Katie Mainville

Child Development
Dr. Reynolds
November 20, 2017

Play Environment Plan:

Cool Whip Counting

Age of Children for which the activity is planned: Age ~5

Number of children to be included in the group: 5-7

Focus Developmental Domain: Cognitive and Physical

Content: Math

Materials Needed: Pieces of “pie” made from construction paper labelled with numbers ranging
from 0-10, cotton balls (around 70), spoons equal to number of students

Objective: The student will identify the numbers written on the pie pieces and manipulate the
spoon to scoop the correct number of cotton balls onto each pie piece.

Teaching Plan:
1. (Intro) Discuss favorite Thanksgiving foods, stick on pumpkin pie, whip cream on top
2. (Teach) Take out materials, review numbers on pie pieces with students.
3. Demonstrate scooping cotton balls, warning it will be a challenge.
4. Demonstrate putting correct number of cotton balls on a piece of pie, then recounting to
check.
 5. (Vocab) Recount, zero, scoop.
6. With cotton balls in middle, give students spoons and allow them to practice scooping
(for a very short time.)
7. (Independent/Collaborate Exploration) Let students each pick a pie piece and allow them
to individually put the correct number of cotton balls on.
8. Once they have placed the cotton balls, encourage or help them recount to check.
9. Allow the students to pick a new pie piece or switch with others. Ask questions and
observe.
10. Assess using discussion below.
11. Take up materials and ask students how many went on zero, if it was difficult to scoop, if
recounting at the end helped them check the number, and how many scoops they want on
their pumpkin pie this week.

Modifications: Gear up: have students scoop smaller items (such as marshmallows) or have
larger pieces of pie with larger numbers, children could even have additional items such as tongs
or chop sticks, ask additional open-ended questions. Gear down: if students are unable to use the
spoon they can use their fingers, students can have pie pieces with the corresponding number of
dots on them or encourage counting out loud, provide extra cues when counting cotton balls
proves too big a challenge.

Means of Assessment: After students have practiced for a while, one on one pick a pie piece for
them to scoop and count on their own. Ask them to identify the number, and watch to see if they
are able to manipulate scooping the cotton ball onto the spoon with one hand.

DAP and TEKS:

(TEKS) V.A.3. Child counts 1– 10 items, with one count per item. The child: • moves, touches,
and/or points to each object while counting, using one to one correspondence (one count per
item). • knows that each finger represents one count (such as 2 fingers represent two counts and
3 fingers represent three counts). AND V.A.5. Child counts up to 10 items and demonstrates that
the last count indicates how many items were counted.
(DAP) Interest in activities involving fine motor skills increases with children’s refined abilities.
Children become increasingly skilled in activities such as drawing and cutting and pasting.
Manipulation of writing instruments improves with increased hand-eye coordination. By this age
it is usually obvious whether children are right- or left-handed. AND Children can count flexibly
to solve a variety of problems, including those that involve number (counting), addition, and
subtraction

References:
http://www.theprintableprincess.com/2016/11/kindergarten-thanksgiving-activities.html (Pie slices
and lesson idea)
DAP Articles and TEKS referenced