Start the lesson by reviewing the assignment from the end of the previous lesson, asking the students what they found at home that came in sets of two, three, four, and five. Then show the students an egg carton that you have cut in half or a muffin tin with six cups. Call on a volunteer to place one connecting cube in each cup, counting aloud as he or she does so. Then ask the student to tell how many connecting cubes were used. [Six] Empty the muffin tin and repeat with other volunteers. Now assign the students to pairs, and give each pair one number cube and some connecting
cubes. Ask the students to take turns rolling the number cube and making a train with the number of cubes that corresponds to the number on the number cube. (Begin a new train after each roll of the die.)
After the pairs of students have completed many trains, ask them to take the train they last completed and compare it with someone else's (from another pair) by holding the two trains together and counting to verify if one has more, less or if they are equal. Then ask the students which train has more cubes in it. (If the trains are of equal length, help students understand that neither train has more or less than the other.) Encourage several pairs of students to tell the whole group how their trains compared. Then have them compare a train of five cubes with a train of six cubes.
Now display Numeral Card 6 and ask the students to look at it. Turn your back to the students and trace a "6" in the air, then encourage them to make a large 6 in the air with you. You may wish to put words to the actions you use to make the numeral 6. (See the previous lesson in this unit, Writing Numerals to Five, for how to do this to the tune of "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush".) Now have volunteers write "6" in the sand, on the rice tray, or on the board. Remind the students to go to the numeral writing station during the day to practice writing "6."
Next give the students a copy of the 10 Frame activity sheet, and have them place six connecting cubes in it. Ask them to count aloud as they do so.
Students may also use the Ten Frame tool to explore numbers up to 10.
Give the students their Steps to 10 activity sheet, begun in Lesson One. Ask them to find the column headed with "6" and fill in six boxes in that column, starting at the bottom.
When the students are done, ask them to show their charts. Collect the charts so they will be available for future lessons.
So that students can record their learning, provide each student with a copy of Showing Sets of 6 and two crayons, each a different color.
Ask them to color exactly six boxes in each row, using two crayons to do so. (If the students need assistance, you may ask them to make trains in the two colors first, then copy the trains on the sheet with crayons.) Then ask the students to write the number of boxes of each color that appears in each row of six boxes. Encourage them to color the boxes a different way each time. (Some students will find this difficult to understand, and you may need to model this for them.) When they have finished, ask them to share what they have done with the class and to take the sheet home to share with their family.
Alternatively, or in addition to the above activities, students can work (either individually or in pairs) to review the numbers 1 through 6 by using the Concentration activity.
To do so, students should select 1-6 under Levels, and either 1 or 2 players. In this activity, students match the numerals (1-6) with other representations explored in this unit. This is a good "checkpoint" activity which allows students to self-assess before continuing with the other lessons in this unit.
