OuiSi · Math

Count it

Beta

Grades K–2 Teaching 25 min Plus 3 to set out, 3 to clear Class any size Set any Prep counters per group

set out 3′ One counter each 8′ How did you do it 8′ Try someone else's way 5′ Close 4′ clear 3′

Goal: Children count things in a photograph and then say how they did it — discovering that there is more than one way to count, and that some ways are faster.
Materials: One OuiSi Photo-Card set, about six cards per group of four. Counters.

K: One counter per thing, numbers under ten, counting one at a time — the full 25 min
Grade 1: Numbers to twenty, and try counting in twos — the full 25 min
Grade 2: Numbers to thirty, counting in groups, and compare whose way was quicker — the full 25 min

1 · One counter each

8 min

Groups of four, about six cards face up, counters within reach.

Find a card where you can count something. Put one counter on every one.

The counter is the check. A child who loses their place can slide the counters off one at a time and start again without starting over.

To a group arguing about something half-hidden.

You decide whether it counts. Then count the same way all the way through.

2 · How did you do it

8 min

How did you count them? Show me with your finger.

Watch what they actually do and name it out loud.

You went round the edge first, then the middle. That is a way of counting.

You did two, four, six. That is a way too.

Children copy a method the instant it is named, and naming it is almost all of the teaching here. Collect three or four ways on the board as you hear them.

3 · Try someone else's way

5 min

New card. This time count it the way someone else did.

Point at the methods on the board and let each child pick one that is not theirs.

Borrowing a method deliberately is what turns it from a habit into a choice, and a child who tries counting in twos because a friend did will often keep it.

4 · Close

4 min

Which way of counting was quickest for your card?

The answer depends on the picture, which is the right thing to notice. Scattered things suit grouping; a neat row suits counting straight along.

Watch for

Losing count. Expected and fine at this age. The counters exist so that restarting costs nothing.
Numbers too big. Over twenty in K is a slog. Swap the card rather than pushing through.
Nothing countable. Many cards are texture or landscape. Say so and swap it.
Counting in twos before one-to-one is solid. Do not push it. Grouping is a grade 1 and 2 move and it needs the foundation under it.

Adapt

K — one at a time, under ten, and stop after step two.
Grade 2 — ask which method they would use on a card with fifty things, and why.
Dyscalculia — counters stay on the card the whole time, and numbers stay small.
Motor needs — a partner places counters while they point and count.
Multilingual learners — counting aloud in a home language is full participation, and number words transfer fast.
Whole-class version — one card projected or held up, counted together, methods named as they emerge.

Curriculum links. One-to-one correspondence using counters · Describing a counting strategy aloud · Trying somebody else's strategy on new material · Judging which method was quicker, and why.
Standard codes vary by state and district — these are the skills exercised, for you to map to your own.

For grades 3–5 see Count it, guess it, which starts where counting stops working and builds estimation.
Screen-free. No codes and no devices. Works with any OuiSi Photo-Card set.