Numbers can be written down. This is how we write them: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The written 3 means three things.
Key idea
A written number tells how many.
Worked example: Matching
Which number goes with 2 balls?
- Count the balls: 1, 2.
- We write 2.
Answer: 2
For the grown-up: Point out written numbers: on doors, clocks, buttons in the elevator and pages of a book. Write 1 to 5 on sticky notes and put the right number of blocks on each one. Stop while it is still fun. Then go and play the real-life version.
- Try it at home: Find numbers on a walk: house numbers, signs.
- Match number cards to piles of buttons.
- Trace numbers in sand or flour.