Count a group to ten

What it looks like when your child can do it

• — Your child counts eight crackers, sliding each one aside as it is counted, and says there are eight.
• — Asked how many after counting, your child says the last number without counting again.
• — Your child counts a messy pile without skipping anything or counting anything twice.

How to teach it at the kitchen table

1. 01

   One touch, one number

   Your child touches one thing and says one number. Then the next thing, the next number. The finger and the word move together.

2. 02

   Slide each one aside

   Your child moves each counted thing to a new spot. Counted things go on one side, the rest stay on the other. Nothing gets counted twice and nothing gets missed.

3. 03

   The last number is how many

   After counting, ask how many. The last number said is the answer. If your child starts counting again, say, you already told me, the last number was seven.

4. 04

   Use the box of ten holes

   Your child counts beans into an egg carton cut to two rows of five, or into two rows of five circles on paper, one bean to a hole. Filling the top row first, then the bottom, keeps the count in order, and a full box is ten.

5. 05

   Count things that stay put

   Count the plates on the table or the windows in a room. Things you cannot slide aside make your child keep track with eyes and finger alone.

You will need: Dried beans, spoons or socks (beans are small enough to choke on, so stay at the table) · An egg carton cut to two rows of five, if you like

Try it together

1. Try 1

   Spread seven dried beans on the table in a messy scatter. Ask how many.

   Listen for  Seven. Watch that each bean gets one touch and one number.

2. Try 2

   After your child counts, cover the beans with your hand and ask how many are under there.

   Listen for  The same number they just said. A child who needs to uncover and recount is still learning to trust the last number, and that comes with practice.

3. Try 3

   Ask your child to count out ten spoons for you.

   Listen for  Ten spoons, then a stop. Counting out a number is harder than counting what is already there.

4. Try 4

   Lay nine socks in a row. Your child counts them from the left end, then counts again starting from the right end.

   Listen for  Nine both ways. Landing on the same number from either end shows your child the count does not depend on where you start.

Watch for

• — Saying the numbers faster than the finger moves. Slow down and let the finger lead.

If it is not there yet

• — Back up to groups of five or fewer, where your child can check the count with one look.
• — Say the numbers one to ten out loud together, with no objects, if your child loses the words partway through a count.

A few days of this is normal, and it is time well spent. The lesson will still be there, and it will go faster.

Where this skill comes up

• Zig and Zag Count to Twenty · Lesson 15

  More, Less, Same

  Needs it because you cannot name more or less until you can say how many are in each group.