Here is a new video I have made of some teachers who use subitizing with their students regularly. See Perceptual and Conceptual subitizing in action and you will understand it better!
See this link to Sharon Griffin’s website for even more fun with subitizing. This video alone leads one to believe that you can jump right in with these bigger numbers. See above video first to see what builds up to this ability.
math club 
I liked the strategy used by both teachers to “prepare” students saying “Get ready”. Neither grade level rushed students. They both reassured students by encouraging their efforts to move on when missing an answer. Also, the middle school teacher was clear in establishing the goal of increasing accuracy weekly.
Thanks Debbie for this note. I got behind on my website, but am glad you had a chance to take a look at this!
Wow! It was great seeing how quickly those young students were ‘seeing’ and adding the pips, and with suchconsistent accuracy! I imagine that if we could follow this same group of students all the way up to middle school, even into high school, their math skills would likely be far superior to students who were taught in our traditional manner. excellent video! Thank you!
I’m back. After further reflection, I want to share that I was one of those students who struggled with math. I believe the introduction of subitizing most certainly would have helped me build my number and concepts confidence. Confidence makes all the difference in both approach and attitude, and we build and carry those formative feelings with us through the rest of our school days–and possibly–beyond!
Thanks for your engagement with the videos! Sorry for my delay in response.
Yes, I agree with you that accessing number through subitizing could literally ‘change our minds’ and our connection to the math.
What I seen and got from this video is a way that we can assist our students and help them understand math in a modified way that will allow them to pay attention and think fast.
Yes! And it also helps them see that they can access numbers in clumps rather than just a series of one. It helps kids see that numbers are composed of other numbers. 7, for instance, is not just the end of a serial count to 7, it is also a clump of 4 and 3 or 5 and 2, etc. Very powerful for students to understand as we prepare them to develop number sense within a base system where we need to think in groups and then powers of ten.
Wonderful!! It was amazing to see how students saw that adding the pips, with such accuracy. This video showed me that students are using critical thinking skills to solve problems with ease. I think moving from a traditional manner of teaching to 21st century will ensure that students will learn that it is more than one way to solve problems or coming up with the answer!
Thank you Shakara!
I have recently begun adding subitizing information through short videos as well. Check that out at if you are interested!
https://valeriefaulknermathclub.com/videos/videos-early-math/subitizing-videos-by-level/
my best,
valerie