Counting in

Primary
Grades
 Part I: Instructional
Strategies on counting for
K to 3
Competent counting requires mastery of a symbolic system, facility

with a complicated set of procedures that require pointing at objects

and designating them with symbols, and understanding that some

aspects of counting are merely conventional, while others lie at the

heart of its mathematical usefulness. (Kilpatrick, Swafford, & Findell,

2001)
 The following key points can be made
about counting in the primary years:
• Counting includes both the recitation
of a series of numbers and the
conceptualization of a symbol as
representative of a quantity.
• In their first experiences with
counting, children do not initially
understand the connection between a
quantity and the number name and
symbol that represent it.
• Counting is a powerful early tool
intricately connected with the future
development of students’ conceptual
understanding of quantity, place value,
and the operations.
 Children usually enter school
with some counting strategies,
and some children may be able
to count to large numbers. Much
of children’s earliest counting is
usually done as a memory task
in one continuous stream similar
to the chant used for the
alphabet. But if asked what the
number after 5 is, children may
recount from 1 with the little
demonstration of knowing what
is meant by the question. Young
children may not realize that the
count stays consistent.
Counting as it relates to developing
understanding of quantity, place
value, and the operations.
• Place value is developed as
students begin to count to
numbers greater than 9.
• Student can run into difficulties
with some of these numbers.
• Counting is the first strategythat
students use to determine answers
to questions involving the
operations.
Instruction in Counting
• Link the counting sequence with objects or
movement on a number line so that
students attach the counting number to an
increase in quantity or, when counting
backwards, to a decrease in quantity;
• Model strategies that help students to keep
track of their count;
• Provide activities that promote opportunities
for counting both inside and outside the
classroom;
• Continue to focus on traditional games and
songs that encourage counting skill for the
earliest grades
• Link the teen words with the word “ten” and
the words “one” to “nine” to help students
recognize the patterns to the teen words,
which are exceptions to the patterns for
number words in the base ten number
system;
• Help students to identify the patterns in the
number themselves.
Part II: Characteristics of
Student Learning and
Instructional Strategies
from K to 3
 CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENT LEARNING
In general, students in Kindergarten and Grade 1:

• May have some difficulty counting though the teen numbers and the transition between such number
as 19 and 20 or 29 and 30.;
• Develop skill in orally counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s to 100, with or without a number line, but
may lack the skill required to coordinate the oral count sequence with the physical counting of objects;

• Count to 10 by 1’s, beginning at different points in the sequence of 1 to 10;

• Consolidate their skill in one-to-one correspondence while counting by 1’s to larger numbers or
producing objects to represent the larger numbers.
• Are able to count backwards from 10, although beginning the backwards count at numbers other than
10 may be more problematics.
• May move away from counting all strategies and begin to use more efficient counting strategies;
• Use a calculator to explore counting patterns and also to solve problems with numbers greater than 10;
• Recognize the patterns in the counting sequence; recognize how the decades follow the patterns.
 Instructional Strategies
Students in Grade1 benefit from the following instructional strategies:

• Providing opportunities to experience counting to 50 in engaging and relevant situations in which the
meaning of the numbers is emphasized and a link is established between the numbers and their visual
representation as numerals.
• Using songs, chants, and stories that emphasize the counting sequences of 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s, both
forward and backwards and from different points within the sequence, especially beginning at the tricky
number;
• Providing opportunities to engage in play-based problem solving that involves counting strategies.
• Providing opportunities to participate in games that emphasizes strategies for counting. These games should
involve numbers in the decades whenever possible;
• Building counting activities into everyday events;
• Using counters and other manipulative, hundreds charts or carpets, and number lines in meaningful ways,
on many different occasions;
• Continuing to build up their understanding of 5 and 10 as anchors for thinking about all other numbers;
• Providing support to help students recognize the various counting strategies.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENT LEARNING
In general, students in Grade 2:
• Count by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, and 25’s beyond 100. Students count
backwards by 1’s from 50 but may have difficulty counting down
from larger numbers.

• May not yet count by 10’s off the decade and have to persist with
counting on.
 Instructional Strategies
Students in Grade 2 benefit from the following instructional strategies:

• Providing opportunities to experience counting beyond 100 in engaging and relevant situations in which the
meaning of the numbers is emphasized and a link is established between the numbers and their visual
representation as numerals.
• Using songs, chants, and stories that emphasize the counting sequences of 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, and 25’s from
different points within the sequence;
• Providing opportunities to engage in problem solving that involves counting strategies;
• Providing opportunities to participate in games that emphasizes strategies for counting;
• Building counting activities into everyday events;
• Using counters and other manipulatives, hundreds charts or carpets, and number lines in meaningful ways,
especially to identify the patterns in the counting sequence;
• Providing support to help students recognize the various counting strategies for counting larger numbers.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENT LEARNING
In general, students in Grade 3:
• Use counting in different ways than in previous grades. Most of the students will have
consolidated the counting concepts. They will also have begun to use other strategies for
calculating quantities and using the operations.
• Begin to use grouping strategies for calculating rather than relying solely on simple counting
strategies;
• Count by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, and 100’s to 1000, using various starting points, and by 25’s to 1000,
using multiples of 25 as starting points.
• Extend their understanding of number patterns into the 100’s and are able to generalize the
patterns for counting by 100’s and 1000’s by following the patter of 100, 200, … or 1000, 2000,
…;
• Make appropriate decisions about how to count large amounts
• Count backwards by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s from 100 multiples of 2, 5, and 10 as starting points.
• Use calculators to skip count in various increments, to make hypotheses, and to explore large
numbers and counting patterns in large numbers.
 Instructional Strategies
Students in Grade 3 benefit from the following instructional strategies:

• Providing opportunities to experience counting beyond 100 in engaging and relevant situations in which the
meaning of the numbers is emphasized and a link is established between the numbers and their visual
representation as numerals.
• Using songs, chants, and stories that emphasize the counting sequences of 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, and 25’s from
different points within the sequence;
• Providing opportunities to engage in problem solving in context that encourage students to use groupings as
a counting strategy;
• Providing opportunities to participate in games that emphasizes strategies for counting;
• Building counting activities into everyday events;
• Using counters and other manipulatives, hundreds charts or carpets, and number lines in meaningful ways;
• Providing support to help students recognize the various counting strategies for counting larger numbers.
• Providing support to help students sketch an open number line that will facilitate counting to solve a
problem.