The Western Montana CSDP is hosting this series of early childhood/preschool instruction webinars with presenter Stephanie Lester. Each webinar can be taken independently or as part of the series. Topics range from phonological awareness to number sense. Visit the CSPD’s website for more information, you can register here to attend one or more of the series.

This session’s topic is Developing Children’s Number Sense. Number sense—or a child’s “fluidity and flexibility with numbers” (Gersten & Chard, 2001)—is a critical readiness skill for starting school. The idea of number sense seems like a simple concept, but when broken down, there is a clear developmental progression—or learning trajectory—that can be a valuable road map for teachers when used to plan  instruction based on each child’s individual needs. This session will focus on developing better understanding of this learning trajectory, as well as the latest methods to develop skills in subitizing, counting, one-to-one correspondence, cardinality, and hierarchical inclusion. Intentional “in the moment” strategies to effectively respond to young children’s mathematical thinking will also be addressed.