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“It’s juuuuuust counting!” The other day I overhead this comment from an adult about an activity that some Pre-K and Kindergarten students were doing. I guess I let it get under my skin a little because I’ve been thinking about it a lot. But it has also made me do some thinking.
It’s not just counting – it is so much more!
Sure, as primary teachers we are teaching our students the skill of counting. But what’s the purpose? Helping our students build strong numeracy skills is actually quite important. First we learn to identify numbers and what they mean. This helps us our students learn that different things have different values. Not all things are equal.
We teach them to count and they learn about order and patterns. They learn to skip count which later helps them count money and learn multiplication and division. As the develop a sense of number order and get fluent thinking about working with numbers, they are able to start estimating and rounding. They are able to work with fractions and percents.
Counting it not “juuuuuuust” counting – it’s the foundation. And you know what they say about building on a shaky foundation.
Let’s Build a Strong Foundation
As primary teachers our goal is to help our students build a strong foundation with numeracy skills and it all starts with counting. But counting is more than just memorizing the name of numbers in order. The key to strong numeracy skills is fluency or fluidity. This includes being able to count forwards and backwards with ease. Being able to see patterns in the number order and being able to count like a rock star!
1. Music
You probably already know this, but there is something magical about music and learning. Music draws our kids in and helps them learn in a very special way. Here’s a couple of my favorite counting songs that we use in my classroom.
This first song comes a fellow kindergarten teacher that writes music for his students. He is so kind to share his song on You Tube. If you don’t follow Mr. Harry Kindergarten you definitely should. This song helps students remember those important teen numbers.
I also love Jack Hartman and his fun music too. This is a great interactive song to help students subtilize – or learn to identify how many are in a set without counting one by one.
These are just a couple of many wonderful math songs that will help your students learn counting and number skills.
2. Center Activities
Adding numeracy based activities to center time is a great way to help students build a strong foundation. Unlike other activities where students have to go at the pace of the class (whole class counting) or the song, center activities allow students to work at their own pace which is often very helpful for struggling learners.
I partnered up with my teacher friend Christi from Gimme More Science to create these fun and engaging number puzzles. Using different themes that connect to other curriculum areas, students can practice the key counting skills. Students will build each puzzle by ordering the numbers at the borrow of each puzzle strip. Then, if you choose, they can complete the coordinating response sheet.
It was really important to us to create puzzle sets that helped students build a strong foundation by recognizing numbers in different formats and counting in different ways. Teach set includes puzzles using numbers, ten frames, fingers, tally makes and coins.
You can find these Number Puzzles on Teachers Pay Teachers.
3. Whole Class Activities
It’s important to work on numeracy skills together as a class too. Our students can gain confidence when participating in a group. Everyday, we practice counting to 100. Sometimes we just count, but other times we use different silly voices for each set of 10. Your students will love whispering, talking like a pirate, counting like a gorilla and even counting like a mouse.
As we gain fluency in our counting, then we begin to working on counting from different numbers. I’ll call out a number and students will start counting from that number. When I say stop, they stop and then I call out another starting number. The students love this whole class game.
We also count as we move around the school: the steps it takes to get to the cafeteria and the number of students that pass us in the hallway. We count anything and everything.
It’s the Foundation
Laying a strong foundation in numeracy is a lot like laying a foundation for a building. Foundations these days are made from concrete. You don’t have concrete if you only have sand. It takes a mixture of the right substances and water to create concrete that will make a solid and firm foundation. Building a foundation in our students’ brains is quite the same way. It takes a variety of activities all working together to build a solid foundation.