The Lumenary · K–2

Counting

Name: ______________________

Date: ______________________

You will learn to

Count a collection of up to about 100 objects, saying exactly one number word for each object
Explain that the last number word said tells how many objects there are, whatever order they were counted in
Compare two collections by pairing their members one-to-one, and by counting
Know that zero is the number of the empty collection, and that every counting number has a next one

1.
How many stars are there? ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
2.
All of Nomin's goats have gone out to the grassland. How many goats are left in the pen?
3.
Kofi counts his marbles: one, two, three, four, five, six. He says six just as he touches the blue marble. How many marbles does Kofi have?
- A.6 marbles
- B.Only the blue marble is six
- C.We can't tell without counting again
4.
Lina puts 5 buttons in a short row: 🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵. Mei puts 5 buttons in a long row: 🔴 🔴 🔴 🔴 🔴. Who has more buttons?
- A.Lina
- B.Mei, because her row is longer
- C.They have the same number
5.
Six children sit down for lunch: 🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒🧒. There are five plates: 🍽️🍽️🍽️🍽️🍽️. Each child takes one plate. What happens?
- A.One child has no plate
- B.One plate is left over
- C.Every child gets exactly one plate, with none left over
6.
Amara counted the goats standing in a ring and got 10. But there are really 9 goats. What mistake might she have made?
- A.She counted the first goat again when she came back round
- B.She skipped a goat
- C.The goats were spread out, so there were more
7.
Sticks are tied in bundles of ten. There are 6 bundles and 3 loose sticks. How many sticks are there altogether?
8.
What number comes just after 99?
9.
Gideon's game: is this statement true or false? "There is a biggest counting number."
- A.True — a million is the biggest
- B.False — every number has a next one
10.
Margaret's computer counted 5 goats in every possible order — 120 different orders. In how many of those 120 orders was the last number word five?

Answer key — Counting

1.
Touching each star once: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. The last word is eight, so there are 8 stars.
2.
The pen is empty, so there are 0 goats in it. Zero is the number of members of the empty collection.
3.
When we count carefully, the last number word tells how many things there are. Kofi's last word was six, so he has 6 marbles.
4.
Both rows end on five when you count them, and the buttons pair up with none left over. So they have the same number. Mei's row is longer only because her buttons are spread out.
5.
Pairing children with plates uses up all 5 plates, and 1 child is left without one. So one child has no plate: 5 is less than 6. We found this out by pairing, without needing to count.
6.
Her answer was one too many, so one goat got two number words. In a ring, the usual slip is to count the first goat again when you come back round to it. Marking the starting goat, or moving each goat as you count it, prevents this.
7.
Count the bundles in tens: ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty. Then count on the loose sticks: sixty-one, sixty-two, sixty-three. There are 63 sticks.
8.
One more than 99 is 100. Nine tens and nine ones, plus one more one, make nine tens and ten ones; the ten ones make another ten, and ten tens make one hundred.
9.
The statement is false. Whatever number you choose, the next number (one more) is bigger, so no number is the biggest. Gideon only needed one argument that works for every number — he did not have to check them all.
10.
In all 120 orders the last word was five. Changing the order changes which goat gets which word, but every goat still gets exactly one word, so the count always ends on five. Margaret's computer checked this herd; the explanation in the lesson shows why it is true for every collection.