The purpose of this activity is for students to count collections of up to 20 objects and represent their count in a way that makes sense to them. Students may use drawings, numbers, or words to represent their count.

This activity provides an opportunity to gather formative assessment data on students’ counting skills and understanding. Some students may have more sophisticated counting methods such as grouping and counting by twos or tens (MP7). Students are not expected to use such methods at this point, as they will continue to engage in Counting Collections throughout the year. Collections of objects can be saved for use in later lessons.

The 10-frames are provided as a blackline master. Students will continue to use these throughout the year. Consider copying the 10-frames on cardstock or laminating them and keeping them organized to be used repeatedly.

• Invite previously identified students to share.
• “How did you keep track of the objects as you counted?” (We put each object in a pile after we counted it, so we knew we already counted that one.)
• Display previously selected representations. 
• “How did they show their count?” (They drew 12 circles. They wrote the number 12.)
• “We counted collections of different things today. What are some things you count at home?”

The purpose of this activity is for students to learn Stage 3 of the Number Race center. Earlier stages of this center were introduced in IM Kindergarten. In this new stage, called Add to 10, students find the total number of dots on two dot cubes and record the number on their gameboard. Students continue playing until one number “wins” (all the boxes in that number’s column are filled in). 

This activity gives the teacher an opportunity to see the methods that students use to find totals. As students work, observe whether they count each dot, recognize the number of dots on each cube without counting, count on from one cube, or just know the sum of the two quantities. 

Students may have fluency with sums within 5, as that was the end-of-year expectation for kindergarten. Many students may be counting all, and some students may be counting on. It is important to let students develop their own ideas about counting on as this concept develops throughout the year. During the Activity Synthesis, students connect counting to addition as they consider representing the total number of dots with an addition expression.

• Display 2 dot cubes showing 5 dots and 3 dots. 
• “There are different ways we can find the total number of dots on the 2 cubes. For example, we can count all of the dots. We can also add the number of dots on each cube.”
• Point to 1 cube.
  • “How many dots are on this cube?”
• Repeat with the second cube.
• “How many dots in all?”
• Highlight the different ways students count the dots, including counting all, counting on from one number, counting on from the greatest number, and using known sums.