Counting to 100

We are currently working on counting to 100.  I downloaded a chart offline but it would be really easy to make one.  We use the chart to practice counting to 100 but I also pull out the chart whenever my daughter wants to count anything.  While we count I have her cover up the numbers with the items (if they are small enough), or point to the number we are on.  My hope is that this is helping her identify the numbers as she learns to count.

 

Here is a link to the site where I downloaded the chart.

 

 

I like to use her Unifix Cubes to work on counting because I can easily teach counting by tens as well.  She refuses to mix up the colors when counting which I think helps her.  I think it would be harder to teach skip counting if she didn't keep the colors separated.

 

 

She really likes to pull out the jar of buttons and her 100 chart.  She will sort the buttons by color and then start counting them.  She will lay one button on the number as she counts it.  She only has 19 purple buttons so when she gets to 20 she starts the next color.  By the time she gets to 100 she has a number of different colored buttons on her sheet.  I ask her questions like "Which color buttons do you have the most of?"  "What color buttons did you use to count the numbers 90-100?"

 

Sometimes I try to lead her to play a certain way by asking her questions such as "Do you have enough buttons to only use 10 of each kind?" "If you only use your purple and green buttons what number do you think you will stop on?"  I also like to try and get her to do some estimating by having her grab a bunch of buttons and then guess how many she has.  After she guesses she adds the buttons to her chart to see how close she was.

 

 

 

We also spend a lot of time practicing to count with no objects.  Randomly she will ask me to listen to her count to 100.  She loves to exclaim that she can do it all by herself (she is getting really close but still needs some help when it comes to ordering 40, 50, 60, and 70).  This is also her new favorite way of trying to stay up a little later.  She knows that her mommy will not tell her, "No you cannot practice counting.  Go straight to bed."  So she gets a couple extra minutes of counting practice every night before bed.  :)