We do much counting in Kindergarten. It  is more complex than you think, and mastering counting is the basis for understanding our number system and for almost all the number work elementary students do. Two of our small group centers this week focused on counting with 1 to 1 correspondence. This means kids touch, or move an object as they orally count, so they connect the word to a quantity of objects. Using manipulatives or fingers helps emergent math students visualize the concept.

One day this week marked the 25th day of school for this year. We made notice of that with coin counting and trading, we could trade all of our jingly coins (dime, 2 nickels, and 5 pennies) in for one shiny quarter. We also are enjoying getting much practice with one-to-once counting and trying to under-stand the concept of "counting on." This means, that when you roll two di, you are able to automatically identify a group of dots, and count on the other group of dots. This is the precursor to addition.  you can practice "1 to 1 counting" and "counting on" with your child anywhere, anytime~

This week, we continue practice two skills: 1 to 1 correspondence,and number omissions. We choose to teach these skills using a hands on approach using manipulatives to make it visually clear to students. After direction instruction, ( given daily throughout the week, either at whole group carpet time or ticket to Tokyo, etc) students are able to apply learned knowledge in small groups, or independently several times throughout the week.

As usual, we incorporate math into all parts of the day - Centers, transitions (ticket to Tokyo), Morning Meeting etc. In centers this week, we did an activity where students roll two di, transcribe the number on di as "sprinkles' on the top of cupcakes, and add the two numbers up. This activity develops 1-to-1 correspondence and emergent addition.

Friday was our 35th day of school. This meant that we were able to not only exchange five pennies for a nickel, but exchange two nickels for a dime! Through repetition and exposure with money, students are able to understand real-world applications of numbers and value.