AC9MFN02
Official content description
recognise and name the number of objects within a collection up to 5 using subitising
What AC9MFN02 actually looks like when you teach it
This is the one that looks like nothing and matters enormously. You flash a dot pattern for about two seconds, cover it, and ask how many — the point is that they answer without counting. Dice faces, fingers, ten-frames, dominoes, spots on a ladybird. Keep the arrangements familiar at first, then move them around so the pattern isn't the thing being memorised. Most of a Foundation maths block can carry a two-minute subitising warm-up, and it pays for itself: a child who can see four without counting has a foundation for part-part-whole, and later for addition facts.
What the class will get wrong — and what to do about it
The error
A child recounts every time, even for two or three, because they've learnt that maths means counting and counting means touching each object.
How to confront it
Flash and cover. If they can't answer, show it again briefly rather than leaving it up — the moment the display stays visible, they count. Ask "how did you see it?" and let them describe the arrangement, which shifts the class from counting to recognising.
Ready to put on the board
We are learning to see how many are in a small group without counting.
- I can say how many when I see up to 5 things for a moment.
- I can tell you how I saw it.
- I can make the same amount with my fingers or counters.
Flash and tell
- Sit the class in a circle. Show a dot card for two seconds, then turn it over.
- Everyone shows the number on their fingers rather than calling out — you can see every answer at once.
- Ask two children how they saw it. Accept "three and one" as readily as "four".
- Repeat with the same quantity in a different arrangement, so they aren't memorising pictures.
- Finish by asking a child to make a card for tomorrow.
Free to use in your classroom. Written for AC9MFN02, not adapted from another year level.
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The Foundation Maths planning scaffold
A one-page planning sheet with the official achievement standard, every content description grouped by strand, and space for your assessment and week-by-week sequence. Print it and plan on paper, or use it as the skeleton for a unit.
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What Foundation Maths students should achieve
Coverage is judged against the achievement standard — not by ticking every content description. These are the official Foundation Maths standard sentences this code builds towards:
- By the end of Foundation Year, students make connections between number names, numerals and position in the sequence of numbers from zero to at least 20.
- Students represent practical situations that involve quantifying, equal sharing, adding to and taking away from collections to at least 10.
- Students collect, sort and compare data in response to questions in familiar contexts.
- They copy and continue repeating patterns.
- Students identify the attributes of mass, capacity, length and duration, and use direct comparison strategies to compare objects and events.
- Students compare the size of collections to at least 20.
The Number progression either side of AC9MFN02
A class can only meet this descriptor if they were taught the one before it. If yours hasn't, that's where the lesson starts — not here.
Builds towards · Year 1
- AC9M1N01recognise, represent and order numbers to at least 120 using physical and virtual materials, numerals, number lines and charts
- AC9M1N02partition one- and two-digit numbers in different ways using physical and virtual materials, including partitioning two-digit numbers into tens and ones
- AC9M1N03quantify sets of objects, to at least 120, by partitioning collections into equal groups using number knowledge and skip counting
Other Foundation Number codes
- AC9MFN01name, represent and order numbers including zero to at least 20, using physical and virtual materials and numerals
- AC9MFN03quantify and compare collections to at least 20 using counting and explain or demonstrate reasoning
- AC9MFN04partition and combine collections up to 10 using part-part-whole relationships and subitising to recognise and name the parts
- AC9MFN05represent practical situations involving addition, subtraction and quantification with physical and virtual materials and use counting or subitising strategies
- AC9MFN06represent practical situations that involve equal sharing and grouping with physical and virtual materials and use counting or subitising strategies
Content description and achievement standard © Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), Australian Curriculum Version 9, used under CC BY 4.0. TeachKoala is not affiliated with or endorsed by ACARA.