Counting Collections

Counting Collections

We are counting at Soquel! 

Counting collections will be a regular practice in our classroom.

                

Why is counting important?

Counting provides the foundation for understanding numbers and for computation skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division).

Counting teaches children-

·      the names of numbers

·      the sequence of numbers

·      one-to-one correspondence

·      relative size

·      efficient and accurate counting strategies. (It’s easier to keep track of groups of ten, than to count 170 single objects!)

·      skip counting (5-10-15-20…)

·      how to count on from a number (129, 130, 131…)

·      how to count groups of objects

·      how to represent or record what they’ve counted

What should children count?

EVERYTHING!  Buttons, rocks, candy, seeds, hair clips, toys, books, pencils, crayons, blocks, flowers on the wallpaper, etc.  Older kids can count unopened boxes of items.  Paperclips come in boxes of 100.  If I have 15 boxes plus 28 loose paperclips, how many do I have?

How can you help at home?

·      Count on objects out loud together

·      Provide objects to count:  cereal, macaroni, sunflower seeds, pennies

·      Look for opportunities to count. Count while picking up Legos or toys. Count the numbers of tiles on the floor while waiting for an appointment. Count items in the grocery cart. Count the items in the kitchen.  Count the number of books on the bookshelf.

·      Talk to your teacher about creating counting collection

bag(s) to add to their classroom collection.