In this section, students build a shared understanding of what it means to do math and to be a part of a mathematical community, where everyone’s contributions are valued. Students collaborate to create norms for their work together. They are encouraged to share their ideas and listen to the ideas of others, to make connections, and to see themselves as productive mathematical thinkers.

Students also interact with tools that they will use in math activities and centers throughout the year—connecting cubes, pattern blocks, two-color counters, geoblocks, and 5-frames. Students have the opportunity to freely explore the tools and think of their mathematical purposes before they are asked to use them to represent mathematical situations in structured activities and centers.
 

The lessons in this section are intentionally shorter to allow time for students to learn the structure and routines of math lessons and to give teachers an opportunity to determine what students know about number concepts.

Throughout the section, observe students for the look-fors on the Unit 1, Sections A–D Checkpoint. Or use the Checklist at the beginning of the section.

In this section, students work on the concept of one-to-one correspondence. They match one object to one person or image to answer “are there enough” questions and to gather objects. This matching skill will be useful in the next section and in future counting when students match one number word to one object.

“Are there enough?” and “can you get enough?” questions encourage students to mathematize situations. Look for ways to incorporate these prompts into other parts of the school day, for example, when books or classroom supplies are being distributed.

Throughout the section, observe students for the look-fors on the Unit 1, Sections A–D Checkpoint. Or use the Checklist at the beginning of the section.

In this section, students continue to explore numbers and quantities in their classroom, focusing on small groups of objects or images they can quantify without counting. They match groups that have the same number of images and notice that the same quantity can be arranged in many different ways. Students continue to develop the language to express these ideas and to listen to ideas of their peers. 

Students are sometimes asked to show quantities up to 5 on their fingers. This is a chance to formatively observe if students are comfortable showing quantities on their fingers (any way is acceptable). For example, they may put up 4 fingers to show how many objects there are before saying the number word “four.”

Throughout the section, observe students for the look-fors on the Unit 1, Sections A–D Checkpoint. Or use the Checklist at the beginning of the section.

In this section, students focus on counting up to 10 objects and answering “how many?” questions. They learn a new routine, Questions about Us, and consider the question “how many of us are here today?” The routine offers opportunities to highlight one-to-one matching and keeping track of what is being counted.

Students also count collections of objects from the classroom or from home. To initiate counting, ask “how many?” instead of saying “count the objects.” This helps to reinforce counting as a way to quantify a collection and the idea of cardinality—that the last number said while counting tells us how many there are. 

Students may use counting mats, 5-frames, or other tools to help them count. Representing the numbers 6–10 on a 5-frame, for instance, helps students see the structure of these numbers. (The 10-frame will be introduced in a future unit.) 

Some students may be able to subitize, or recognize how many objects there are without counting. Those who can do so accurately should not be required to count individual objects. Consider differentiating the size of collections students count based on observations of students’ counting. 

An optional activity is included in each lesson of this section.  These activities support students in certain aspects of counting—verbalizing the count sequence, one-to-one tagging, and organizing objects to count.

Throughout the section, observe students for the look-fors on the Unit 1, Sections A–D Checkpoint. Or use the Checklist at the beginning of the section.