Illuminations: Let's Count to 5

Let's Count to 5

Unit Overview

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Lesson 3

Lesson 4

Lesson 5

Lesson 6

Finding Four

Students explore the number 4. They make sets of four, write the numeral 4, and compare sets of four to sets of one, two, and three.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

construct groups of one, two, three, and four objects
identify and write the numerals 1 through 4
compare sets of four with sets of one, two, and three
record a group of four on a graph

Materials

Counters
Crayons
Metal bowl
Raisins
Cottage cheese
Celery sticks
Bell
Nursery Rhymes and Songs Resource Sheet
Show How Many Activity Sheet
Numeral Cards (photocopied onto cardstock)
Numbers to 5 Activity Sheet
Electronic Abacus Tool

Instructional Plan

Teach the students the action song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." Ask, "How many different body parts do we touch when we sing, "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes"? [Four] “How about when we name the parts of our faces?” [Four] Sing the song a second time, and then ask, "Can you hold up four fingers?" [Check to see that all the students can do this.] Ask a volunteer to ring the bell four times. Repeat with other students.

Show the students the numeral 4, then ask them to count out four raisins from a bowl of raisins you have put on the desk. As you check to see each student has exactly four raisins, give each a stick of celery. Explain that they will make a snack called Ants on a Log. Ask them to sit at a table and put the celery stick in front of them on a clean piece of paper. Then go around the room placing a small amount of cottage cheese in the hollow of each celery stick. When you have filled all the celery sticks, have the students place the four raisins on top of the cottage cheese on the celery stick as if the raisins were ants on a log. Ask the students to count aloud as they do so. (If you prefer not to use food, replace the celery with a small rope of clay and the raisins with small balls of clay.)

While the children enjoy eating their snack, show them the Electronic Abacus Tool.

Electronic Abacus Tool

Call on a volunteer to use the abacus to show a number from one to four [using only the top bar of the abacus], then ask his or her classmates what number is shown. Repeat with several other volunteers.

Now ask the students to look at the numeral 4, which you have displayed. Model how to make a 4 as you sing the numeral-writing song. Have volunteers write "4" in the sand tray.

Next, give each student a copy of the Numbers to 5 Activity Sheet and some counters.

Numbers to 5 Activity Sheet

Ask them to put as many counters into the sections numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4 as the section number indicates.

After they have finished, give the students their Show How Many activity sheet.

Show How Many Activity Sheet

Ask them to look for the column with a "4" at the top, and then to color in four rows, starting at the bottom row. Circulate as they work. Encourage the students to compare the "4" row with the rows they have previously colored.

Then collect the charts.

Questions for Students

What new number did we talk about today? Can you show me that many counters?

[Four; students should be able to hold up four fingers.]

Can you count to four? Can you ring the bell four times?

Show me a group of four and a group of three. Which group has more? How can you tell?

[The group of four has one more than the group of three.]

How can you change a group of three to a group of four? How can you change a group of four to a group of three?

[Add one more; take away one.]

When you count, what number comes after three? Before four?

[Four; three.]

How did you show four on your chart? How is that column like the column for 3? How is it different?

[There is one more square colored.]

Where on the chart is the number 4? Point to it. What other numbers are written on the chart?

Assessment Options

Your notes on the students' progress will be helpful as you plan ways to ensure that each student has developed a concept of the numbers to 5. You will find that brief daily review sessions will be helpful to those students who have not yet developed this concept. Be especially alert to those students who are unable to write the numerals even though they understand the quantities the numerals represent. Conceptual understanding and the ability to write numerals develop at different times and require different remediation strategies.

Teacher Reflection

Which students have learned the meaning of each of the numbers studied so far? What are the next appropriate goals for them?
Are there students still unable to count out up to four objects? What should I do at this time to help them reach this goal?
Which students are not yet able to count by rote to five? What experiences do they need next?
Which students are not yet able to count rationally to four? What experiences do they need next?
Which students were able to identify the numerals to four? Which can write all of them?
Which students were not yet able to write the numerals to 4? Which numerals are the most difficult for them?
Which students were able to compare sets of four with sets of other, different quantities? Which students were not yet able to do this? What learning activities should I plan for them?
What adjustments will I make the next time that I teach this lesson?

NCTM Standards and Expectations

Number & Operations Pre-K-2

Develop understanding of the relative position and magnitude of whole numbers and of ordinal and cardinal numbers and their connections.
Develop a sense of whole numbers and represent and use them in flexible ways, including relating, composing, and decomposing numbers.
Count with understanding and recognize "how many" in sets of objects.