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Patterns to 10

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For more information visit https://tahurangi.education.govt.nz/updates-to-nzmaths

Purpose:

You can help your child to instantly recognise patterns to 10.

What you need:

  • A dozen egg carton cut to 2 by 5 configuration (keep lid attached)
  • 12 smaller items (eggs, wrapped lollies etc).

What to do:

Secretly put one item in each of 4 of the holes. Close the lid. Tell your child you are going to open the lid for a couple of seconds then close it again. They are to work out how many items there are.
If it wasn’t enough time open the lid and count the items together.
It is important to consistently fill the holes in this order:
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
Repeat with a different number, for example 6. It is best when you are starting this activity to just use 2 numbers, until your child instantly recognises them, then introduce more numbers.

What to expect your child to do:

Over time expect your child to instantly recognise the number pattern for all the numbers 1-10.

Variation:

Once your child has identified the number of items ask them to work out how many holes are there by counting on. For example, if there were 7 items, then count on 8, 9, 10, there must be 3 empty holes.

He Kupu Māori:

pūkoro
compartment, pocket
tatau (~ria)
count

He Whakawhitinga Kōrero:

  • Āta tirohia te pouaka hēki. Ka huakina te taupoki mō te wā poto noa iho, hei tirotiro māu ki roto. (Look carefully at the egg box. I’ll take the lid off for only a short time for you to look inside.)
  • Ko tāu mahi he kōrero mai i te maha o ngā pūkoro o te pouaka e kī ana i tētahi mea. (You have to tell me how many compartments of the box have got something in them.)
  • E hia ngā pūkoro e kī ana? (How many compartments are full?)
  • Kia tatauria e tāua. (Let’s count them together.)
  • He wā poto rawa hei tatau i ngā pūkoro e kī ana, nō reira āta tirohia tētahi tauira. (Its too short a time to count the compartments, so look for a pattern.)
  • Mēnā e kī ana ngā pūkoro o tētahi taha, e hia tērā? (If all of one side is full, how many it that?)
  • Mēnā karekau he mea kei roto i tētahi pūkoro kotahi o tētahi taha, e hia tērā? (If there is only one compartment on one side that is not full, how many is that?)

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