The eight counting principles all children need to know.

To count effectively, children not only need to know the number naming sequence, but they also need to practice the eight counting principles. 

 

One-to-one

The counting objects and words, both forwards and backwards, need to be in one-to-one correspondence.

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Stable Order

“Three” means a collection of three no matter what it looks like.

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Cardinality

The last number counted tells ‘how many’.

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Order Irrelevance 

The order counted does not matter.

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Ordinal

Each new number is one more than the previous number.

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Abstraction

Different-sized or unrelated objects can be counted the same numerically.

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Conservation of Number

The number of objects does not change even when they are arranged differently.

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Subitising

The instant recognition of a small quantity without counting.

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