erstanding. Additional frames full of ten counters can be used to show numbers over 19 so that children develop mental images of
numbers based on their experiences with these resources. Once again a similar approach with Cuisenaire rods, Numicon or Hungarian number pictures would be equally appropriate. See below for the image of 13 shown as one full ten frame and an additional frame to its right with 3 counters on it.
In the English language we do have something of a problem with our teen numbers which can cause difficulties for our learners in that the number name reverses the order of the digits when written: saying thirteen and writing 13 seems the wrong way round for many. To overcome this obstacle I find it helpful to use the names onety one, onety two, onety three ”¦ for 11, 12, 13 ”¦ in a playful way to
draw attention to the structure of the tens digit coming first when the number is written in symbolic form. Paying attention to structure at this early stage can be very helpful to children's mathematical development: as Gattegno said 'only awareness is educable' (1988).
For more details about what we as teachers can do to support learners' number sense and place value, including a range of classroom activities, see our related article
and our Number Sense and Place Value Feature
The article Place Value as a Building Block for Developing Fluency in the Calculation Process follows on from this one.
Bobis, J. (1996). Visualisation and the development of number sense with kindergarten children
. In Mulligan, J. & Mitchelmore, M. (Eds.) Children's Number Learning: A Research Monograph of the Mathematics Education Group of Australasia and the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers.
Gattegno, C. (1988) The Science of Education. Part 2B: The awareness of mathematization
. New York: Educational Solutions.
Van de Walle, J. A. (1988) Elementary School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally. London: Longman.
Here is a PDF version of this article.