The children cleaned up the play yard before going back inside. The teacher, Ms. Denise, had noticed that not all the shovels were picked up from the sandbox. Ms. Denise asked for help saying, “We need all five shovels back in the box so our toys aren’t lost. I see here only three. We need more shovels in the box. How many more shovels do we need?” The teacher had noticed that Ling Wa, one of the older preschool children in the group, was counting her fingers, trying to find out how many shovels were missing. Ling Wa suddenly said, “Ms. Denise, we need two more.” Ms. Denise went further, asking, “Do you think we need two more shovels?” How did you figure that out?” Ling Wa explained, “We have three. Then two more, we will have—one, two, three, four, five (Ling Wa was counting on her fingers).” Ms. Denise said, “You are right. We need two more. Can everybody help us find two more shovels in the sandbox?”

Questions for Reflection

1. In a paragraph, identify the Math strand that the child in the above scenario is working in.

2. In a paragraph, which substrands and foundations can you identify in the scenario above? Use the stand, substrand number, and foundation number in your answer.

3. In a paragraph, describe specifically what the teacher did to support the children's Math development related to the Math strands.