Teaching Students to Rationally Count

Many kindergartners and first graders start school with minimal to no exposure to numbers. These students all too often have trouble learning to count. Below is an example of how to teach a class of first graders to count rationally to 15. There are several steps that can be followed to ensure that students understand one to one correspondence, stable order rules, order irrelevance rule, and cardinality rules counting principles. At this point students should be able to rationally count to 10. In order to teach them to count to 15 I will be building on these skills. In order to verify that students understand the one to one correspondence I will have students match numbers with objects. Students will be working individually with a handful of m&m's. Students will need to place their m&m's in a straight line. Next students will be instructed to count each m&m in the line, by touching each one as they count it. Students will need to count their lines, making sure they have 15 in their line.

Next I need to make sure that students understand the rule of stable order. This rule says that students have to consistently say numbers in the correct order. In other words students say the numbers one, two, four, three, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen,fourteen and fifteen follows the rules of stable order. But if a students was to say one, two, four, three, five, eight, seven, six, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen is the in correct order. This can be corrected by listening to others count correctly and then practicing themselves. Another rule that I will need to teach students is the rule of order irrelevance. This rules says that objects can be counted in any order. For example students may count 15 dimes, that have been placed in three rows of five. Students can then each row, choosing to start with any row of their choice and still come up with 15 dimes.The cardinality rules says that the last counting word should represent the whole collection. In this example the last word should be 15. When students count their m&m's or dimes the last word they should say is 15. The 15 represents the whole collection of dimes or m&m's. I will also be using a assessment to monitor students to see id they have mastered these skills and are able to count to 15. First I will make sure each students practices counting rationality to 15 several times before administering the assessment. I will be assessing each students understanding of the counting principles discussed above. In order to asses students understanding of the one to one correspondence principle I will place 15 gummies on a table and each students to count each gummy and then say the number that corresponds with. Next students will need to recite the numbers 1-15 in the correct order, this will asses students understanding of the stable order principle. To asses students understanding of irrelevance principle I will have students count dots that I have drawn on a page. These dots will be randomly placed on the page and students will need to count all 15 of them. Finally I will asses students understanding of the cardinality rule, I will do this by having students count 15 hearts and have them tell me the total number of hearts.Students with learning disabilities or EEL are most likely to have trouble learning these or any other concepts of math. To accommodate these students there are several different things that I can do to adapt the curriculum. For EEL I will allow students to count in their home language. For students with learning disabilities that have difficult with the one to one correspond rule I can point to each object as they count it. Students with learning disabilities goal of rationally counting is slightly different than that of other students. The goal for students with learning disabilities is to be able to count to 15 with little or no help. As a teacher it is one of my jobs to make sure students learn to rationally count to 15, with or without exceptions or accommodations.