Megan has been increasingly interested in numbers. As we drive down the road, she reads the numbers of the houses; she notices the numbers on price tags; she refers to the page numbers of the books we read and so on.
She is also aiming to count higher and higher, striving to reach the ‘end’ (poor child will never get there )
It is for this reason that I thought it a good idea to put up a fun Number Chart in her room. Not a chart up to 10 or even 20 but a 100 Chart!
I set to creating one with individual numbers (that was quite the fun task to cut out). My reasoning was that to gain number awareness, I could remove some of the numbers and she could replace them in the correct places. Plus, individual numbers make a spectacular (you might not use that adjective but in her mind it was) visual aid. Below you can see how I entertained Adam while laminating and cutting the numbers – because of course he would also want to cut!)
I decided to use two different colors, yellow for the odd numbers and pink for the even numbers. I also included an image of a fairy on the even numbers and bunting on the odd numbers. Megan is not yet recognizing the difference between odd and even but that will come and I wanted the Number Chart to reflect it. I also differentiated the multiples of 10.
When it came to putting the chart up, I wanted to make sure that I would not go skew, so I drew a horizontal line at the top (where I wanted the chart to start) and then another vertical line along what would be the left side of the chart. Now I had a template to work with.
I grouped the numbers to make them easier to find
And then one-by-one placed each number on the wall.
Doesn’t it look “spectacular”? I just love looking at it when I enter her room! (Yes, I know I made it for her to look at and not me 🙂 )
I have been amazed by the information that Megan has picked up on already!
She has picked up on basic number patterns and has identified the differences and similarities in the composition of numbers, for example,
“The first number (tens) stays the same until it has a nine next to it then it changes and gets a zero.”
“Each first number (tens) appears 10 times before the next number has a turn.”
This information would not be acquired on her own (yet) had she not had the visual there.
I am thrilled that she is enjoying looking at the chart and coming up with new findings.
I have found it easier, for now, to cover some numbers which she needs to identify are missing (in stead of removing them as initially suggested). I do this at night, when she is asleep or when she is at school. She is always excited to see what is missing and then writes the missing number on the cover with a dry-wipe marker. Once all the numbers have been written on, she checks by removing the cover and revealing the answer underneath.
I posted this Number Chart in my TpT store as well as a Space version for when Adam is old enough. A friend of mine also ordered a Ladybug one for her daughter, so that will also be posted in the near future.
