wunder beta✏️ Ten marks from the top
Sit, hold, start at the top. Learn the ten written marks for 0 to 9, and why a six is not a nine.
What you’ll learn
- The mark is not the pileTell a number (the pile you can count) from a numeral (the written mark), including 0 as the mark for no objects.Three apples are the number. The 3 is the mark. Common Core wants both. Zero is a real mark for an empty plate.
- Sit, hold, start at the topSit at a table, hold a pencil in a tripod grip, and use the course's top-start route for digits, with specific setup for left-handed writers.Year 1 starts with the chair, not the 2. Tripod hold. This course starts at the top. Left-handed writers get a real lesson, not a shrug.
- Three families of marksUse the course's circle, stick and hook map to group the ten digits and form each family from the top.Year 1 groups letters by how they are formed. This course borrows that idea for digits: circles 0, 6, 8, 9; sticks 1, 4, 7; hooks 2, 3, 5.
- Twins that flipTell 6 from 9, 0 from 8, and 1 from 7, then check your own page and notice digits out in the street.Ask which room the circle lives in. Close the 0. Hat the 7. Tonight look at a bus number, then ask why some 7s wear a bar.
Questions this course answers
Common Core K.CC.A.3 says the written mark 0 stands for which pile?
The standard is exact: write numbers from 0 to 20, and let 0 represent a count of no objects. An empty plate still gets a real mark.
Match each pile to the written mark Common Core would hire
The apples are the number. The written 3 is the numeral. Common Core and England's early-years guidance both ask you to hold the pile and the mark together.
Put Year 1's road for every digit in the order this course used
Year 1 English starts with sitting and holding, then forming digits 0-9 starting and finishing in the right place. The last check is how a 6 stays a 6.
Year 1 English, the statutory list.
The Year 1 handwriting programme of study is exact: form digits 0-9. That is ten marks, not the teen numbers yet.
How many different digit marks does Year 1 English ask you to form, from 0 through 9?
Ten marks: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Common Core then asks you to keep writing through 20, but 10 through 20 reuse these same ten marks.
In your own words, why do teachers ask you to start every digit at the top?
Year 1 English: start and finish in the right place. A 5 that starts on the floor has to climb before it can wear its hat. The top is the shared entrance to all ten roads.
Grounded in trusted sources
- Department for Education (England), National curriculum in England: English programmes of study — Year 1 handwriting: sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly; form digits 0-9; handwriting families; left-handed pupils; implement size, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study
- Department for Education (England), National curriculum in England: mathematics programmes of study — Year 1: read and write numbers from 1 to 20 in numerals and words; count, read and write numbers to 100 in numerals, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-mathematics-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-mathematics-programmes-of-study
- Department for Education (England), Help for early years providers: Numbers — link numerals and amounts; numbers to 10, https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/areas-of-learning/mathematics/numbers
- Department for Education (England), Development Matters — tripod grip: pinched between the ball of the thumb and the forefinger, supported by the middle finger, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/development-matters--2/development-matters
- Department for Education (England), Early years foundation stage: Fine Motor Skills early learning goal — hold a pencil effectively using the tripod grip in almost all cases, https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/support-for-practitioners/eyfs-profile-assessment-support/gross-and-fine-motor-skills-early-learning-goals
- Common Core State Standards Initiative, CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.A.3 — Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects), https://www.thecorestandards.org/Math/Content/K/CC/
- Ofsted, Research review series: mathematics — knowing the code for number (Arabic numerals); Strong foundations in the first years of school — hold a pencil correctly and form letters and numbers, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-review-series-mathematics/research-review-series-mathematics
- Education Endowment Foundation, Early Years Evidence Store: Physical development — teaching the skills needed for mark-making and letter formation, https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/early-years/evidence-store/physical-development/teaching-the-skills-needed-for-mark-making-and-letter-formation
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