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Subitizing

Strand: Number
Outcome: 2

Step 4: Assess Student Learning

Guiding Questions

• Look back at what you determined as acceptable evidence in Step 2.
• What are the most appropriate methods and activities for assessing student learning?
• How will I align my assessment strategies with my teaching strategies?

Sample Assessment Tasks

In addition to ongoing assessment throughout the lessons, consider the following sample activities to evaluate students' learning at key milestones. Suggestions are given for assessing all students as a class or in groups, individual students in need of further evaluation and individual or groups of students in a variety of contexts.

A. Whole Class/Group Assessment

Note: Performance-based assessment tasks are under development.

1. Show pie plate examples that you have prepared ahead with the wrong number of stickers. See if students can catch the mistake. Use large stickers when showing these to the whole group.
2. Hold up a card with an arrangement of dots between one and five and ask, "How many?" Have students write the corresponding numeral on a piece of paper and hold it up for you to see.
3. Using the five frames individually, ask students to show you a number you announce to the class. Walk around and see if they have the correct number of corresponding dots.
4. Give each student five cards with the numbers one to five on them. Uncover a series of dots on the overhead projector and have students hold up the number card with the correct corresponding numeral on it. This gives you a quick way of identifying who is able to subitize.

B. One-on-One Assessment

Assessment activities can be used with individual students, especially students who may be having difficulty with the outcome.

1. Tell the student, "A student was counting things in the class and he counted four. What could he have been counting?" Allow the student to move around the room showing you possible answers.
2. Have a student roll a die and then, with coloured discs, create a pattern with the corresponding number.
3. Using coloured discs, have a student show you three different patterns that represent a particular number between one and five.
4. Show the student two different five frames. Ask, "Which one has more?" and "How do you know?"

C. Applied Learning

Provide opportunities for students to use their number strategies in a practical situation and notice whether or not the strategies transfer. For example, ask, "When do we have five of something?" (e.g., five fingers, five toes). Have them draw an example. "When do we have two?" (e.g., two wheels on a bicycle, two hands). This could be done with the whole class, using a brainstorming approach. Do this for the numbers one to five.

Related Resources

• Assessment in the Mathematics