Kindergarten Task: Counting Balls

Kindergarten Task: Counting Balls

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives: 

Essential Understandings:

  • Counting includes one‐to‐one correspondence, regardless of the kind of objects in the set and the order in which they are counted.
  • When counting objects in a group/set, the last number stated names the total number of objects in that group/set.
Essential and guiding questions: 
  • How did you decide that Zanna was not right?
  • What strategy did you use to determine whether Zanna had more?
  • How did you know to line the balls up?
  • Did that make it easier? Why or why not?
  • Tell me how you decided to draw the lines to match a tennis ball and a golf ball.
  • Tell me how matching a tennis ball with a golf ball helped you answer the question.
  • Why do you think Zanna said she had more?
  • How could you find out?
  • Why do you think Zanna said she had more balls?
  • What can you do to see how many balls each girl has?

Whole Group Questions:

  • What ways did you use to count the balls?
  • How were the counting strategies that we shared similar and different?
  • How did you know if you had already counted a ball? How did you keep from counting it more than one time?
  • Does it matter where you start when you are counting objects? Explain your answer.
  • When you say the number of the last ball in a group, what does that number tell you?
  • If you rearrange the balls in a group and count them again, will you get the same number? Explain your answer.
  • If you are counting things in a group, does it matter if the things are different sizes? Explain your answer.

Activity/Task Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Understanding
Extension suggestions: 

Advanced Questions:

  • What would you change in the problem to make Zanna’s claim correct?
  • Does the size of the objects make a difference in this problem?
  • Is there another way to show /explain your answer?
  • What would you change in the problem to make Zanna’s claim correct?
  • Does the size of the objects make a difference?
  • Is there another way to show /explain your answer?
  • If each girl had some of the tennis balls and some of the golf balls could you use the same strategy? Explain your answer.
  • Is there a way to arrange the balls that would help you?
  • If you move the balls around would that change your answer?
  • Is there a way to arrange the balls that would help you see if Zanna is correct?