Counting

We worked on counting this week. Not just the rote counting that children learn very early in their life. They can all count to ten for me, but do they understand what that means?? That's what I hope to teach them. We will do LOTS of these types of counting papers. We will point to each picture, stars in this case, as we count to help them understand that those numbers they've memorized match up with the pictures. Sometimes the pictures will line up in a straight line and other times the pictures will be clustered. They have to be able to count objects both ways. They also have to understand that when they run out of pictures, they stop counting.

The numbers on the right side of the page are there to help with number recognition. They are set up so that children can find the answer by counting, just like they did with the pictures on the left. After time, they will not have to count to find the numbers, they will just know them. When these counting pages come home, ask your child to count the pictures again for you. Doing it again, and again, will only help them understand faster.

You can also count things as you find opportunities in the real world. Count your child's shoes as they put them on, count the buttons on their shirt, count the chicken nuggets on their plate before they eat them. There are so many things to count that will take you no time at all.