AC9MFN04
Official content description
partition and combine collections up to 10 using part-part-whole relationships and subitising to recognise and name the parts
What AC9MFN04 actually looks like when you teach it
Part-part-whole is where addition quietly begins, well before any symbols appear. Give each child a small collection — say seven counters — and two paper plates, and ask them to split the seven and say what they've made. "Five and two is seven. Two and five is seven." Then ask them to find a different way. The language does the work here, so keep saying the whole sentence and expect them to as well. Record what the class finds on a chart. By the end they should see that seven can be broken up many ways and is still seven.
What the class will get wrong — and what to do about it
The error
A child splits the collection, then recounts the whole thing from one to check it's still seven — the total isn't yet stable in their mind when it's rearranged.
How to confront it
Move the parts in front of them and ask, before they recount, "is it still seven?" Do it repeatedly with the same number. Conservation of number arrives through being surprised by it, not through being told.
Ready to put on the board
We are learning to break a group into two parts and put it back together.
- I can split a group of up to 10 into two parts.
- I can name both parts and the whole.
- I can find more than one way to split the same number.
Two plates
- Each pair counts out the same number of counters — start with 6.
- One child splits them across the two plates and says the sentence: "4 and 2 is 6."
- Their partner finds a different split and says their sentence.
- Record each pair's splits on a class chart under the heading "6".
- Look at the chart together: same whole, different parts. Ask if anyone found one that's missing.
Free to use in your classroom. Written for AC9MFN04, not adapted from another year level.
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The Foundation Maths planning scaffold
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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 AC9MFN04
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
- AC9MFN02recognise and name the number of objects within a collection up to 5 using subitising
- AC9MFN03quantify and compare collections to at least 20 using counting and explain or demonstrate reasoning
- 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.