## North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Cognitive Development (CD)

#### Subdomain: Mathematical Thinking and Expression

#### Goal: Children show understanding of numbers and quantities during play and other activities

#### Skill Progression: Recognizing number and subitizing

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List of Skills by Age

1-2 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

2-4 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

4-6 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

6-8 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

8-10 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

10-12 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

12-15 Months

Keeps track of quantities up to 3 (when they are moved out of sight)

15-18 Months

No observable skills

18-21 Months

Knows “one more”

Looks at two sets of items with a large difference in amount and knows which has more

21-24 Months

Instantly recognizes amounts of 2 or 3 without counting (two shoes)

24-27 Months

Gives one out of many items

27-30 Months

Identifies first in a sequence and sometimes the second

Identifies more than 3 as “many”

30-33 Months

Instantly tells how many with groups of 1-3 items

33-36 Months

Visually identifies “same” or “more” (may be wrong)

Understands concept of “all” or “none” relating to number of objects

Examines a small group of objects and knows which has more if there is a big discrepancy

Starts to recognize written numbers

36-42 Months

Compares amounts in two groups up to six items by matching with one-to-one correspondence (gives each toy animal a block for hay)

May be confused by amount if one set of items is physically larger

Recognizes several written numbers

42-48 Months

Instantly recognizes amount up to four and names the amount

Compares amounts in each of two sets by counting (up to 5 items)

48-54 Months

Understands “same number as”

Recognizes the written numbers 1-9

54-60 Months

Uses counting to compare amounts in sets even if items are different sizes

Visually structures and verbally labels two visual amounts and identifies the total amount (up to 10)

Keeps track of number counted even when not in a structured arrangement

Writes and draws to represent 1 to 10 and 20 and 30

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.