Early number skills

Before entering school, children should have a feel for numbers.  This includes 

• words such as more, less, bigger, smaller
• what numbers look like (the very least up to 10) 
• rote counting (the very least up to 20)
• using own fingers to count to 10 
• having an internal awareness of the finger-number association
• This is the recommended use of the fingers, however, many children struggle with 4 fingers.  Here, the better option would be to show the 4 fingers without the thumb
• When showing numbers above 5, always make sure that one hand has all 5 fingers used before using fingers of the other hand.  In other words, numbers 8 would be shown as 5 fingers + 3 fingers and NOT 4 fingers+ 4 fingers