Hello again! Let’s all try our best this year!
This was an activity I did for both grade 3 and 4 in elementary school. It was super fun for the students and I and a nice way to apply the numbers they’ve learned.
This is designed for numbers 11-20 because that’s what the students were focused on. However, you can use this as an idea for your 1-10 counting lessons, or possibly for bigger numbers (but it would be annoying to count to like 59 or something though).
Materials
- Powerpoint (If you don't have the tech, you can also print out the pictures and show a paper version).
Lesson Plan
(This is a pretty simple activity, so I won’t put a super-detailed plan here. Please write a comment if anything is unclear!!)
The powerpoint has photos of groups of things, like mascots, bananas, etc. Ask the students “how many bananas?” and students have to count the number of bananas.
I emphasized that the students shouldn’t shout out the number when they’ve counted, and gave a lot of time so the students who can’t count quickly yet have time to make a conclusion.
After some time, I ask the students to say the number all together. Then, count them as a class (one..two…three…..three bananas!).
This is a flexible activity that you can stop anytime. But I recommend at least using photos with 12 and 20 of something once, because younger (and older!) students sometimes have trouble distinguishing 12 and 20.
I included a slide called "how many claps?" at the end. Here, the ALT or HRT/JTE claps an unusual rhythm, and students have to count the number of claps. You can do this multiple times with different numbers of claps.
Some options (these are going to look ridiculous written out):
- Shave-and-a-haircut (7 claps) clap clap-clap-clap-clap clap-clap
- Let's Go by the Routers (11 claps) clap-clap clap-clap-clap clap-clap-clap-clap clap-clap