1st Grade - Counting On and Finding All Possible Solutions

Next week, first graders will be working on the strategy of Counting On. Young students typically count two groups by counting all the items. For example, if one group has 5 buttons and another group has 6 buttons, students will count the 5 in the first group, the 6 in the second group, and then start with 1 again to count all the buttons. We are working with our students to learn the strategy of Counting On instead of Counting All. Once you count the number of items in one group, keep that number in your head and then continue counting the items in the second group. Students will play a game next week to reinforce this idea. The game is like Bingo where students are trying to get 5 numbers in a row on a game board. Earlier in the year students played this game by rolling two dot cubes and adding the numbers together to find a number on the board. This time students will roll one dot cube and one number cube. This will encourage students to Count On.

Another big idea we are studying next week is finding all possible solutions. Students are given a number and asked to find all the different ways to make that number. For example, we can make the number 5 by adding 0 + 5, 1 + 4, 2 + 3, 3 + 2, 4 + 1, and 5 + 0. First graders may not organize thier work in a systematic way, but we hope they will discover a method for making sure they have every possible answer. Another idea students will discover is that if I have 1 + 4 I can also have 4 + 1.