1st Grade · Math · 1.NBT.B.2, 1.NBT.A.1, 1.OA.A.1
Counting Lesson Plan for 1st Grade
A ready-to-teach counting lesson for 1st Grade. Everything below is classroom-tested structure: an objective, a 45-minute sequence, a way to check who got it, and 6 printable practice pages.
Approximately 45 minutes
Learning objective
- Count forward from any number within 1 to 10
- Write the number that comes before or after a given number
- Match a written numeral to a group of counted objects
Materials
- Making 10 with ten frames (1 addend missing) - Celebration
- Count and sort (4 groups) - Cars
- Counting questions (birds) - Red Bird
- What comes before or after (1-100) - Bee
- Making 10 with ten frames (1 addend missing) - Hedgehog
- Counting with 1 less - Birds
- Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples
Lesson steps
1. Warm up together (5 min)
Count around the circle before anyone sits down, then ask where counting shows up outside this room. Listen for who counts confidently and who is watching a neighbour's lips.
2. Model it (I do) (10 min)
Work two examples of counting where everyone can see, saying each number aloud as you go. Miscount once on purpose and wait: the child who corrects you has it.
3. Practice together (we do) (10 min)
Work three more problems as a class. Ask a different student to supply each step rather than the whole answer. If a step stalls, drop back to concrete objects or a drawing before moving on.
4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)
Hand out "Making 10 with ten frames (1 addend missing) - Celebration". Students work independently while you circulate. Note who is fluent, who is counting on fingers, and who has not started, because that grouping drives tomorrow's small group.
5. Close the loop (5 min)
Pull the class back. Ask one student to explain a problem they got right and one to name something that is still confusing. End on the confusion, not the success, so students learn that naming a gap is normal.
Check for understanding
Collect the practice pages and sort them into three piles: fluent, developing, and not yet. Any student in the third pile needs counting retaught in a small group before the class moves on.
Differentiation
Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild counting with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.
Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own counting problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand counting.
Skills covered in this lesson
Counting numbers 1-10 · Counting objects · Numbers & counting · Ten frames
