Show one

What it looks like when your child can do it

• — Asked for one spoon from the drawer, your child hands you one spoon, not a fistful.
• — Your child puts a finger on one cracker and says one as the finger lands, not before or after.
• — Shown the mark 1, your child can point to a single thing in the room that matches it.

How to teach it at the kitchen table

1. 01

   Pull one thing out of a pile

   Put a small pile of dried beans on the table. Slide one bean away from the pile and say, this is one. One is a single thing, with nothing else in its group.

2. 02

   Touch and say on the same beat

   Your child puts one finger on the bean and says one as the finger lands. The touch and the word happen together. Every count later on is built from that habit.

3. 03

   One is the only one

   Set one sock beside a heap of socks. Ask which group has only one. One is the group where there is nothing left to count after the first touch.

4. 04

   Match the thing to the mark

   Write the mark 1 on a scrap of paper. Point from the bean to the mark and back. When you see 1, think of one thing.

5. 05

   Go hunting for one

   Walk around the house and find things your home has only one of, maybe the fridge, the front door or the bathtub. Touch each and say one.

You will need: Dried beans, buttons or crackers (beans and buttons are small enough to choke on, so stay at the table, and use blocks if your child still puts things in their mouth) · A scrap of paper and a pencil for the mark 1

Try it together

1. Try 1

   Put five buttons in a pile. Say, give me one button.

   Listen for  One button, handed over alone. If your child grabs two or three, put them back and ask again slowly.

2. Try 2

   Set one spoon on the table with a pile of spoons beside it. Ask which group has only one.

   Listen for  Your child points to the spoon sitting by itself and says one.

3. Try 3

   Write the mark 1 and the mark 0 on paper. Put one cup on the table and ask which mark matches it.

   Listen for  The mark 1. The 0 is for an empty group, and there is a cup here.

4. Try 4

   Ask your child to touch their nose and say how many noses they have.

   Listen for  One. Watch that the touch and the word come together.

Watch for

• — Saying one while the hand sweeps over the whole pile. Guide the finger onto one thing and say the word together.

If it is not there yet

• — Back up to pointing. Put one toy on the table and ask your child to point at it, no words yet, until the finger lands on one thing and stays.
• — Work with things too big to grab in a handful, like shoes or books, so pulling out one is a clear move.

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 3

  Two Is a Pair

  Needs it because two is built by adding one more to a group of one.