1. Building Foundations for Mathematics
Numerical Fluency

2. Count the items at your table and complete the recording sheet
Counting Collections
Count the items at your table and complete the recording sheet

3. Trios
Create a trio where each person in the trio has a different recording sheet
Share your counting collection experience
Discuss how you recorded the information on your recording sheet
What are some similarities and differences?

4. Why Count Collections? One of the best ways to develop number sense
Provides a solid foundation for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
Allows for multiple entry points and students of various stages of development to work and learn together

5. Read article silently Discuss: Why is counting collections important?
What skills are developed or reinforced?
How would this support your grade level content?

6. How to Count Collections…
Students are given a collection of objects to count.
Students begin counting together, negotiating the way they will count their collection and then recording how they counted.
While students are working the teacher will circulate, observing strategies, problem solving, highlighting strategies that are being used, discussing recordings, and supporting partners to work together.
Students share out how they organized their collections.
Often the teacher will conclude the activity by sharing out ideas that emerged from students during the task.

7. Selecting Items Some guidelines for selecting items to count:
Anything can be counted: collections do not need to be fancy or expensive!
• For young students, larger items are safer and make counting easier
• Round items that roll, like beads, can make counting and clean-up tricky
• Items that link together (like paper clips) can become tangled and might require
some extra time to organize
Try to strike a balance between exciting-to-count and distracting:
o Unique and intriguing items like plastic bugs or baseball cards can be fun to count, but may also distract students from the task.
o Collections that contain multiple colors or shapes like pattern blocks or beads are tempting to sort!

8. Collection Items Some easy collection ideas:
• Puzzle pieces from an old puzzle
• Playing cards from an incomplete deck
• Pattern blocks
• Rocks
• Buttons
• Plastic bottle caps

9. How do I gather all these things?
Invite staff, parents, and community members to collect and donate items that they might already have.
Have a central location that people can drop of items, like in the office.
Use manipulatives and office supplies that you already have at the school.

10. How many items do I put in the collections?
The size of your collections will vary with your students.

12. What teachers do during counting collections

13. Final Thought
Share with a partner, what would you like to try with your students this week, this month, or this trimester around counting collections.