Use a School Readiness Activity to provide early mathematical thinking experiences for preschool children that will prepare them to do well in the early grades.
Grades:
Subjects:
How Many Pennies Do You Hear?
Purpose/Skills
- To listen for and count sounds (or other things such as people or flashes of light)
- To count 1, 2, 3, and 4
Materials
Container in which pennies will make sounds when dropped; pennies or other counters; Peace at Last
how many
count
counting
Literature Suggestion
Read Peace at Last by Jill Murphy.
Warm-Up
Ask children to close their eyes and listen to some sounds that you will make. Whistle, snap your fingers, tap a pencil, or stamp your foot. Have children say how you made the sound.
Procedure
- Ask children to close their eyes and listen while you drop pennies in a container. Count how many pennies are dropped. (Drop 1, count 1. Drop 2, count 1, 2, etc., through 4.) Repeat the activity with children listening and counting with you.
- Then drop pennies in the container and ask children to count aloud. Vary the order and drop 3, then 1, then 4, then 2 pennies.
- When children are comfortable with the activity, stop counting aloud. Drop the pennies and ask, "How many did you hear?" Have children take turns dropping the pennies. Continue the activity, over time increasing the number of pennies.
Have children work in pairs. One child closes his or her eyes while the other taps sounds to 4. The first child says how many he or she heard. Then children reverse roles.
Observation Assessment
- Proficient - Child can easily count sounds up to 4.
- In Process - Child can discern sounds and count some of them.
- Not Yet Ready - Child does not yet associate sounds with numbers or counting.
