is focused, connected, and useful to teachers. Links to topics that students encounter earlier and later in school mathematics and to instruction and
assessment practices illustrate the relevance and importance of a
teachers essential understanding of mathematics.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I offer sincere thanks
and appreciation to everyone who has helped to make this series
possible. I extend special thanks to Rose Mary Zbiek for her leadership as series editor. I join the Essential Understanding project team
in welcoming you to these books and in wishing you many years of
continued enjoyment of learning and teaching mathematics.
Henry Kepner
President, 20082010
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
vii
Preface
From prekindergarten through grade 12, the school mathematics
curriculum includes important topics that are pivotal in students
development. Students who understand these ideas cross smoothly
into new mathematical terrain and continue moving forward with
assurance.
However, many of these topics have traditionally been challenging to teach as well as learn, and they often prove to be barriers
rather than gateways to students progress. Students who fail to get
a solid grounding in them frequently lose momentum and struggle
in subsequent work in mathematics and related disciplines.
The Essential Understanding Series identifies such topics at all
levels. Teachers who engage students in these topics play critical
roles in students mathematical achievement. Each volume in the
series invites teachers who aim to be not just proficient but outstanding in the classroomteachers like youto enrich their understanding of one or more of these topics to ensure students continued
development in mathematics.
How much do you need to know?
To teach these challenging topics effectively, you must draw on a
mathematical understanding that is both broad and deep. The challenge is to know considerably more about the topic than you expect
your students to know and learn.
Why does your knowledge need to be so extensive? Why must
it go above and beyond what you need to teach and your students
need to learn? The answer to this question has many parts.
To plan successful learning experiences, you need to understand different models and representations and, in some cases,
emerging technologies as you evaluate curriculum materials and
create lessons. As you choose and implement learning tasks, you
need to know what to emphasize and why those ideas are mathematically important.
While engaging your students in lessons, you must anticipate
their perplexities, help them avoid known pitfalls, and recognize
and dispel misconceptions. You need to capitalize on unexpected
classroom opportunities to make connections among mathematical
ideas. If assessment shows that students have not understood the
material adequately, you need to know how to address weaknesses
that you have identified in their understanding. Your understanding
must be sufficiently versatile to allow you to represent the mathematics in different ways to students who dont understand it the
first time. In addition, you need to know where the topic fits in the
full span of the mathematics curriculum. You must understand where
viii
Preface
your students are coming from in their thinking and where they are
heading mathematically in the months and years to come.
Accomplishing these tasks in mathematically sound ways is
a tall order. A rich understanding of the mathematics supports the
varied work of teaching as you guide your students and keep their
learning on track.
How can the Essential Understanding Series help?
The Essential Understanding books offer you an opportunity to delve
into the mathematics that you teach and reinforce your content
knowledge. They do not include materials for you to use directly
with your students, nor do they discuss classroom management,
teaching styles, or assessment techniques. Instead, these books focus
squarely on issues of mathematical contentthe ideas and understanding that you must bring to your preparation, in-class instruction, one-on-one interactions with students, and assessment.
Big ideas and

essential
understandings are
identified by
icons in the books.
d
iea
marks a big idea,
and
marks an essential
understanding.
How do the authors approach the topics?

For each topic, the authors identify big ideas and essential understandings. The big ideas are mathematical statements of overarching concepts that are central to a mathematical topic and link
numerous smaller mathematical ideas into coherent wholes. The
books call the smaller, more concrete ideas that are associated with
each big idea essential understandings. They capture aspects of the
corresponding big idea and provide evidence of its richness.
The big ideas have tremendous value in mathematics. You
can gain an appreciation of the power and worth of these densely
packed statements through persistent work with the interrelated essential understandings. Grasping these multiple smaller concepts
and through them gaining access to the big ideas can greatly increase your intellectual assets and classroom possibilities.
In your work with mathematical ideas in your role as a teacher,
you have probably observed that the essential understandings are
often at the heart of the understanding that you need for presenting one of these challenging topics to students. Knowing these ideas
very well is critical because they are the mathematical pieces that
connect to form each big idea.
How are the books organized?
Every book in the Essential Understanding Series has the same
structure:
The introduction gives an overview, explaining the reasons
for the selection of the particular topic and highlighting some
of the differences between what teachers and students need
to know about it.
Chapter 1 is the heart of the book, identifying and examining
the big ideas and related essential understandings.
Preface
Chapter 2 reconsiders the ideas discussed in chapter 1 in
light of their connections with mathematical ideas within the
grade band and with other mathematics that students have
encountered earlier or will encounter later in their study of
mathematics.
Chapter 3 wraps up the discussion by considering the challenges that students often face in grasping the necessary
concepts related to the topic under discussion. It analyzes
the development of their thinking and offers guidance for
presenting ideas to them and assessing their understanding.
The discussion of big ideas and essential understandings in
chapter 1 is interspersed with questions labeled Reflect. It is important to pause in your reading to think about these on your own
or discuss them with your colleagues. By engaging with the material in this way, you can make the experience of reading the book
participatory, interactive, and dynamic.
Reflect questions can also serve as topics of conversation
among local groups of teachers or teachers connected electronically
in school districts or even between states. Thus, the Reflect items
can extend the possibilities for using the books as tools for formal
or informal experiences for in-service and preservice teachers, individually or in groups, in or beyond college or university classes.
A new perspective
The Essential Understanding Series thus is intended to support you
in gaining a deep and broad understanding of mathematics that
can benefit your students in many ways. Considering connections
between the mathematics under discussion and other mathematics
that students encounter earlier and later in the curriculum gives the
books unusual depth as well as insight into vertical articulation in
school mathematics.
The series appears against the backdrop of Principles and
Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 2000), Curriculum Focal
Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics: A Quest
for Coherence (NCTM 2006), Focus in High School Mathematics:
Reasoning and Sense Making (NCTM 2009), and the Navigations
Series (NCTM 20012009). The new books play an important role,
supporting the work of these publications by offering content-based
professional development.
The other publications, in turn, can flesh out and enrich the
new books. After reading this book, for example, you might select
hands-on, Standards-based activities from the Navigations books
for your students to use to gain insights into the topics that the
Essential Understanding books discuss. If you are teaching students
in prekindergarten through grade 8, you might apply your deeper
understanding as you present material related to the three focal
ix
Preface
points that Curriculum Focal Points identifies for instruction at
your students level. Or if you are teaching students in grades 912,
you might use your understanding to enrich the ways in which you
can engage students in mathematical reasoning and sense making
as presented in Focus in High School Mathematics.
An enriched understanding can give you a fresh perspective
and infuse new energy into your teaching. We hope that the understanding that you acquire from reading the book will support your
efforts as you help your students grasp the ideas that will ensure
their mathematical success.
The authors of the present volume would like to give particular
thanks to Jenny Simmons for her review of an earlier version of
this book. Her insights, as well as the comments of nameless others,
influenced the authors thinking in important ways.
Introduction
This book focuses on ideas about number and numeration. These
are ideas that you need to understand thoroughly and be able to use
flexibly to be highly effective in your teaching of mathematics in
prekindergarten through grade 2. The book discusses many mathematical ideas that are common in prekindergartenearly
elementary grades curricula, and it assumes that you have had a
variety of mathematics experiences that have motivated you to
delve intoand move beyondthe mathematics that you expect
your students to learn.
The book is designed to engage you with these ideas, helping
you to develop an understanding that will guide you in planning
and implementing lessons and assessing your students learning in
ways that reflect the full complexity of number and numeration. A
deep, rich understanding of these relationships will enable you to
communicate their influence and scope to your students, showing
them how these ideas permeate the mathematics that they have encounteredand will continue to encounterthroughout their school
mathematics experiences.
The understanding of number and numeration that you gain
from this focused study thus supports the vision of Principles and
Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 2000): Imagine a classroom, a school, or a school district where all students have access to
high-quality, engaging mathematics instruction (p. 3). This vision
depends on classroom teachers who are continually growing as professionals (p. 3) and routinely engage their students in meaningful
experiences that help them learn mathematics with understanding.
Why Number and Numeration?

Like the topics of all the volumes in NCTMs Essential
Understanding Series, number and numeration compose a major
area of school mathematics that is crucial for students to learn
but challenging for teachers to teach. Students in prekindergarten
through grade 2 need to understand number and numeration well if
they are to succeed in developing and using strategies for operating
on whole numbers. For example, an understanding of comparisons
of quantities and less-than and greater-than relationships is an early step towards decomposing and composing numbers in ways that
are necessary in common addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division procedures. Without understanding place value and the
corresponding values of digits, students easily write erroneous symbols, such as 25 to represent 2 hundreds and 5 ones, and these
flawed representations can impede their successful use of common

algorithms. The importance of understanding number and numeration and the challenge of understanding them well make them
essential for teachers of mathematics in prekindergarten through
grade 2 to understand extremely well themselves.
Your work as a prekindergarten or early elementary school
teacher of mathematics calls for a solid understanding of the mathematics that youand your school, your district, and your state curriculumexpect your students to learn about number and numeration. Your work also requires you to know how this mathematics
relates to other mathematical ideas that your students will encounter in the lesson at hand, the current school year, and beyond. Rich
mathematical understanding guides teachers decisions in much of
their work, such as choosing tasks for a lesson, posing questions,
selecting materials, ordering topics and ideas over time, assessing
the quality of students work, and devising ways to challenge and
support their thinking.
Understanding Number and

Numeration
Teachers teach mathematics because they want others to understand
it in ways that will contribute to success and satisfaction in school,
work, and life. Helping your prekindergarten or early elementary
school students develop a robust and lasting understanding of number and numeration requires that you understand this mathematics
deeply. But what does this mean?
It is easy to think that understanding an area of mathematics, such as number and numeration, means knowing certain facts,
being able to solve particular types of problems, and mastering
relevant vocabulary. For example, for the pre-Kgrade 2 level, you
are expected to know such facts as the number-word sequence used
in counting and the names for place values. You are expected to be
skillful in solving problems that involve such activities as comparing whole numbers or using a number line to model computations.
Your mathematical vocabulary is assumed to include such terms as
place value, equivalence, cardinality, and decomposition.
Obviously, facts, vocabulary, and techniques for solving certain
types of problems are not all that you are expected to know about
number and numeration. In your ongoing work with students, you
have undoubtedly discovered that you need to distinguish among
different types of problems and know when particular strategies apply. For example, you must know the difference between situations
in which counting on or counting up is a better strategy than
counting all.
It is also easy to focus on a very long list of mathematical
ideas that all teachers of mathematics in prekindergarten through

Introduction
grade 2 are expected to know and teach about number and numeration. Curriculum developers often devise and publish such
lists. However important the individual items might be, these lists
cannot capture the essence of a rich understanding of the topic.
Understanding this area deeply requires you not only to know important mathematical ideas but also to recognize how these ideas
relate to one another. Your understanding continues to grow with
experience and as a result of opportunities to embrace new ideas
and find new connections among familiar ones.
Furthermore, your understanding of number and numeration
should transcend the content intended for your students. Some of
the differences between what you need to know and what you expect them to learn are easy to point out. For instance, your understanding should include a grasp of how composing and decomposing numbers connects with the properties of addition and how the
use of unit in counting connects with the use of unit in relation to
fractions.
Other differences between the understanding that you need to
have and the understanding that you expect your students to acquire are less obvious, but your experiences in the classroom have
undoubtedly made you aware of them at some level. For example,
how many times have you been grateful to have an understanding
of number and numeration that enables you to recognize the merit
in a students unanticipated mathematical question or claim? How
many other times have you wondered whether you could be missing
such an opportunity or failing to use it to full advantage because of
a gap in your knowledge?
As you have almost certainly discovered, knowing and being
able to do familiar mathematics are not enough when youre in the
classroom. You also need to be able to identify and justify or refute
novel claims. These claims and justifications might draw on ideas
or techniques that are beyond the mathematical experiences of your
students and current curricular expectations for them. For example,
you should be able to refute the often-asserted, erroneous claim
that the length of an object is the number of marks on the ruler
between the left and right edges of the object. The importance of
unit in counting or measuring a quantity requires attention to the
length units and not the marks. The choice of marks must reflect the
selected length unit and have a relationship with the total count or
measure.
Big Ideas and Essential Understandings

Thinking about the many particular ideas that are part of a rich
understanding of number and numeration can be an overwhelming task. Articulating all of those mathematical ideas and their

connections would require many books. To choose which ideas
to include in this book, the authors considered a critical question:
What is essential for teachers of mathematics in prekindergarten
through grade 2 to know about number and numeration to be effective in the classroom? To answer this question, the authors drew on
a variety of resources, including personal experiences, the expertise
of colleagues in mathematics and mathematics education, and the
reactions of reviewers and professional development providers, as
well as ideas from curricular materials and research on mathematics
learning and teaching.
As a result, the mathematical content of this book focuses on
essential knowledge for teachers about number and numeration. In
particular, chapter 1 is organized by five big ideas related to this
important area of mathematics. Each of these big ideas is supported
by smaller, more specific mathematical ideas, which the book calls
essential understandings. This book focuses on three to five interconnected essential understandings that are related to each big idea.
These ideas elaborate what you need to know for an understanding of number and numeration in prekindergarten through grade
2. Gaining this understanding is an extremely valuable and useful
accomplishment because it enables you to help students use number
to quantify and compare quantities to answer daily questions of
how much and how much more.
Benefits for Teaching, Learning, and

Assessing
An understanding of number and numeration can help you implement the Teaching Principle enunciated in Principles and Standards
for School Mathematics. This Principle sets a high standard for
instruction: Effective mathematics teaching requires understanding what students know and need to learn and then challenging
and supporting them to learn it well (NCTM 2000, p. 16). As in
teaching about other critical topics in mathematics, teaching about
number and numeration requires knowledge that goes beyond
what most teachers experience in standard preservice mathematics
courses (p. 17).
Chapter 1 comes into play at this point, offering an overview
of number and numeration that is intended to be more focused and
comprehensive than many discussions of the topic that you are
likely to have encountered. This chapter enumerates, expands on,
and gives examples of the big ideas and essential understandings
related to number and numeration, with the goal of supplementing
or reinforcing your understanding. Thus, chapter 1 aims to prepare
you to implement the Teaching Principle fully as you provide the

Introduction
support and challenge that your students need for robust learning
about number and numeration.
Consolidating your understanding in this way also prepares
you to implement the Learning Principle outlined in Principles and
Standards: Students must learn mathematics with understanding,
actively building new knowledge from experience and prior knowledge (NCTM 2000, p. 20). To support your efforts to help your
students learn about number and numeration in this way, chapter 2
builds on the understanding of number and numeration that chapter 1 communicates by pointing out specific ways in which the big
ideas and essential understandings connect with mathematics that
students typically encounter earlier or later in school. This chapter
supports the Learning Principle by emphasizing longitudinal connections in students learning about number and numeration.
For example, as their mathematical experiences expand,
students see a relationship between a number line and a ruler as
tools that depend on using a unit length to make comparisons. As
students begin to work with Cartesian graphs, they can interpret
axes as number lines and use their understanding of unit length to
explain the effects of using different scales for the independent and
dependent variables.
The understanding that chapters 1 and 2 convey can strengthen another critical area of teaching. Chapter 3 addresses this area,
building on the first two chapters to show how an understanding of
number and numeration can help you select and develop appropriate tasks, techniques, and tools for assessing your students understanding of the topic. An ownership of the big ideas and essential
understandings related to number and numeration, reinforced by an
awareness of students past and future experiences with the ideas,
can help you ensure that assessment in your classroom supports the
learning of significant mathematics.
Such assessment satisfies the first requirement of the
Assessment Principle set out in Principles and Standards (NCTM
2000): Assessment should support the learning of important mathematics and furnish useful information to both teachers and students (p. 22). An understanding of number and numeration can
also help you satisfy the second requirement of the Assessment
Principle, by enabling you to develop assessment tasks that give
you specific information about what your students are thinking and
what they understand. For instance, suppose that you ask students
to represent a given number, such as 124, with place-value blocks
in as many ways as they can. Their work on this task can give you
insight into the extent to which they understand a place-value
unit as a group of ten of the next-smaller unit and can use digits
to represent how many of each place-value unit they need. Their

work also provides evidence of whether they see different ways of
expressing a number as equivalentan insight that is important to
knowing why rewriting, say, 34, as 2 tens and 14 ones is possible
and useful in the subtraction 34 18.
Ready to Begin
This introduction has painted the background, preparing you for the
big ideas and associated essential understandings related to number
and numeration that you will encounter and explore in chapter 1.
Reading the chapters in the order in which they appear can be a
very useful way to approach the book. Read chapter 1 in more than
one sitting, allowing time for reflection. Absorb the ideasboth big
ideas and essential understandingsthat contribute to an understanding of number and numeration. Appreciate the connections
among these ideas. Carry your newfound or reinforced understanding to chapter 2, which guides you in seeing how the ideas related
to number and numeration are connected to the mathematics that
your students have encountered earlier or will encounter later in
school. Then read about teaching, learning, and assessment issues
in chapter 3.
Alternatively, you may want to take a look at chapter 3 before
engaging with the mathematical ideas in chapters 1 and 2. Having
the challenges of teaching, learning, and assessment issues clearly
in mind, along with possible approaches to them, can give you a
different perspective on the material in the earlier chapters.
No matter how you read the book, let it serve as a tool to expand your understanding, application, and enjoyment of number
and numeration.
Chapter
Number and Numeration:

The Big Ideas and
Essential Understandings
A discussion of ideas and understandings of whole number begins
naturally with quantities (length, area, and discrete quantities) and
unit before moving to counting because several fundamental ideas
related to number should develop prior to counting in the early
grades. Relationships between quantity and unit lay a solid foundation for number. Counting then plays a major role in integrating aspects of number, such as sequence, cardinality, order, and measure.
This integration, in turn, supports the more abstract and general
ideas of number and our base-ten, place-value number system.
Chapter 1 discusses the following five big ideas of number and
numeration and related essential understandings:
Big Idea 1. Number is an extension of more basic ideas

about relationships between quantities.
Essential Understanding 1a. Quantities can be compared without assigning numerical values to them.
Essential Understanding 1b. Physical objects are not in themselves quantities. All quantitative comparisons involve selecting particular attributes of objects or materials to compare.
Essential Understanding 1c. The relation between one quantity
and another quantity can be an equality or inequality relation.
Essential Understanding 1d. Two important properties of equality and order relations are conservation and transitivity.
Essential Understanding 1e. The equality relation between two
quantities remains unchanged when one or both quantities are
d
iea

decomposed into parts and when one of the quantities is combined with another quantity to form a larger quantity.
d
iea
Big Idea 2. The selection of a unit makes it possible to use

numbers in comparing quantities.
Essential Understanding 2a. Using numbers to describe relationships between or among quantities depends on identifying a
unit.
Essential Understanding 2b. The size of a unit determines the
number of times that it must be iterated to count or measure a
quantity.
d
iea
Essential Understanding 2c. Quantities represented by numbers can be decomposed (or composed) into part-whole
relationships.
Big Idea 3. Meaningful counting integrates different as-
pects of number and sets, such as sequence, order, one-to-one

correspondence, ordinality, and cardinality.
Essential Understanding 3a. The number-word sequence, combined with the order inherent in the natural numbers, can be
used as a foundation for counting.
Essential Understanding 3b. Counting includes one-to-one
correspondence, regardless of the kind of objects in the set and
the order in which they are counted.
Essential Understanding 3c. Counting includes cardinality and
ordinality of sets of objects.
d
iea
Essential Understanding 3d. Counting strategies are based on

order and hierarchical inclusion of numbers.
Big Idea 4. Numbers are abstract concepts.

Essential Understanding 4a. Patterns in the number-word sequence provide a foundation for the abstract number concept.
Essential Understanding 4b. The number sequence is innite.
Essential Understanding 4c. Number symbols are representations of abstract mental objects.
Chapter 1
Big Idea 5. A base-ten positional number system is an

efficient way to represent numbers in writing.
Essential Understanding 5a. Ten different digits can be used
and sequenced to express any whole number.
Essential Understanding 5b. Our base-ten number system
allows forming a new place-value unit by grouping ten of the
previous place-value units, and this process can be iterated to
obtain larger and larger place-value units.
Essential Understanding 5c. The value of a digit in a written
numeral depends on its place, or position, in a number.
Essential Understanding 5d. Inherent in place value are units of
different size.
d
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10
Big Idea 1
d
iea
Number is an extension of more basic ideas about relationships between quantities.

Many people assume that getting a good start in learning about
number amounts to acquiring such numerical skills as being able to
count to 10 or higher in the preschool period and knowing singledigit addition and subtraction facts in kindergarten and first grade.
Understanding number is more than that, however.
The concept of number grows out of ideas about relationships
between quantities. To understand the mathematical and conceptual
foundations of numerical knowledge, it is useful to appreciate the
kinds of knowledge that are involved in making nonnumerical comparisons between physical quantities, such as lengths.
Essential Understanding 1a
Quantities can be compared without assigning numerical values to
them.
It is often possible to evaluate the relationship between two quantities without determining the numerical value of either of them. You
can decide which of two lengths is greater, for example, by taking
sticks of those lengths and aligning them so that you can determine
perceptually which extends farther, as in figure 1.1. If you align the
sticks correctly, this is a mathematically sound procedure, although
it can lead to errors if you place the sticks so that one stick protrudes farther at one end and the other stick protrudes farther at the
other.
Fig. 1.1. Alignment to compare lengths

Comparing quantities other than lengths without representing
them numerically is also possible. For instance, to compare the areas of two two-dimensional shapes, you can superimpose the shapes
and possibly determine whether one remains within the boundaries
of the other. To compare the masses of two objects, you can place
them at equal distances on opposite sides of a fulcrum (or a balance point) to determine whether they balance. And to compare the
capacities of two containers, you can fill one container with liquid
Chapter 1
and then pour that liquid into the other container to determine
whether it overflows, just fits, or leaves extra space.
In figure 1.1, length is an attribute of the sticks that allows us
to make comparisons without assigning a numerical value. Length,
like area, volume, or mass, is not a countable, or discrete, quantity,
like the number of sticks or the number of objects in a given set. The
attributes length, area, volume, and mass are continuous quantities.
Even discrete quantities can be compared without assigning
numerical values to them. For instance, if you observe that a child
is sitting on each horse on a carousel and that some children are
also sitting on benches on the carousel, you can conclude that there
are more children than horses, while possibly having very little idea
about how many of either there are.
Although comparisons between quantities need not entail any
understanding of numbers or numerical symbols, an understanding of number and numerical symbols does entail some knowledge
of quantities. Because a basic function of numbers is to represent
quantities (e.g., how many?), an understanding of numbers clearly
depends on an understanding of quantity.
Research with very young children who are just learning the
words for small numbers, such as one and two, confirms this dependence (Durkin et al. 1986; Wagner and Walters 1982). Children are
attending to quantity when they first use these words as linguistic
terms to describe collections of discrete objectsalthough the collections that very young children describe with them do not necessarily contain the stated number of objects! Only later, as an understanding of number develops, do they combine the number words
into a counting sequence.
Essential Understanding 1b
Physical objects are not in themselves quantities. All quantitative
comparisons involve selecting particular attributes of objects or
materials to compare.
Because comparisons between quantities need not entail the use
of numerical symbols, they do not presuppose any knowledge of
number. They do, however, require some knowledge of several
other fundamental mathematical concepts. Consider the situation in
Reflect 1.1, for example.
Even an apparently simple quantitative comparison, such as a
judgment that one vase is taller than another because it comes up
farther when the two are placed on the same surface, involves considerable analysis, and the concepts that enter into that analysis are
also important in understanding number. Basically, comparisons
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12
Reflect 1.1
Josh said, The book is bigger than the sheet of paper.
What attribute(s) of the objects might Josh be comparing? In how many different ways could the size of the book be compared to the size of the paper?
between quantities require an understanding of quantity as distinct from the physical objects themselves. They also entail an
understanding of the concepts of equal to, less than, and greater
than, which correspond to alternative possible relationships between two quantities. Furthermore, comparisons provide a concrete
foundation for the important concept of additive composition (and
decomposition).
The vases depicted in figure 1.2 illustrate the idea that quantities must be distinguished from the physical objects in which they
are embodied. You might think of the vase on the left as greater
than the one on the right if the attributes that you were comparing
were heights, but probably not if you were comparing capacities.
Clearly, then, it is possible to evaluate which of two objects or sets
of physical materials is greater (or whether they are equal) only after you have selected a quantitative attribute on the basis of which
to compare them.
Fig. 1.2. Which is greater?

Confusion among different attributes of physical objects contributes to a number of errors commonly observed in young childrens reasoning. For instance, consider a child who concludes that
a quantity of water has increased when it is poured from a wide
container into a narrower one (Piaget 1952). The child has noticed
that the water rises to a higher level in the narrower container, and
because he is not distinguishing clearly between volume and height,
that observation leads him to the conclusion that the quantity of
water has increased.
Even the numerical relation that we find between two collections of discrete items depends on how we construe the quantities
Chapter 1
that we are comparing and what we take as a unit in each case.
Consider, for instance, the collections of handbags and slippers in
figure 1.3. If you compare individual handbags to pairs of slippers,
you find that the two collections are equal in number. You can see
their equality even without determining how many handbags or
pairs of slippers the figure shows, simply by noting that one pair
of slippers appears above each handbag. If, however, you compare
individual handbags to individual slippers, the collections are not
equal, since there is not a one-to-one correspondence between their
elements.
Fig. 1.3. Are the two collections equal in number?

Collections of discrete items are very often compared numerically, usually in a way that treats each discrete item as a separate
unit. However, collections invariably have other characteristics as
well, such as spatial extent, mass, volume, and total surface area.
An important insight into the nature of quantities, including numerical quantities, is that these different dimensions of quantity
do not always covary, even though they often do. Thus, in the case
of two collections, we cannot necessarily identify which collection has more items by evaluating how much space the collections
cover, or by weighing them, although those strategies are effective
if we know that all the items in each collection are the same in area
or weight. If each of the objects in the collections covers an equal
area, we can conclude that there are more items in the collection
that covers a larger area altogether, and if every object in the
collections has the same weight, we can conclude that there are
more items in the collection with the greater aggregate weight.
However, making a comparison of aggregate area or weight is
not necessarily a valid way to compare the numbers of items in two
collectionsthat is, their numerositieswhen the individual items
vary in area or weight. For example, if a bag of rocks balances a
bag of bricks on a balance scale, it is not clear whether the number
of individual bricks is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of individual rocks.
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Further, an important understanding of number is the recognition that different quantitative attributes are distinct because transformations that alter one quantitative attribute do not necessarily
affect another quantitative attribute and may have no effect on
number. For instance, spreading out a row of counters increases the
length of the row but does not affect the number of counters in it.
Conversely, cutting an item from one collection into two pieces may
affect the numerical relation between two collections but not the
relation between them in attributes such as mass or total amount.
Because the way in which we make nonnumerical comparisons
between two quantities depends on the attribute on which we are
basing our comparison (e.g., aligning two sticks by their endpoints
to compare lengths, putting them on opposite sides of a balance
scale to compare weights), carrying out these kinds of comparisons
can help to illuminate the distinction between different quantitative
attributes.
In addition, the way in which we talk about quantities and the
relations between them can have a strong impact on how children
think about quantities. In everyday language, we are often not very
explicit about the particular quantities that we are comparing. For
example, you might say that one vase is bigger than another,
meaning that its capacity is greater, even when its height is not.
Likewise, you might talk about whether one child has more of
something than another without specifying whether you mean a
numerically greater amount or a greater aggregate volume.
The sociocultural perspective on development and learning pioneered by Vygotsky (e.g., 1978) suggests that learning more precise
ways of talking about and representing quantities can advance childrens understanding of quantitative relations. Terms that identify
specific quantitative dimensionsfor example, length, area, volume,
and massdraw childrens attention to a variety of quantitative
dimensions on the basis of which particular objects or collections
can be compared.
In Reflect 1.1, Josh might be comparing the areas, lengths, or
weights of the sheet of paper and the book. From his statement, determining the attribute to which he is attending is not possible. The
nonspecific statement does not convey the observed relationship.
The precision of the descriptions of relationships between or among
quantities can be enhanced or supported by clear identification and
articulation of the attribute being compared.
Chapter 1
Essential Understanding 1c
The relation between one quantity and another quantity can be an
equality or inequality relation.
After we have quantified attributes, we can look at relationships
among two or more quantities. We can classify these relationships
according to the properties that they have. Reflect 1.2 invites exploration of this idea.
Reflect 1.2
Kara said, If I know that one quantity is greater than another quantity, I can
write four statements.
What statements do you think Kara might write?
Whenever we compare two quantities, we try to decide which
of three relationships holds between them: is the first quantity
greater than the second, is it less than the second, or are the two
equal in magnitude? Thus, comparisons between quantities require
an understanding of the relations of equal to, less than, and greater
than. These relations are fundamental to an understanding of number as well as to the comparison of unenumerated quantities. Two
sets have the same number of objects or elements if there is a oneto-one correspondence between their elements. When two sets differ
in the number of objects or elements, one of those sets will have
one or more elements remaining when the elements of the two sets
have been put into one-to-one correspondence as far as possible;
the set with remaining elements is the one with the greater number
of objects or elements. The process of constructing a correspondence between the elements of two sets is a means of determining
which of the relationsequal to, less than, or greater thanholds
between the sets.
In Reflect 1.2, Kara says that she can write four statements if
she knows that one quantity is greater than another. Given two unequal quantities, we can say the following:
1. One quantitysay, quantity Dis greater than the other
quantitysay, quantity K.
2. Quantity K is less than quantity D.
3. Quantity K is not equal to quantity D.
4. Quantity D is not equal to quantity K.
These four statements are true when we know that two quantities are unequal.
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16

Equality and inequality relations have many important mathematical properties, and these properties apply to relations between
nonnumerical quantities as well as to numerical relations. Piaget
(e.g., 1952) identified several such properties in his work on childrens understanding of quantity. Two particularly important concepts to which he drew attention are the concepts of conservation
and transitivity.
Essential Understanding 1d
Two important properties of equality and order relations are
conservation and transitivity.
Conservation is the idea that the relation between two quantities remains the same when we change irrelevant aspects of the physical
objects. For instance, you conserve the number of counters when you
spread out a row of counters, and you conserve volume when you
pour a liquid into a differently shaped container (assuming no spillage and ignoring any liquid that sticks to the first container).
To conclude that two initially equal quantities must still be
equal (provided that only quantity-irrelevant aspects of the objects
or their arrangement have been changed) when we can no longer
compare them directly, we need the concept of transitivity. For example, the conclusion that two volumes of liquid are still equal after
one has been poured into a different-shaped container rests on two
other equality relations: the equality of the two volumes when they
were in identical containers, and the equality between a volume of
liquid in its initial container and the same volume of liquid after
it has been poured into another container. (If we spill some of the
liquid while we are pouring it, the second of these equalities no longer holds, and correspondingly, we can no longer conclude that the
two quantities are equal after the transformation.) In short, because
the quantities were equal initially, and the pouring left the poured
quantity the same as it was originally, we know that even though
the quantities may look different when they are in different-shaped
containers, they are in fact still equal.
Transitivity, which allows comparisons of quantities when
direct, physical comparisons are not possible, is useful in many situations. Reflect 1.3 emphasizes the prominent role of transitivity in
measurement.
Transitivity in essence consists of comparing each of two or
more quantities to an intermediary rather than comparing them directly to each other. Although we usually think of measurement
as a process of assigning a numerical value to a quantity, in its simplest
form measurement need not involve any use of numbers. Trans
Chapter 1
Reflect 1.3
I need to compare the areas of these two things, but I cant move them to see
how they overlap. Theyre too big, said Tran.
How can Tran solve this dilemma?
dilemma in Reflect 1.3 points to the need to use an intermediary as a

means of measuring both areas and then comparing the outcomes to
determine the relationship of the two given areas.
Consider, for example, the problem of comparing the depth of
two holes. Bryant and Kopytynska (1976) and Miller (1989) studied
young childrens responses to this problem. One solution is to insert
a stick into one of the holes, mark how far up on the stick the top
of that hole comes, and then insert the stick into the other hole. If
the mark indicating how far the stick went into the first hole goes
inside the second hole, then the second hole is deeper; if the mark
remains outside, then the first hole is deeper; and if it falls just at
the top edge of the second hole, then the holes are equally deep.
In this solution, the stick (or, more precisely the segment of the
stick between the end that is inserted into the holes and the mark
made at the edge of the first hole) serves as a measure by means
of which two quantitative relations are established: (a) the equality
between the depth of the first hole and the length of the segment
of the stick that was marked off, and (b) the equality or inequality relation between that length and the depth of the second hole.
Transitive inference combining two relations is the basis for drawing a conclusion about the equality or inequality relation between
the depths of the two holes.
Essential Understanding 1e
The equality relation between two quantities remains unchanged
when one or both quantities are decomposed into parts and when
one of the quantities is combined with another quantity to form a
larger quantity.
An important extension of the concept of conservation is the idea
that one or both of two quantities can be decomposed into parts
or one of the quantities can be combined with another quantity
to form a larger quantity without changing the equality relations
between the original quantities. In reasoning about the relation between two unequal quantities, we can use this idea by thinking of
the larger of the two quantities as composed of (a) a quantity that
is equal to the smaller quantity and (b) a difference quantity. This
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18

idea is illustrated in figure 1.4, which shows that when comparing
the length of the knife to the length of the spoon, we find that their
lengths are not equal. In fact, we could decompose the length of the
knife into two quantities: the length of the spoon and the difference
quantity.
length of knife
length of spoon
difference
quantity
Fig. 1.4. The length of the knife decomposed into the length of the
spoon plus a difference quantity
We can make a corresponding decomposition in thinking about
the relation between two numerical quantities. If the quantities that
we are comparing are numbers of birds and worms, for example,
and there are more birds than worms, then we can decompose the
total number of birds into (a) a number equal to the number of
worms and (b) some extras (see figure 1.5).
Fig. 1.5. Comparison of a group of birds and a group of worms

Hudsons (1983) study of subtraction problem solving nicely
illustrates the significance of this way of thinking about relations
between quantities. Hudsons work suggests that a wont get question, such as How many birds wont get a worm? might illustrate
for children the relationship between the number of birds and the
number of worms in figure 1.5 better than a more question, such
as How many more birds than worms are there?
19
Chapter 1
Big Idea 2
The selection of a unit makes it possible to use numbers in
comparing quantities.
d
iea
Comparing quantities is part of what we do in many situations.

Comparisons are meaningful when they are based on well-chosen
units. The units that we select affect how we count and measure.
Using numbers to describe relationships between or among quantities depends on identifying a unit.
Although direct comparisons form our initial concepts of relationships and give rise to the vocabulary equal to, greater than, and less
than, they do not provide the necessary specificity for determining by how much two quantities are not equal. At one level, it is
important to note that the masses, for example, of two objects are
not equal. But suppose that we want to make them equal. To do
that, we might decide first by how much they are different. To find
the amount by which they are unequal, we must determine how to
quantify or measure them. Even though choosing a unit might seem
to be an easy decision, the unit that we choose for measuring has
an impact on the relationship that we find between the two quantities. Consider Sammi and Hennas counting in Reflect 1.4.
Reflect 1.4
Sammi said, I counted 4 things. No, said Henna. There are 8 things.
Is it possible that Sammi and Henna counted the same group of objects? Why, or
why not?
Recall that in figure 1.3, the unit determined either that the difference between the two groups is 0 (when the slippers are counted
with the unit as a pair) or that it is 3 (when the slippers are counted
with the unit as an individual slipper). This is true in the case of
Sammi and Henna in Reflect 1.4. It may in fact be true that Sammi
and Henna counted the same group of objects but arrived at different counts. It depends on the unit that they used to count the group
of objects.
Consider a problem that presents students with two groups,
one containing 14 marbles and the other containing 22 marbles.
It is possible to describe the relationship between the two groups
20

without using numbers. The situation provides an opportunity to
represent quantities without specifying numbers but instead generalizing ideas and concepts. If we designate the number of marbles,
14, in the first group as quantity M and the number of marbles, 22,
in the second group as quantity P, we can write M < P or P > M.
This inequality assumes that each marble is considered as a unit and
counted as 1. If the two groups are placed in a one-to-one correspondence, the second group has more. By treating each marble as a
unit, one-to-one-correspondence is a natural way of comparing two
groups.
The unit is clear in the marble example. However, it is not so
clear in all situations. Figure 1.6 shows a collection of triangles,
squares, and rectangles. By selecting one of each shape and assembling the three, students can make a house. When they put the
shapes together in this way, they can see the unit house. However,
if the pieces are spread out and students are asked how many houses might be built, they would need to determine the number on the
basis of the unit that consists of one triangle, one square, and one
rectangle. As one student, Michael, said, Is that a trick question?
You cant count all the pieces. You have to count the groups of
pieces (Dougherty 2004).
Fig. 1.6. How many houses?

From this statement, we can see that Michael has the foundation for defining a unit and then repeating or iterating that unit
across a quantity. To build a foundation that supports an understanding of number, the identification of a unit is key in counting
with meaning as opposed to counting by rote. In fact, without the
determination of a unit, it is impossible to count a set of objects or
measure a quantity at all.
An appropriate unit should be chosen to measure a quantity.
Appropriateness in this respect means that if length, for example,
is the attribute, then a length unit rather than, say, an area unit,
should be chosen. Depending on the developmental level of young
children, the unit may need to be one that precisely measures the
quantity, with no remaining or uncounted parts. Later, they may
deal with situations where they have a whole number of units in
21
Chapter 1
the given quantity plus a little more or where the remaining part
could be described as one-half of the unit. Figure 1.7 shows a rectangular area, and finding a unit to measure it is the focus of Reflect
1.5.
Fig. 1.7. A continuous situation
Reflect 1.5
How many ways can you find a unit to measure the area in figure 1.7?
What would the units look like?
How would the units compare?
On the one hand, to measure the area in figure 1.7, you might
take as the area unit one small square, and thus you would require
12 units to measure the area. On the other hand, and staying with
whole numbers, you might take area units that are composed of 2, 3,
4, 6, or 12 small squares to measure the area. If you used a unit of 2
small squares, the measure of the total area would be 6 area units.
Suppose that you were making a count of the number of blocks
in the case of figure 1.8. One block might seem to be an appropriate
unit. However, you might possibly consider other attributes of the
block as a unit. For example, you could consider a face of the cube
as a unit, and then the count would be 36.
Fig. 1.8. A discrete situation

Using different units allows us to measure a quantity in different ways. For example, we could count the shapes in figure 1.9
while considering each shape as a unit. Or we might define a unit
as a combination of a triangle, a square, and a circle. Thus, the
measure that we would associate with the group would be different,
depending on the unit. In the first case, the number of shapes would
be 9, and in the second case, it would be 3.
22
Fig. 1.9. How many units?
The size of a unit determines the number of times that it must be
iterated to count or measure a quantity.
The development of an understanding of number with a focus on
unit offers insights into the relationships of the size of a unit to the
quantity being measured (Dougherty 2008). If, for example, the area
in figure 1.7 is measured with an area unit that consists of 4 small
squares, the measurement is 3 area units. However, if it is measured
by an area unit that consists of 6 small squares, the measurement is
2 units. Thus, the relationship between the units used to measure the
same quantity can be determined by looking at the number of times
that each unit is iterated or repeated to measure the quantity. The
larger the unit, the fewer times it must be iterated. Similarly, a small
unit would be iterated more times than a larger unit to measure the
same quantity.
It is possible to determine the relationship between two units
that are used to count or measure the same quantity. If we find that
it takes 3 units to count a group of objects, and using another unit,
we counted or measured the quantity as 8, we can reason that the
second unit must be smaller than the first because it required more
of the second unit to count or measure the group. Developing an
understanding of this idea is significant for children since it permeates measurement as a content strand. For example, having this
understanding helps children see that it would take fewer yards
than inches to measure the same length. Inches are a smaller unit
and hence have to be iterated more times to measure the length.
This fact also underlies the need to use standard units for measurement if we want to communicate our results to other people. If we
pace a field to measure its length, someone who does not know
exactly how long our steps are will not know how long the field is.
However, if we measure in yards, people will know exactly what the
measurement means, even if they are not present at the field.
By counting or measuring a quantity with a unit, we can represent the relationship of the unit to the quantity in different ways.
Chapter 1
For example, if unit A is used three times to measure quantity K,
K could be represented as K = A + A + A, or as 3A = K. In the first
representation, K = A + A + A, the action of repeating a unit is
closely linked to the symbols, with unit A iterated three times to
completely measure K. Each A in the equation represents the use
of one measurement unit. It is possible to think of the action as
K = 3A, as well. In this case, quantity K is shown on the left side
of the equals sign to match the action of beginning with a quantity
and then measuring it with unit A.
The second representation, 3A = K, may be interpreted as three
units combined to make a quantity that is equal to K. Like the first
representation, this composition of a quantity could be represented
as A + A + A = K. In this representation, the representation of the
iterations is on the left side of the equation to signify that unit A
was used to build the quantity.
The repetitive action represented in an addition equation of
this sort provides a way to think about counting. The unit A is repeated and counted until the quantity K is completely measured. In
figure 1.7 (associated with Reflect 1.5), if our area unit consisted of
three squares, for example, we would need to iterate it four times
to cover the area. If we let E represent the area unit and R, the area,
we could write R = E + E + E + E or R = 4E to represent the covering of the entire area.
In a multiplication-like equation such as 4E = R, the iteration
of a unit creates a new quantity. This composition of a new quantity differs from the scenario above, in which a quantity exists and
is decomposed into units (or measured by a unit). In contrast, in this
situation of composing a new quantity, no quantity exists, but one
is created by the iteration of a unit. Each time a unit is iterated, it is
counted. If we wrote 4E = R, it would mean that we repeated unit E
four times. An equivalent representation could be E + E + E + E = R,
depending on how we chose to represent the measurement symbolically. Thus, there is a close alignment between the act of counting
and the symbolic representation.
Is it possible to determine the relationship between two quantities if we know only the numbers in their measurements? Consider
the situation in Reflect 1.6, in which two quantities have the same
numerical measures.
Reflect 1.6
What could you say about two quantities if one quantity was measured as 8, and
the other quantity was measured as 8?
It is likely that many people would say the two quantities in
Reflect 1.6 are equal. Is it possible that the two quantities are not
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equal? We often make the assumption that two numerical quantities can be compared solely on the basis of the sizes of the numbers that we get when we count the number of units in each. For
example, when we ask children to compare numbers like 3 and 8,
our expectation is that they will say that 3 is less than 8. Embedded
in this task is the conceptual understanding that in the context of
measuring and counting, to compare two numbers, they must be
represented by the same-size unit. If they are not, the comparison
makes little sense. Without this assumption, it would be impossible
to compare the two numbers representing the quantities.
For example, if the length of a football field is measured in
yards (100), and the length of a soccer field is measured in meters
(95), it would not be appropriate just to look at the numbers 100
and 95 to decide which field is longer. In contrast, when comparing
numbers that represent how many objects are in each of two sets,
the objects might not be of the same size or type. For example, if
one set has three mice and another has two elephants, we can say
that the number of mice is greater than the number of elephants.
Children in the early grades are often asked to compare numbers like 3 and 8, with no set of objects or other information provided besides the numerical or symbolic representations. One of the
most fundamental tools used with young children for such a task
is the number line. Although many children see it merely as a line
with a series of points or hash marks on it, a number line can be
thought of as a sequence of length units. It allows comparisons of
numbers because the units that make up the number line are equal
in size, or the same.
Comparing two numbers on the number line can be thought
of as comparing lengths. For example, 2 on the number line is 2
length units from 0. Likewise, 6 on the number line is 6 length units
from 0. A line segment that is 6 units long is longer than one that is
2 units. Thus, 6 is greater than 2 (see fig. 1.10). Comparing positive
numbers by using lengths as measured by the distance from zero
closely matches the direct comparisons of quantities with which
children begin their number development. Their experience with
length helps them to use the number line in a way that has a deeper
meaning for them.
Fig. 1.10. Number line representation of 2 and 6 as distances from 0

With a rich conceptual background, children can explore more
complex number ideas at an earlier age, such as generalizations
Chapter 1
about relationships among numbers. Because the number line is
made up of equal-sized units, it allows making generalizations
when specific numbers are not used. (It is worth noting that children in early grades can reason with variables [Dougherty 2008].)
If we select any point on the number line and call it n, then n + 1
would be one unit to the right. If n is any point on the number line,
then n 2 would be two units to the left of n. With the number line
in figure 1.10, students might compare two quantities represented
as n + 3 and n 1 without knowing specifically what n represents.
They could conclude that n + 3 is greater because it is farther from
0 than n 1, provided that n is greater than or equal to 1.
Quantities represented by numbers can be decomposed (or composed)
into part-whole relationships.
The previous sections have used both discrete and continuous quantities in discussing number. Considerations of both types of quantities are necessary to form a more complete foundation for number.
Through experiences with both types of quantities, children can
break apart or build new quantities.
In working with a group of 9 cubes, students can break the
group apart into individual cubes. In one respect, this means that
there are 9 groups of 1 cube each. These equal-sized groups provide
a way to count the entire collection of cubes.
It is possible, however, to break apart, or decompose, the group
of 9 cubes into unequal groups. For example, 9 cubes could be
thought of in the following ways:
a group of 5 cubes and a group of 4 cubes
a group of 1 cube and a group of 8 cubes
Modeling the decomposition could be represented with equations such as 9 = 5 + 4, or 9 = 2 + 7. Notice that by writing the
equation with the total in the group first, the equation more closely
models the act of decomposition. It also emphasizes that the equals
sign means that the quantities on both sides are the same. The previous section discussed how continuous quantities of area can be
composed or decomposed, and that experience can then promote
students abilities to apply that same idea to discrete quantities or
purely numerical contexts.
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In contrast, students can work with a discrete unit, such as a
cube, and use it to compose or create a group. It would be possible
to put 3 cubes in one group and 6 cubes in another. Joining the
two groups creates a composite group of 9 cubes. The action of the
composition could be modeled with 3 + 6 = 9.
Students can decompose and compose continuous quantities
like area or length in a similar fashion (e.g., A + A + A = K when
A is iterated to measure K). By using the two contexts of discrete
and continuous quantities, children develop a greater flexibility
with number and an understanding of part-whole relationships that
carries over into their understanding and development of different
algorithms for computations.
27
Chapter 1
Big Idea 3
Meaningful counting integrates different aspects of number
and sets, such as sequence, order, one-to-one correspondence,
ordinality, and cardinality.
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Counting brings together and depends on many facets of number

and sets. It is useful to probe more deeply the concepts and connections that determine what counting is and what counting should be
at the elementary level.
What are the characteristics of meaningful counting? Consider
the example of a childs early counting in Reflect 1.7 to help isolate
these characteristics.
Reflect 1.7
When Luis was three years old, his favorite number was 3. One day he pointed to
a collection with four objects and said, There are three. His father said, How
do you know? Luis counted, pointing at the objects one by one: One, two, thr...
He hesitated, paused for a few seconds, and then counted again, One, two, four,
three!
What principle of counting did Luis show that he understood? What counting
principle was he struggling to master?
The number-word sequence, combined with the order inherent in the
natural numbers, can be used as a foundation for counting.
Sequencing can be thought of as keeping order. The notion of
keeping order is related to recognizing sequences of actions, a
development that can occur quite early. For instance, recognizing
perhaps through some trial and errorthat socks must go on before
shoes is an example of recognizing an action sequence.
The capacity to memorize sequences also develops quite early.
Some examples of sequences that children often memorize are the
alphabet and songs such as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. It is possible to recite these arranged words in order without always knowing what each individual element or word means. Reflect 1.8 calls
attention to this fact.
In fact, knowing the meaning of each individual element or
word is not necessary if we want to recite a sequence from a point
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Reflect 1.8
Think about the song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Try saying the words to the
song, starting at the end and working toward the beginning.
other than the beginning. You may have found that reciting the
words of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star was much easier from
the beginning to the end rather than starting from the end of the
sequence.
One of the earliest sequences we learn that is related to mathematics is the number-word sequence. The use of the number-word
sequence is pervasive in our culture, and it is valuable in several
contexts, both mathematical and nonmathematical. Our challenge is
to transform the number sequence from a mere sequence of words
into a conceptual tool for doing mathematics.
In saying the number-word sequence, it is important to recognize what each element actually means rather than to commit
to a rote recitation. Understanding the meaning of each word in
the number-word sequence allows us to see why the order of the
words in the number sequence is meaningful. As sophistication with
counting develops, children find it easier to start in the middle of a
sequencesay, at 5and count forward rather than always having
to start at 1. This more sophisticated counting reflects an understanding of the meaning of each number word in the sequence as it
represents a number that is one more than the preceding number
word in the sequence. Now rote counting changes to counting with
meaning and with flexibilityan advance that allows the numberword sequence to become the primary mental tool for solving
addition and subtraction problems.
Counting includes one-to-one correspondence, regardless of the kind
of objects in the set and the order in which they are counted.
Making a one-to-one correspondence between number words and
objects is an important component of counting. A young childs
tapping of each object counted is a reminder of the fundamental
role of one-to-one correspondence in counting. Sequencing is a
necessary skill, as addressed in Essential Understanding 3a, allowing number words to be matched to objects in a one-to-one manner.
In this one-to-one matching, the kind of objects in the set and
the size of the objects do not matter. For example, chips of different
colors (see fig. 1.11) may be grouped in one collection, and all the
Chapter 1
chips in the collection may then be counted. Even though the chips
are of different colors, they are all chips. Counting thus seems more
natural if the objects can be seen as related in some way, perhaps
implicitly.
Fig. 1.11. Chips of different colors counted as a set

Counting is more challenging when the relationship is more conceptual, as among the pieces of fruit in figure 1.12. Clearly, each object is a piece of fruit, but the sizes, colors, and shapes are different.
Counting this collection requires setting aside the differences noted
and conceptually understanding that the collection consists of fruit.
Fig. 1.12. Pieces of different kinds of fruit counted as a set

As long as we maintain a one-to-one matching, we can count
the objects in a collection in different orders. Although the numberword sequence must maintain a particular order when we use it in
a one-to-one correspondence with countable objects, the objects
themselves need not be in any particular order. The fact that the
aggregate total does not change regardless of how the elements are
placed or arranged reflects the notion of conservation. However,
it is important to recognize that the last number word that we say
indicates the total number of objects in the collection, regardless of
which object we count last. In Reflect 1.7, Luiss counting demonstrated an understanding of the idea that the last number said tells
the total number of objects. It is interesting to note that although
Luis actually counted four items, he said three last.
Counting includes cardinality and ordinality of sets of objects.
Cardinality is a powerful concept, independent of attributes
such as size, color, and even order. Therefore, in understanding
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30

cardinality, it is important to know that once the unit has been
selected, the question How many? has only one answer for each
countable set. The last number called is the total number, and recounting is unnecessary if the same set is rearranged.
In essence, the cardinality of a set expresses numerical quantity
and the underlying notion that a collection of objects forms a group
that consists of exactly so many elements (Payne and Huinker
1993). Even young children may determine the cardinality of a
small set without counting. Familiarity with a particular group or
array of objects may make it possible for them to know that there
are one, two, three, or four objects.
Arranging and ordering a collection of objects without regard
for differences among the objects other than their place in the order
is called ordinal seriation (Piaget 1997). In ordinal seriation, each
element counts as one unit, as would any other element in the set.
The only pertinent difference between an element of the set and any
other element in the set is its position or placement in the order.
Thus, given any element called n, element n + 1 follows n (unless
element n is the last element in the order), and element n comes
after n 1 elements.
In a set of objects, any position is itself a number, and this
number is inseparable from the whole collection to which it belongs. It is sometimes important to coordinate order with cardinal
value and keep both in mind at the same time. It is possible to think
about cardinal value and forget the position, or to focus on the position and forget about the cardinal number. For example, if you are
interested only in the total number of objects, the position of the
items does not matter. However, if you have a series of items, such
as a set of bottles, of different heights and volumes, they may be arranged so that their positions indicate their relationship in the size
attribute. Ordinal position in that case has a meaning that might not
be present if you are interested only in the total number.
Coordinating order and cardinality also highlights the fact
that when new quantities are constructed, they embed the previous
quantity or quantities. For example, figure 1.13 shows a collection
representing 3 as part of a new collection representing 4. There is
hence a connection between the successor of a number and adding
one more to a collection. The number sequence thus forms a hierarchical embedded sequence of sets.
Fig. 1.13. A quantity of 3 is part of a quantity of 4.
Chapter 1
Counting strategies are based on order and hierarchical inclusion of
numbers.
Building a deeper understanding of numbers not only helps to
forge a strong foundation for later, more advanced mathematical concepts, but also helps to provide the necessary background
knowledge to understand and carry out counting strategies correctly.
Reflect 1.9 probes the conceptual basis of the strategies counting
up and counting down.
Reflect 1.9
How do strategies such as counting up and counting down relate to composition
and decomposition of quantities?
An important connection is between the idea of successor and
adding 1 to a predecessor. The predecessor is included in the new
number 2 + 1 = 3, 3 + 1 = 4, 4 + 1 = 5. Piaget (1997) describes this
as hierarchical inclusion. An extension of this inclusion is the concept of part-part-whole, discussed earlier. For example, the addition
statement 3 + 4 = 7 shows that 7 is the whole and both 3 and 4 are
part of 7. That is, 3 and 4 are both included in 7.
Another important connection is between more in the number
sequence and more in the sense of having additional elements. On
the one hand, 5 is more than 3 because 5 comes after 3 in the number sequence. On the other hand, 5 is more than 3 because it is necessary to add 2 to 3 to get 5 or to take 2 away from 5 to get 3. The
strategy of counting on to solve addition and subtraction problems
is founded on the notion of hierarchical inclusion.
The notions of order and hierarchical inclusion have a strong
impact on such strategies as counting up (e.g., 1, 2, 3) and counting down (e.g., 3, 2, 1). Using those strategies can improve the efficiency of counting when elements are added to or taken away from
an already counted set. The strategies also can be tied to arithmetic,
since addition can be interpreted as starting with a particular quantity or at a particular place in a number sequence and counting up
from that point a number of units. Counting-up strategies can be
used to solve subtraction problems when subtraction is thought
of as finding a missing addend. When subtraction is thought of as
taking away, it is possible to connect subtraction to the process of
counting down.
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32
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Big Idea 4
Numbers are abstract concepts.
A growing understanding of comparing quantities, using units,
and counting, together with a budding number sense, provides a
foundation for more abstract and general concepts of numbers. In
turn, thinking about numbers as abstract concepts adds further
understanding to the previous concepts.
Patterns in the number-word sequence provide a foundation for the
abstract number concept.
The number sequence, both in words and symbols, plays an important role in the development of an abstract concept of number. A
crucial step in the acquisition of number concepts is the discovery
of regularities and rules in the counting process, first with words,
and later with written symbols. Children must memorize the first
number words, and then they can use the rules to go from any
number to the next.
Memorizing the words for the number sequence and their order
is not easy. In English, the first twelve numbers have no pattern.
Then, with thirteen, one kind of regularity appears: thirteen, fourteen, fifteenand the pattern usually becomes plain after sixteen.
In English, after twenty, a stable regularity emergestwenty-one,
twenty-two, ..., twenty-ninewith the same principle governing all
subsequent groups of ten. In other languages, regularities in counting words may start earlierin some, after ten. For example, in
Chinese, the word for 10 is shi. Beginning with 11, shi is the first
syllable of each counting word, signifying that the number is 10
and another number. Eleven is shiyi, 10 and 1; twelve is shier, 10
and 2; and so on.
When children start counting, the change of decade often
is challenging. They may need prompts for the next decade after
reaching a number like 29 or 39. They also need to memorize the
words for decades. In English, the pattern usually becomes regular
and transparent to children after they can count to 60. When someone counts by hundreds, the pattern becomes even more transparent: one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, .... Every number
has a successor. What comes after...? is a question that arises very
naturally. Doing the reverse process of finding a successor yields
the predecessor of a number, and this process forms the basis of
counting backwards.
Chapter 1
These regularities and rules become more understandable to
children at about age five, and then they may develop an astounding proficiency in counting. The following vignette shows a young
child who has just figured out the patterns for counting verbally:
Now I can count forever! exclaimed Lillian, a five-year-old kindergartner.
Tell me, what do you mean? asked her grandma.
You learn the first names, and then you just keep saying them over
and over. The child illustrated, Twenty-one, twenty-two, , twenty-nine. She paused. I forget the name for twenty-ten.
Thirty, prompted Grandma.
Lillian continued her explanation saying, The other names are easy:
thirty, fourty, fivety, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety. Then it should be
tenty, but we call itone hundred!!
And after one hundred? asked Grandma.
You do it all over again. One hundred one, one hundred two,
one hundred three. (Joan R. Leitzel, personal communication,
November 2, 2006)
The number sequence is infinite.
After children figure out the regularities in saying and writing numbers, as Lillian does in the vignette above, some of them suddenly
grasp the whole unlimitedly continuing sequence (Freudenthal
1973, p. 170). If we can count or write up to a certain number, we
can also count or write to the next one. This allows us to count as
high as we wisha skill that empowers us to have as many numbers
available as we need. We can find a number as large as we want
and can have as many numbers as we need for any given purpose.
With this realization, we know that the sequence of numbers never
ends. The number sequence is unbounded, even though our own
counting must come to an end at some number. In light of this fact,
consider the childs statement in Reflect 1.10 and the accompanying
question.
Reflect 1.10
Courtney said to her teacher, I know the biggest number.
What would you say to Courtney if you were her teacher?
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34

In response to Courtneys comment, the teacher might have
Courtney say the biggest number that she knows, and then the
teacher might say the next number. If Courtney has generalized the
pattern and structure of counting, she would quickly see that for
any number that she names, someone can always find one more.
Number symbols are representations of abstract mental objects.
If we are counting a group of oranges, we might say, for example,
that we have 7 oranges. Thus, the 7 is attached to a group of oranges, and in early counting, it acts as an adjective that describes
the set of oranges. However, when we begin to use symbols, they
play an important role in the formation of number as a concept.
By using the abstract symbol 2 (or the numeral 2) without specific
reference to any group of objects, we are moving to an abstract
representation, independent of any quantities. The numeral 2 can
represent a mental object per se, rather than forcing us to think in
terms of two cats, two shoes, two meters, and so on.
The move to a symbolic representation, without a specific link
to a quantity, allows us to work with numbers on a higher level
than when we could think of number only as an attribute of a
group or set. A number now becomes a concept symbolized by its
corresponding numeral.
35
Chapter 1
Big Idea 5
A base-ten positional number system is an efficient way to
represent numbers in writing.
The Hindu-Arabic system that we use to write numbers is so efficient, and we are so used to it, that we tend to think it is a natural and easy system. We sometimes forget its complexity and the
fact that it takes time and diverse opportunities to experience and
understand. Some characteristics of the Hindu-Arabic numeration
system, such as grouping by tens and place value, are important.
These attributes, although very familiar to us, are not natural; not
all number systems that people have developed use them. Some
number systems, such as the Roman system, even use symbols that
are not numerical digits.
Ten different digits can be used and sequenced to express any whole
number.
To express any whole number, our number system needs only 10
different digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. No matter what natural number we are dealing with or its magnitude, we can express it
by using only these symbols. In a written numeral, each of the 10
digits tells us how many of a particular unit the numeral represents.
When a group of ten is completed, the symbol for zero appears as
part of the written numeral, as in 10. The sequence of digits 1, 2, ,
8, 9 follows in the same order in each of the places. The sequence
of digits in the tens appear as 10, 20, 30, , and similarly in the
hundreds, as 100, 200, 300, .
The same kinds of repeating patterns appear in written numerals as in the verbal number-word sequence. However, the written
patterns are more regular and easier to identify than the verbal patterns. In our early stages of learning, we typically write the first
ten numbers in order, 1, 2, 3, ..., 9, and 10. Then we learn that the
written numerals for the next numbers all start with the digit 1, and
the second digit changes in the same way as before: 11, 12, 13, .
After 20, the pattern continues in the same way, 21, 22, . Once
we get to a number ending in 9, we change that position to a 0 and
increase the digit to the left by one: 28, 29, 30, 31, . It is possible
to become aware of this pattern before developing a full understanding of place value, or even before realizing that 23 = 20 + 3.
Later, we can extend this pattern to numbers greater than 100.
This time, numbers start with a 1 and a 0 and the last digits change
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36

as in the previous case; 101, 102, , 109. At 110, the sequence for
the last two digits follows the same pattern as with two-digit numbers: 110, 111, 112, . After learning these rules, given any number,
we can find the next number by using the pattern related to written symbols. With written symbols, it is not necessary to know the
name of the new number.
Using the written number system can also facilitate the formation of other concepts, for example, the idea that huge quantities are
nevertheless finite. Reflect 1.11 encourages consideration of this idea.
Reflect 1.11
In everyday language we often use the term infinite to denote collections that
are very big but actually finite. What are some examples of this informal use of
infinite?
As discussed previously, using only ten different symbols, our
decimal place-value system allows us to write any number, giving
us a powerful tool for representing very large numbers. For example,
during a discussion about the number of raindrops falling on New
York City in a day, a kindergarten child wrote on the blackboard
That is, the child wrote a 1 followed by one hundred zeros

(Kasner and Newman 1967). In fact, this number is much greater
than the number of raindrops falling in the world in a yearobviously, much greater than the number of raindrops falling on New
York City in a day! It is much greater than the number of grains of
sand in all the beaches of the world or all the money circulating in
all the countries. However, this episode indicates that a young child
can use our place-value system to express the perceived number of
raindrops, even though the number is huge.
Our base-ten number system allows forming a new place-value unit
by grouping ten of the previous place-value units, and this process
can be iterated to obtain larger and larger place-value units.
In our written number system, we always group by tens. This
presents a challenge because it is not always natural to group
Chapter 1
objects by tens. We often group by smaller quantities like twos and
fives, and thus younger children need to have ample opportunities
to bundle or group objects into tens and then count by tens. Young
children also need opportunities to unbundle or ungroup the
tens as they decompose the quantities. Objects that can be easily
grouped or ungrouped, such as linking cubes, help children to understand that a train of ten can be seen not only as one object but
also as ten individual cubes (see fig. 1.14).
Fig. 1.14. Cubes that can be linked or unlinked to show 1 ten or 10

units
Counting by tens is not a process that is easy to grasp. Children
may think of a bundle of ten as one object even if they created the
bundles by counting and grouping ten objects together. For example, a group of kindergarten and first-grade students were counting bundles of ten, and skip counting accordingly by tens, but once
they reached 100, they seemed to forget that a bundle represented
10, counting eighty, ninety, one hundred, one hundred and one,
one hundred and two... (Cameron, Hersch, and Fosnot 2004).
The flexibility developed with composition and decomposition
of quantities influences an understanding of base-ten units and
place value. In essence, place value can be thought of as a proportional relationship of the unit (or ones) to the larger units in the
place-value positions. In our base-ten, or decimal, number system,
the unit in the tens place is created by the composition of ten units
or ones. Likewise, the size of the unit in the hundreds place is ten
of the tens, which is one hundred of the ones. Thus, in our system,
once we have ten of one unit, we group them to form a new unit,
and we consider ten of the new units, in turn, as a new unit.

Ten units = 1 ten 10 1 = 10

Ten tens = 1 hundred
10 10 = 100
Ten hundreds = 1 thousand
10 100 = 1000
It takes some time to be able to switch back and forth between

units, and to think, for example, of 100 as both 10 tens and 100 units.
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38

A manipulative aid that is often used to provide experiences
with base-ten concepts and place value is base-ten blocks (see fig.
1.15). Work with base-ten blocks can clearly demonstrate that ten
of the units (ones) form a long (the tens unit), ten of the longs
form a flat (the hundreds unit), and ten of the flats form a cube
(the thousands unit). Reflect 1.12 explores a students use of baseten blocks to represent a number.
Fig. 1.15. Base-ten blocks showing a cube (1000), a flat (100), a long
(10), and a unit (1)
Reflect 1.12
Scott said, I found five ways to represent 125 with the base-ten blocks.
Consider five ways that might Scott have found. How would those representations support Scotts development of addition concepts?
The most efficient way of decomposing a number like 125 with

base-ten blocks would be using 1 flat (100), 2 longs (10s) and 5
units (1s). In Reflect 1.12, the five ways that Scott found could have
included using
12 longs (10s) and 5 units (1s);
1 flat (100), 2 longs (10s), and 5 units (1s);
125 units (1s);
1 flat (100) and 25 units (1s);
11 longs (10s) and 15 units (1s).
Each of these ways could be represented symbolically with an
addition sentence such as 125 = 100 + 10 + 10 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 +
1 (or 125 = 100 + 20 + 5). Working in tandem with physical representations that use base-ten blocks and with symbols that form
Chapter 1
addition statements or equations can help young children develop
the concept of addition. Both representations show the relationship
between the whole and the parts. In this case, 125 is the whole and,
as one example, 100, 20, and 5 are the parts.
The value of a digit in a written numeral depends on its place, or
position, in a number.
Each of the positions, or places, in a written number has its own
value. For example in 523, the 5 is in the hundreds place, the 2 is
in the tens place, and the 3 is in the ones place. This feature makes
our system extremely convenient to use, but it is also a major stumbling block for young learners. For instance, some children try to
use a juxtaposition principle to write a number like twenty-five in
our system. They write a 20 with a 5 next to it on the right, and the
result looks like 205.
The unit in each place has a value that is ten times greater
than the unit in the next place to the right, and, in turn, the unit in
the next place to the left has a value that is ten times greater. Only
one digit occupies each place-value position. For example, suppose
we want to represent a number with ten or more onessay, 12. We
can think of the number as 10 plus 2, placing a 1 in the tens place
and a 2 in the ones place. In this way, the symbols that we use in
a written numeral correspond to a particular decomposition of the
number represented. Thus, 12 can be thought of as 10 and 2, or represented symbolically as 12 = 10 + 2.
The symbol 0 serves as a placeholder to help us distinguish
among numbers such as 305, 35, and 350. Without 0, these numbers would have the same nonzero digits in the same order. Zero is
often thought of as meaning nothing, a notion that can present difficulties in understanding the value of multi-digit numbers. Zero is
one of the most important digits in the base-ten system.
Inherent in place value are units of different size.
Place value implies that we are dealing simultaneously with units
of different size. When children encounter tens and ones mixed
togetherthat is, when they deal with groups of tens as well as with
individual items, many have problems (Kamii 1986). Consider the
case of Demetrius in Reflect 1.13.
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40
Reflect 1.13
Demetrius was given a pile of 70 chips to count. He placed them in seven piles of
ten, but when asked how many chips he had, he responded, Seven.
What might Demetrius have been thinking?
First graders can say that ten plus ten is twenty and twenty
plus twenty is forty. They are also able to deal with a whole and
its parts successively but not simultaneously. When asked to count
a large quantity of chipssay, 70by tens, some children are able
to make heaps of ten, but when asked how many chips they have,
they might say seven, referring to the seven heaps, or ten, referring to the number of chips in a heap (Kamii 1986). In Reflect 1.13,
Demetrius may have assumed that the making of the piles of 10
changed the unit from an individual chip to a pile of 10. However,
the original count was to have been based on an individual chip as
a unit.
It is possible to count by units to form groups of tens and then
keep track of the total number of chips, not the number of tens.
Using this method, we would first count ten, then count another ten
and say that is twenty, then count another ten and say that is thirty,
and so on. It is also possible to make the groups of ten first and
then count the number of groups. As our counting sophistication
develops, we can group ten groups of ten into a hundred and count
by hundreds. This is an important application of using unit as the
basis for counting.
An understanding of place value is needed to make sense of
algorithms with two-digit numbers. This understanding can be reinforced by performing mental computations with two-digit numbers
and, in turn, can enhance the development of algorithms or computational techniques. When adding numbers like 32 and 12 mentally,
most children start with the tens (Kamii 1986, p. 84). Kamii reports
that most second graders became able to add two-digit and threedigit numbers without writing anything. For example, to add 266 +
146, they would say
200 + 100 = 300,
60 + 40 = 100,
300 + 100 = 400, and
6 + 6 = 12,
so the answer is 412 (Kamii 1986, p. 85). Notice that the use of this
process emphasizes the place values.
Chapter 1
Conclusion
An understanding of number involves integrating several key concepts, such as unit, place value, and one-to-one correspondence.
These notions are woven through the big ideas and essential understandings, forming a rich understanding of number and numeration
for teachers. Ideas such as unit and decomposition that children
encounter in prekindergarten through grade 2 set the stage for their
development of fluent use of place value, leading to number flexibility and computational proficiency. The next chapter connects the
big ideas and essential understandings articulated in this chapter
with what young learners experience in other strands of mathematics in prekindergarten through grade 2 and in their experiences
with mathematics in later grades.
41
Chapter
Connections: Looking Back

and Ahead in Learning
The foundational ideas of number and numeration link to and support childrens understanding of other, sometimes more sophisticated or complex topics. These topics include addition and subtraction,
multiplication, rational number, early algebraic thinking, and other
advanced ideas. Chapter 2 highlights how the big ideas and essential understandings of chapter 1 inform the ways in which teachers
see and pursue these connections.
Addition and Subtraction

The big ideas and essential understandings of number and numeration articulated in chapter 1 help us to see how number and numeration relate to addition and subtraction concepts and associated
computational strategies that students develop in prekindergarten to
grade 2. In a natural way, children develop strategies that are based
on counting to solve addition and subtraction problems, progressing
through several stages and discovering the strategies at their own
pace. They first do direct modeling, then use counting strategies,
and later use known facts. Whether children are ready to use more
efficient strategies depends on their understanding of different aspects of counting and their ability to coordinate them. The following examples are adapted from Kulms (1985) summary of research.
Children may join two groups of objects and count the number
of objects in the combined set to find the sum of, say, 2 and 3. The
way in which they count may depend on their understanding of
number. For example, a child who counts easily may start with 3
and count on 2, an approach that may be more sophisticated than
counting every object in the combined group, starting with 1.
Using the counting-on strategy, a child may think of the count
of 5 as two parts (3 and 2) that form the whole of 5. When counting the number of items in the set, the child understands that the
count of 5 includes the count of 3 and the count of 2. We see in
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44
Essential
Understanding 3d
Counting strategies
are based on order
and hierarchical
inclusion of numbers.

this example how counting strategies are based on order and hierarchical inclusion, elements of Essential Understanding 3d.
With subtraction, children may think of, say, 7 3 in different
ways. One way is to compare 7 and 3 and determine what needs to
be added to 3 to create 7 (see fig. 2.1). Another way is to think of
7 3 as the quantity to be taken away from 7 to make the new
quantity equivalent to 3 (see fig. 2.2).
Fig. 2.1. A representation of the quantity that needs to be added to 3

to create 7
Fig. 2.2. A representation of the quantity to be removed from 7

Essential
Understanding 3a
The number-word
sequence, combined
with the order
inherent in the
natural numbers, can
be used as a
foundation for
counting.
Children would apply different counting strategies in either

case. In the first case, they might count on from 3 to 7 (3 [pause],
4, 5, 6, 7), counting a total of four numbers, so the difference is
4. In the second case, children might count backwards from 7 to
3 (7 [pause], 6, 5, 4, 3), counting a total of four numbers, so the
difference is 4. In either case, the difference is 4. This example illustrates that the number-word sequence and order are foundational to
counting, as expressed in Essential Understanding 3a.
It is important to notice, however, that often it is the context of
the problem, rather than considerations of efficiency, that suggests
to children the methods that they use to solve it. If children write a
number sentence as part of the solution to the problem, it may represent the context of the problem and the action involved in solving
it, but it may not resemble the computation that we would normally
associate with a problem of this type. For example, children might
be given a problem similar to the following:
Jon had 42 pieces of bubble gum. Kyle had 31 pieces. How many
more pieces does Jon have than Kyle?
Some children might see this as a subtraction problem and write
42 31 = ?. Others might see it as an addition problem such as
31 + ? = 42. In the latter case, the child might use a compensation
method to solve the problem, by asking, What number added to 31
45
Chapter 2
is 42? This example shows how thinking about the decomposition
of 42 into two parts (31 and an unknown), as captured in Essential
Understanding 2c, can result in two ways of solving the problem.
Counting strategies can support the development of strong
mental arithmetic skills. For example, to add 53 + 21, a child might
count: 53 [pause], 63, 73, and then count on 1, arriving at 74.
In this example, the child thinks of 21 as 10 + 10 + 1. Similarly, if
the child is adding 17 + 19, the strategy might be to begin with 17,
count 3 to make 20, then count to 30, and then count 6 more to
make 36. This strategy shows the value of thinking of 19 as consisting of three parts3, 10, and 6. Adding 3 to 17 makes a round number, or a number that ends in zero (20), which then makes an easier
addition with the remaining parts, 10 and 6.
Essential
Understanding 2c
Quantities represented by numbers
can be decomposed
(or composed)
into part-whole
relationships.
Multiplication
In later grades, counting strategies can be linked to multiplication,
beginning with skip counting. The common strategy of counting
by twos can lead to a more complex development of skip counting.
This strategy is very accessible to young children because many of
them are familiar with the notion of pairs (e.g. shoes, socks) (Hirschi
1970) and multiple ways of counting when objects are in pairs. For
example, it is possible to count four pairs of socks by pairs. That
is, two socks, or one pair, form a unit to count. It is also possible
to count the four pairs by 2 (2, 4, 6, 8), giving the total number of
socks.
This basic form of skip counting reiterates the issue of identifying a unit and grouping (Essential Understanding 2a). Counting by
pairs involves using a group of two objects at a time while reciting
every other number (2, 4, 6, ...), rather than counting by ones. In
this case, the unit of counting is 2, and that unit is reiterated in the
counting process. To understand the richness of skip counting and
its connection to multiplication, we need to see how different types
of counting are used to count in increasingly abstract ways.
Children can skip count by other numbersfor example, by
fives (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, ...), and by tens (10, 20, 30, ...). In both of
these cases, they may generalize specific patterns. For example,
they may notice that when they count by fives, the ones position
involves only two digits. If they start at 0, the ones place always
has either a 0 or 5. If they start atsay, 3the ones place has either
a 3 or an 8. If they count by tens, the ones digit is always the same.
Counting by 5 starting at 3 engages students with counting strategies based on hierarchical inclusion (Essential Understanding 3d).
Skill in skip counting provides a link to understanding multiplication and division. For example, to multiply 3 5, a child may
count 5, 10, 15, or three groups of five, so the result (or product)
Essential
Understanding 2a
Using numbers to
describe relationships between or
among quantities
depends on
identifying a unit.
Essential
Understanding 3d
Counting strategies
are based on order
and hierarchical
inclusion of numbers.
46
Essential
Understanding 4a
Patterns in the number-word sequence
provide a foundation for the abstract
number concept.
Essential
Understanding 5b
Our base-ten number
system allows forming a new place-value unit by grouping
ten of the previous
place-value units,
and this process can
be iterated to obtain
larger and larger
place-value units.
Essential
Understanding 5c
The value of a digit
in a written numeral
depends on its place,
or position, in a
number.
Essential
Understanding 5d
Inherent in place
value are units of
different size.
is 15. To divide 15 by 5, the child may also count 5, 10, and 15, or
three groups of five, so 3 is the result (or quotient).
Children also learn to count by tens starting at numbers that
are not multiples of ten, like 7, 17, 27, 37, .... The name for the
units stays the same as the tens change; this is one of the patterns
in number-word sequences that provide a foundation for the abstract number concept (Essential Understanding 4a). Counting by
tens lays a foundation for concepts of place value based on forming
new place-value units by grouping ten of the previous place-value
unit (Essential Understanding 5b). The generalizations of this skipcounting pattern demonstrate an understanding that the position of
a digit in a number is related to its value (Essential Understanding
5c) and further related to the inherent role of units of different sizes
in place value (Essential Understanding 5d ).
Rational Number
The approach to early number concepts that is implicit in chapter 1
starts with comparisonscomparisons of discrete quantities, comparisons of continuous quantities, and comparisons of quantities of
each kind (discrete or continuous) with chosen units. In general, this
approach provides a natural setting for establishing a connection
between whole numbers and rational numbers. By understanding
quantities as measurable or countable attributes of physical objects
(Essential Understanding 1b), we see how focusing on both continuous and discrete quantities is important in our work with children
during their initial stages of developing number.
Such an approach allows children to see the similarities between discrete and continuous number systems in a natural way.
Often, when the emphasis in the early years is exclusively on counting and discrete quantities, children later have difficulties integrating the concepts related to measurement and to fractions as numbers in their own right. By comparing continuous quantities such
as length, children can form clearer ideas about the usefulness of a
number line to represent whole numbers as length units from 0 as
well as to give meaning to points in between the whole numbers.
Thus, they can use the number line in a more meaningful way in a
variety of contexts, including the development of rational number.
In many cases, measuring a given quantity (for example,
length) with a given unit (for example, inches) may require a whole
number of units and a little more. In the early grades, a natural
extension to the use of whole units is the use of half units, consistent with the natural process of halving used by young children.
Carefully choosing a unit makes the comparison of quantities possible (Essential Understanding 2a). Working with units that can be
physically halved in an easy way (e.g., dividing strips of paper)
47
Chapter 2
permits children to model the one-half unit and use it to approximate the measurement of a given length more closely. In the beginning, it may be convenient to provide children with examples that
allow them to approximate the given length quite closely by using
only whole units and half units (see fig. 2.3).
4 12
Essential
Understanding 1b
Physical objects are
not in themselves
quantities. All
quantitative
comparisons involve
selecting particular
attributes of objects
or materials to
compare.
Fig. 2.3. A rectangle of length 4 units

Childreneven young onescan use length units, such as
Cuisenaire rods, to construct number lines. Understanding how
this activity is valuable for young children requires knowing how
meaningful counting integrates unit and measure, both of which are
necessary to understand in developing full use of the number line.
By taking adding machine tape or strips of paper, you can identify a
starting point, or 0. Then you can lay down a particular Cuisenaire
rodsay, the dark green rodwith one end at 0. Children can mark
the end and iterate the unit over the length of the strip of paper.
From this task, they can understand that a whole number can be
constructed of units that are all the same length. Focusing on length
units that comprise a number line allows linking it later to a ruler.
A ruler to which subdivisions can be added in steps by superimposing transparent layers can help young children extend the
number line concept to include rational numbers. Children can start
with a ruler that has marks only for whole numbers (see fig. 2.4).
Having the mark for zero slightly offset from the edge of the ruler
will help them focus on the need to match the beginning of the segment that they want to measure with the mark corresponding to
zeronot necessarily the edge of the ruler. The discussion can focus
their attention on the number of length units between zero and a
given number.
0
Fig. 2.4. A ruler with marks at the whole numbers

As a next step, children can use a ruler that also has marks for
lengths corresponding to half units. The length unit is subdivided
into two partial units, each representing half of the length of the
original unit. It helps to focus childrens attention if the marks for
the half units are different in either length or color from the marks
Essential
Understanding 2a
Using numbers to
describe relationships between or
among quantities
depends on
identifying a unit.
48
Essential
Understanding 2b
The size of a unit
determines the
number of times that
it must be iterated to
count or measure a
quantity.

for the whole numbers (fig. 2.5). The discussion can call their attention to the length of the new smaller intervals generated by these
marks, an early experience that contributes to a mature understanding of how the size of a unit determines the number of times
that it must be iterated to count or measure a quantity (Essential
Understanding 2b). Children could have a strip of paper that is one
unit long, fold it, and compare it to one of the new subsegments.
0
Essential
Understanding 1e
The equality
relation between
two quantities
remains unchanged
when one or both
quantities are
decomposed into
parts and when one
of the quantities
is combined with
another quantity to
form a larger
quantity.
Fig. 2.5. Shorter, colored marks for halves are added

Children can count by halves: 1/2, 2/2, 3/2, and so on (see fig.
2.6). They can also count all the whole-number units first and then
add one more half, expressing the measure as a mixed number.
Thus, in figure 2.7, the number of segments between zero and the
new mark halfway between 2 and 3 could be read either as five
halves of a unit or as two units and half a unit more. In this activity, children engage in an appropriate form of decomposing and
composing quantities into part-whole relationships based on the
selection of a unit (Essential Understanding 1e). This work also
supports a more sophisticated understanding that the size of the
unit determines the number of times that it must be iterated to
count or measure a quantity (Essential Understanding 2b).
1
2
2
2
3
2
4
2
5
2
Fig. 2.6. Five units of 1/2
21
2
Fig. 2.7. Two whole units and a half more

Children can add and subtract lengths that represent fractional
numbers in the same way that they can operate on lengths representing whole numbers. To add the numbers corresponding to two
49
Chapter 2
lengths, one length is placed so that it begins at zero, and the second is placed so that it begins where the other ends, and the total
of the two lengths is the number corresponding to the length that
goes from zero to the endpoint of the second segment (fig. 2.8). This
generalizes the process that children go through in building their
own number lines by putting unit segments next to each other and
marking the corresponding numbers.
a
b
a
0
b
a
a+b
Fig. 2.8. Addition of segments
Early Algebraic Thinking

An understanding of the equality or inequality of numbers and
quantities can be a foundation for early algebraic thinking. Equality
between numbers is an equivalence relation because it satisfies
three specific conditions, one of which is transitivity (Essential
Understanding 1d). In the context of whole numbers, these conditions seem so obvious that sometimes it is not easy to be aware of
them explicitly. The first condition is the reflexive property: for
any number n, n = n. The second is the symmetric property: for
any numbers a and b, if a = b, then b = a. The third condition is
the transitive property: for any numbers a, b, c, if a = b, and b = c,
then a = c. By emphasizing that equality is an equivalence relation,
we focus childrens attention on properties that are generalizable
to numbers other than whole numbers. When talking about fractions, we often say that fractions like 3/4 and 6/8 are equivalent.
Equivalence of fractions has the same three properties as equality
among whole numbers.
Furthermore, saying that 3/4 and 6/8 are equivalent involves
some implicit assumptions. According to Big Idea 2, it is important
to consider the unit when counting because the unit has an impact
on the measure or count. Similarly, when comparing fractional
amounts, the units used to represent the quantities are important.
For example, for 3/4 and 6/8 to represent the same quantity, the units
(or the wholes) must be the same. If the units (or wholes) are different, 3/4 and 6/8 may not represent the same physical amount. In
figure 2.9, it is clear that the unit affects the equivalency of the two
quantities.
Essential
Understanding 1d
Two important
properties of equality
and order relations
are conservation
and transitivity.
d
iea
Big Idea 2
The selection of a
unit makes it possible
to use numbers in
comparing quantities.
50
Fig. 2.9. Different units make 3/4 and 6/8 unequal lengths
The notion of units permeates multiple contexts, including
some that pertain to much higher grade levels. The use of units to
create and apply number lines is essential to an understanding of
Cartesian graphs. The units used in creating a graph affect the interpretation of the graphical representation. For example, the choice of
large units to represent data may exaggerate the results. Conversely,
using small units to represent the same data set may minimize the
resultsat least visually. These graphical implications of decisions
about Cartesian graphs or statistical displays arise from the role of
the selection of unit in comparing quantities.
At later grade levels, students interpret slope, which they use to
represent how a change in one quantity (the dependent variable) is
related to a change in the other quantity (the independent variable).
Graphically and numerically, attention to the units used to measure
or count each quantity is critical in interpreting slope in meaningful
ways.
The interpretation of slope is also influenced by an awareness
of discrete and continuous quantities. As students in later grades
graph a linear function with a slope of, say, 10, they sometimes neglect to think about the context of the function. For example, if the
function represents the revenue of a business, based on the number
of $10 items sold, then it probably would not be reasonable to think
of the number of items in quantities other than whole numbers.
Conclusion
This chapter has explored ways in which big ideas and essential
understandings of number and numeration connect with other
areas of mathematics that students encounter in prekindergarten
through grade 2 and beyond. An understanding of unit permeates
multiple topics and their associated concepts as students develop
more sophisticated and complex mathematical thinking.
Chapter
Challenges: Learning,
Teaching, and Assessing
It is often thought that mathematics in the early grades is really
quite simple. A focus on learning to count objects, count by rote,
or identify the ordinal position of an object tends to dominate the
curriculum in the early grades. These skills are certainly part of
number development, but other foundational perspectives should
be considered in instructional decisions. The big ideas and essential
understandings from chapter 1 support the inclusion of rich tasks
to promote childrens sense of number by emphasizing the role and
importance of unit, composing and decomposing quantities, and
strategies for counting.
Determining the types of tasks to use, as well as the questions
that are associated with them, can support further development of
number ideas. Chapter 3 discusses characteristics of tasks that can
be used for instruction or assessment, since childrens responses to
the tasks that we use in our teaching often give us an indication of
the development of their understanding of number.
Developing Counting
Counting is critical in daily life and to success in mathematics. As
captured in Big Idea 3, meaningful counting involves much more
than an action or a process of rote memorization and recitation of a
number-word sequence.
d
iea
Big Idea 3
Meaningful
counting
integrates different
aspects of number
and sets, such as
sequence, order,
one-to-one
correspondence,
or ality, and
ordin
cardinality.
Counting as an integrated activity

Counting has a central role in bringing together the different aspects of number, such as cardinality, ordinality, sequencing, and
grouping (Essential Understanding 3c ). The construction of the concept of number by children is not based on one aspect, but rather
the integration of multiple aspects. For children, it is sometimes
difficult to coordinate two aspects, such as cardinality and order, or
one-to-one correspondence and cardinality, even though they may
51
Essential
Understanding 3c
Counting includes
cardinality and
ordinality of sets of
objects.
52

be proficient in dealing with each aspect separately. For example,
Sophian (1992) reports that three-year-old children do not make a
connection between counting and identifying numerical relationships between groups by such processes as comparing sets or constructing equivalent sets. They do not use the information that they
obtained about one set by counting to infer the number in another
collection that is in one-to-one correspondence with the first. For
instance, if a young child is given a picture of children on tricycles
and asked to count the tricycles, he will count 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on,
as needed. If the child is then asked how many children are on the
tricycles, he may recount the children, even though it is clear that
one child is seated on each tricycle. According to Sophian, by age
4, performance improves dramatically in these types of tasks, but
proficiency can be enhanced by incorporating more tasks of this
type in instruction.
Many children enter school with the ability to recite the counting sequence from 1 to 10 or beyond, but when asked to count a set
of objects, they cannot. They have not developed the idea of oneto-one correspondence; for them, counting is purely a rote endeavor. As discussed in chapter 1, there are different types of counting:
rote, one-to-one correspondence (cardinal), and ordinal. To determine where children are in the development of a strong understanding, it is thus important to determine which types of counting children canor cannotdemonstrate. This goal can be accomplished
by providing a range of tasks that represent the different types of
counting. The tasks suggested in figure 1.3 (counting collections of
purses and slippers) and figure 1.12 (counting a collection of fruit)
illustrate some of the possibilities.
Using units
Essential
Understanding 2b
The size of a unit
determines the
number of times that
it must be iterated to
count or measure a
quantity.
Tasks should support the use of different units in counting a quantity. A collection of objects, as pictured in the task How many
houses? in figure 1.6, provides opportunities for children to count
with different units. Counting each object individually is one type
of task; changing the unit is another. This second type of task provides experiences in counting with different units and then seeing
the effect of changing the unit. This work supports childrens understanding of the idea that if a larger unit is used, the count is smaller
than when a smaller unit is used.
Understanding unit helps young children develop a sense of
numbers related to their sense of space and the reasonableness of
counts or measures. Regardless of whether a quantity is made of
discrete items or is continuous, such as a length, area, or volume,
children gradually form better ideas of how much space a given
quantity needs. Two hundred pennies are too many to hold in one
53
Chapter 3
hand. The length of a car is about five meters. The length of the
teachers desk is three feet.
Whether children are working with continuous or discrete units
(such as inches or pennies, respectively), using a referent, or benchmark, to determine the reasonableness of a measure is important.
If a child says that he cannot hold 200 pennies in his hand, how
does he know? What information does he use to support that idea?
Having students explain how they know that they cannot hold 200
pennies in a hand will give you information about what referent
they are using to base their decision. Asking students how they
determined their response can give you information about the
appropriateness of the referent that they used.
Similarly, with a continuous measure like length, asking students to justify the use of a particular unit to measure a given objects length can give you information in much the same way. How
can they decide what unit to use? Should the unit be larger than
the length of the object that they are measuring? Why, or why not?
Questions like these provide opportunities for students to articulate
their reasoning, giving you more information about their thinking
processes.
Children should also encounter tasks in which no unit is specified for measuring or counting. Consider the case in figure 3.1. Are
the two areas the same? Confronted with this case, students would
have to determine a means by which to compare the areas.
Fig. 3.1. Which area is larger?

Children might cut the triangle (area W) into pieces and cover
the rectangle (area B). Or they could cut the rectangle (area B) and
cover the triangle (area W). They would find that the areas are the
same, even though the shapes are different. A similar task might explore volumes by using two different-shaped containers. Tasks that
do not allow a direct comparison of a quantity or a count with a
unit provide a means by which children think of quantities in more
flexible ways, especially related to composition and decomposition.
Use of tools to develop counting skills

Children gain a more accurate understanding of counting and
cardinality when they count movable objects instead of static ones
in pictures (Payne and Huinker 1993). Movable objects are more
dynamic and can clearly model the principles of cardinality and its
54

independence from order. Children can more easily keep track of
what objects they have counted by physically moving them aside.
In a very concrete way, the physical act of moving the counted
objects aside links them in a one-to-one correspondence with the
counting word.
When young children say the words for numbers or write
their symbols, they may have different mental images from those
that we might expect. To find out what they are thinking, it is not
enough to listen to the words or look at the symbols. When two
children say twenty-three, their images of what that word represents could be very different. In one case, it might mean a group
of twenty and three moretwo tens and three unitsthough in another case it might mean a single collection of individual units (see
fig. 3.2). A child who is able to think about 23 as two groups, with
one group consisting of two tens and the other consisting of three
units, may have an easier time adding mentally than a child who
thinks of single units. To solve 34 + 23 = ?, the first child could use
a counting-on strategy using tens, starting with 34, and saying 44,
54, and then adding 3 units to get 57. In contrast, counting on 23
single units is a method that would take a long time and be prone
to errors.
Fig. 3.2. Two ways to think about 23

Number lines, as discussed in chapter 1, are also very valuable tools for counting. We can use them to keep track of what we
have counted, or, more conceptually, to model the order in number
sequences. Rulers, thermometers, spring scales, and graduated cylinders can act as real-life representations of the number line and thus
can be used to make connections to length, volume, mass, or other
quantities. Each of these examples of tools has an identified unit,
and a sequencing of those units can be compared with the number
line.
55
Chapter 3
Number as a Foundation for

Symbols and Representations
A connected understanding of several aspects of number can lay the
foundation for understanding mathematical symbols and representations. The way in which we record and represent quantities and
numbers can lay a foundation for developing a better understanding of important issues, such as the equals sign, the number line,
and quantities represented by fractions.
Using base-ten blocks or other materials to

represent quantities or numbers
Base-ten blocks are one manipulative aid that can be used to represent quantities or numbers. Chapter 1 discussed their use as a means
to support the development of place-value concepts. Although work
with this aid is sometimes limited to representing a quantity in the
simplest formfor example, using 1 flat (100), 1 long (10), and 8
units (8 ones) for 118it is possible to use it to promote stronger
conceptual development by asking questions that have multiple
solutions. Students working with base-ten blocks can be asked to
find multiple ways to represent a number, as Scott does in Reflect
1.12. For example, how many ways can base-ten blocks be used to
represent the number 118? One student might show 118 unit cubes.
Another student might use a flat (100), a long (10), and 8 units (8
ones). Yet another student might use 11 longs and 8 units. The students might write an associated equation with each representation
with base-ten blocks. In the case of the last representation with
base-ten blocks, the student might write
118 = 110 + 8,
or, in the case of 11 longs and 8 units, he or she might write
118 = 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 8
as a symbolic representation. Each equation supports a part-whole
perspective on the quantity represented.
To extend this problem to support the notion of place value,
the teacher might ask the students which representation requires
the fewest base-ten blocks. Which representation requires the most
base-ten blocks? These questions can lead students to recognize the
efficiency of using the ten-ness of our number system.
In addition, the meaning of the representation is important
to incorporate in tasks of this nature. For example, a child may be
able to display eighteen chips when shown the symbol 18 and to
use eight chips to represent the 8 in 18, but doing so does not mean
56

that she has a clear understanding of what the symbol 1 represents
in 18 (Burns 1993). In fact, if we asked the child to show what the
1 in 18 represents, she would be likely to show one chip rather than
10 chips. If we did not probe the childs response to the task in this
way, we might think that it revealed an understanding of place
value when it really did not.
Using line segments to map numerical values to

the number line
The number line is a vital tool to represent and understand the concept of number. As discussed in chapter 1, a length unit is necessary
to build the number line. It is important for children to understand
that each length unit represents one unit and that the same unit is
iterated, or repeated, to form the number line. A common mistake
for young students is to count the dots, starting at zero.
To learn to use the number line tool more meaningfully, students can build their own, as described in chapter 1, by using different unit lengths. This process then allows children to compare
their number lines and note that if they have not used the same
unit, the results will not be the same. For example, if students use a
light-green Cuisenaire rod (a 3-rod) to create one number line and
a yellow Cuisenaire rod (a 5-rod) to create another number line, the
lengths of the segments of the number lines from 0 to a specific
number will not be the same on the two number lines. Number lines
may be too abstract for many children if they encounter them without an understanding of what they represent.
Students are often asked to show a quantity such as the number of chips in a pile on the number line. This kind of task can present an issue for some children because a number line is made up of
length units, but the quantity that they are trying to represent is the
number of objects in a collection. Conceptually, this task appears
to compare two different types of quantitiesa discrete quantity
(the number of chips) and a continuous quantity (distance between
numbers on the number line).
Quantities represented by fractions

The number line can also provide a representation for fractional
quantities. The same issue regarding the different types of units is
present here as well. For example, we can subdivide a brownie, or
a paper unit square, into two equal parts. The whole and fractional
parts of the quantity, no matter the kind of quantity, can be associated with the whole and parts on the number line (see fig. 3.3).
The subdivision of unitsfor example, half the unit or half of
half of the unitis an important idea. Each subdivision itself can be
57
Chapter 3
21
2
Fig. 3.3. Assigning intervals to units and parts of units

treated as a unit. In the beginning, it is difficult for young children
to coordinate the dual roles of the new unit, as a fraction of the
original unit and as a unit in its own right.
Fractions use symbols that are conventional, and sometimes
children who have the right ideas may use symbols in nonconventional ways. Probing a childs representation helps us understand
what the child means by the symbols, instead of simply interpreting
them in a way that fits our perspective. For example, a first grader
trying to represent three halves wrote 31/2, meaning 3 times 1/2. The
students use of symbols is consistent with the way we write algebraic expressions like 3a, but it is not consistent with the way we
write mixed numerals. By asking the child to describe his thinking
or explain his ideas, we can more accurately interpret his responses.
Number Understanding as a Basic for

Conceptual Problems
In prekindergarten through grade 2, children begin to construct
computational proficiency, which includes the development of algorithms. Children are often given rules for adding that may or
may not be based on the intuitive ideas that they formulate as they
develop counting strategies.
When first learning to add, children typically work with singledigit numbers and use counting-on or counting-up strategies to find
the sum. These strategies use explicit counting techniques that include the notion of hierarchical inclusion and emphasize part-whole
relationships. Asking children to explain or describe multiple ways
to find the sum of two single-digit numbers reinforces these ideas.
Adding two-digit numbers extends the single-digit addition
strategies. Yet, in conventional instruction, children are often told
to begin with the ones (or units) and add to the left, carrying as
they move over. However, if children have rich experiences with
58

numbers, they will often use more intuitive approaches. One strategy that children commonly invent is to start adding with the value
in the tens place. For example, in solving a problem like 27 + 15 =
?, some children add 20 and 10 to make 30, continue by adding 7
and 5 to make 12, and then add 30 and 12 to make 42. These algorithms emphasize, in a natural way, the place value of the numbers
involved.
The left-to-right addition in the preceding example maintains
the integrity of place value. This method contrasts with the more
conventional methods where it is common to hear carry one,
rather than carry one ten. Place-value concepts are inherently
difficult for children, and by focusing on digits, one column at a
time, such algorithms tend to deemphasize the place value of each
digit. When children look at separate digits in a number, rather than
looking at the number as a whole, they are less likely to be able to
determine the reasonableness of their answer. The teacher can help
students write down the process of adding the two numbers in ways
that follow their thinking. For example, reflecting the fact that the
student added the tens first, the teacher might write the following
on the board:
27
+ 15
30
+ 12
42
Conclusion
This chapter has focused on characteristics of tasks that can support both instruction and assessment. The richness of the tasks and
the associated questions provide opportunities to enhance childrens understanding of number concepts. By offering tasks that
allow multiple solution methods and asking questions that extend
or probe childrens thinking, you can gauge their progress toward
greater proficiency and use it to continue to promote more sophisticated and complex thinking.
Chapter 3
References
Burns, Marilyn. Mathematics: Assessing Understanding. White
Plains, N.Y.: Cuisenaire Company of America, 1993.
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A Series for Teaching Mathematics
How do composing and decomposing numbers connect with the properties of

addition? How does the use of unit in counting connect with the use of unit in
relation to fractions? What do you say when a student thinks that measuring an
objects length with a ruler means counting all the marks on the ruler from the
objects left edge to its right?
How much do you know and how much do you need to know?
Helping your students develop a robust understanding of number and numeration
requires that you understand this mathematics deeply. But what does that mean?
This book focuses on essential knowledge for teachers about number and numeration. It is organized around five big ideas, supported by multiple smaller, interconnected ideasessential understandings. Taking you beyond a simple introduction,
the book will broaden and deepen your mathematical understanding of one of the
most challenging topics for studentsand teachers. It will help you engage your
students, anticipate their perplexities, avoid pitfalls, and dispel misconceptions.
You will also learn to develop appropriate tasks, techniques, and tools for assessing
students understanding of the topic.
Focus on the ideas that you need to understand thoroughly to teach confidently.
d
iea
Move beyond the mathematics you expect your students to

Essential
Understanding
learn. Students who fail to get a solid grounding in pivotal
Series
concepts struggle in subsequent work in mathematics and related
disciplines. By bringing a deeper understanding to your teaching, you can help
students who dont get it the first time by presenting the mathematics in multiple ways.
Developing Essential Understanding of Number & Numeration Pre-KGrade 2
Developing Essential Understanding
Developing
Essential
Understanding
of
Number &
Numeration
Pre-KGrade 2
The Essential Understanding Series addresses topics in school mathematics that are
critical to the mathematical development of students but are often difficult to teach.
Each book in the series gives an overview of the topic, highlights the differences between
what teachers and students need to know, examines the big ideas and related essential
understandings, reconsiders the ideas presented in light of connections with other
mathematical ideas, and includes questions for readers reflection.
NCTM

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A Series for Teaching Mathematics

Developing Essential Understanding of Number & Numeration Pre-KGrade 2

Developing Essential Understanding

Move beyond the mathematics you expect your students to

Number and Numeration

Rose Mary Zbiek

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is a public voice of mathematics

References . .............................................. ........................................................ 59

Big ideas and

How do the authors approach the topics?

Why Number and Numeration?

Number and Numeration

Understanding Number and

Big Ideas and Essential Understandings

Number and Numeration

Benefits for Teaching, Learning, and

Number and Numeration

Number and Numeration:

Big Idea 1. Number is an extension of more basic ideas

Number and Numeration

Big Idea 2. The selection of a unit makes it possible to use

Big Idea 3. Meaningful counting integrates different as-

pects of number and sets, such as sequence, order, one-to-one

Essential Understanding 3d. Counting strategies are based on

Big Idea 4. Numbers are abstract concepts.

Big Idea 5. A base-ten positional number system is an

Number and Numeration

Number is an extension of more basic ideas about relationships between quantities.

Fig. 1.1. Alignment to compare lengths

Number and Numeration

Fig. 1.2. Which is greater?

Fig. 1.3. Are the two collections equal in number?

Number and Numeration

Number and Numeration

dilemma in Reflect 1.3 points to the need to use an intermediary as a

Number and Numeration

Fig. 1.5. Comparison of a group of birds and a group of worms

Comparing quantities is part of what we do in many situations.

Number and Numeration

Fig. 1.6. How many houses?

Fig. 1.7. A continuous situation

Fig. 1.8. A discrete situation

Number and Numeration

Fig. 1.9. How many units?

Number and Numeration

Fig. 1.10. Number line representation of 2 and 6 as distances from 0

Number and Numeration

Counting brings together and depends on many facets of number

Number and Numeration

Fig. 1.11. Chips of different colors counted as a set

Fig. 1.12. Pieces of different kinds of fruit counted as a set

Number and Numeration

Fig. 1.13. A quantity of 3 is part of a quantity of 4.

Number and Numeration

Number and Numeration

Number and Numeration

That is, the child wrote a 1 followed by one hundred zeros