Growth Point 4
Counting Growth Points activities
The tasks listed on the following pages are rich tasks from various sources that may be used with multi-level groups or students who are working at a particular level.
4. Counting from 0 by 2s, 5s, and 10s
Can count from 0 by 2s, 5s and 10s to a given target.
Duck's legs
Materials: Story book ‘Come On, Daisy’ by Jane Simmons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDft1E55STk.
Activity: Read the students the story of Daisy. There are many pictures of Daisy and Mamma Duck throughout the story. Use questioning to have students acknowledge that ducks each have two legs. As you turn the pages, have the students count the number of legs by twos (seen or unseen) that there are in the story.
Related key ideas: Quantity, cardinality principle, conservation of number.
Variation: Use any other story book which has repeated pictures of animals with two legs.
5s walk
Materials: Long roll of paper, paint (Note that this activity is best completed outside).
Activity: Each child uses the paint to make their own footprints on the paper, recorded in a walking pattern. The teacher then numbers the feet (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.) and then students can ‘do the 5s walk’, counting toes in groups of five as they step on each foot.
Related key ideas: Quantity, cardinality principle, conservation of number.
Variation: Doing the ‘10s jump’. Feet can be recorded side by side and then students jump from pair to pair, counting by 10s as they go.
Up and down ladder
Materials: Worksheet with vertical ladder, numbered from 1 to 50, with 25 as the start position, spinner with the sections marked as + 1, + 2, + 3, – 1, – 2, – 3.
Activity: Each student places a counter on the start at 25. They then take turns to spin and move their counter either up or down the ladder accordingly. The first to reach either 1 or 50 wins.
Related key ideas: Stable-order principle, cardinality principle.
Ice-cream bundles
Materials: Icy-pole sticks and rubber bands.
Activity: The group is given a collection of icy-pole sticks (70+) which they count into bundles of ten, and bind each bundle with rubber bands. These bundles can then be used to count by tens, and then count the leftover sticks to find total. Small groups can be joined together to facilitate counting to larger numbers if desired.
Related key ideas: Quantity, cardinality principle, conservation of number.
Caterpillar crawl
Materials: Caterpillars either made by students using egg cartons and match sticks, or from the template.
Activity: Discussion about how many caterpillars there are. Each has ten legs so ask, ‘I wonder how many legs that is altogether?’ Whole class counts by 10s together to determine the total number of legs.
Related key ideas: Quantity, cardinality principle, conservation of number.
On target
Materials: Calculator, counting chart, numeral cards sorted according to class focus (e.g. if counting by 2s only include multiples of 2).
Activity: Students flip over a numeral card and mark the number on their counting chart. Ask students, ‘How many times do you think you need to count by xs before you reach your target number?’ Students record their prediction and then test it using the constant function on the calculator. Each time they press the ‘=‘ button and get a new number they colour it in on their chart. When they reach their target number, they go back and count how many numbers they have coloured to check if their prediction was correct.
Related key ideas: Quantity.
Frog hop
Materials: Hula hoops, sets of cards with numerals counting by 2s, 5s and 10s.
Activity: Lie the hoops in a random pattern on the floor, with a card face-up inside each. Select a focus for the session (e.g. counting by 2s, 5s or 10s) and place the cards in counting order with hoops adjacent to each other. The student becomes the frog who must leap from ‘lily pad’ to ‘lily pad’ in counting order. Other students check for accuracy.
Related key ideas: Quantity, stable-order principle, cardinality principle, conservation of number.