Kindergarten - MATH
1: Letters
Unit 1: A - A Is for Musk Ox
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students count small sets of objects (1–3 apples) and match each set to a number card, and they later choose numbers of objects while a partner selects the matching number card. The activity includes mixing number cards and having the child "check" whether the chosen card matches the quantity. The teacher prompts include questions like "What number is one more than 1?" and "What number is one more than 2?", and an extension allows use of up to 10 objects.
Unit 2: H - Hondo and Fabian
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson's Skills list explicitly names the target standard (identify whether one group is greater than, less than, or equal to another). Activity 2 has students count die-cut animals using one-to-one correspondence (sliding each item as they say a number) and then find the number card that matches the number of cats and dogs. Activity 1 asks students to sort actions as Hondo or Fabian, which has students practice putting items into labeled groups.
Lesson 3
Day 3
In Activity 3, students are given two piles of die-cut animals (one with 3 and one with 5), lay each pile in a separate line, and are encouraged to count each line from left to right, assigning one number to each cat or dog. Students are then asked which line has more animals and which line has fewer, and the activity is repeated with different numbers. The activity explicitly has students count objects and state which group is greater or lesser.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students lay out a row of 3 toy animals, match a number card to each animal, add one more, and count again to determine how many they have. Students practice reading and writing the numbers 4, 5, and 6 and answer questions such as "What number is one more than 4?" and "What number is one more than 5?". Students also form numbers with pipe cleaners or trace dotted numbers to reinforce numeral recognition.
Unit 3: I - The Little Island
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students count and place specific numbers of objects on the island (glue one rock, count and glue seven trees, count and stick the fireflies and seventeen bushes) in Activity 1, with instructions to slide and count out loud. The Skills list includes understanding that the last number name tells the number of objects and that each successive number name refers to a quantity one larger. Optional Extension One has students use number cards to match the number of each object to the correct numeral.
Unit 4: T - What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson's Skills section explicitly states that students will "Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common to see which object has more of/less of the attribute, and describe the difference." Activity 1 has students write the numbers 0, 2, 4, and 6 and sort animal stickers into boxes by number of legs, requiring them to count and group animals by a numeric attribute. Activity 2 has students draw two animal cards and describe a similarity and a difference in structures, which could include differences in countable features (e.g., number of legs).
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 1 asks students to choose which tail is longer or shorter and to order the tails from shortest to longest and vice versa, which requires making comparisons between two or more items. The optional extension has students lay paper clips end-to-end across tails and count how many paper clips long each tail is, which has students use counting to quantify and compare lengths.
Unit 5: L - We're Going on a Leaf Hunt
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills list explicitly states that students will "Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies." The lesson also includes a skill to "Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count," which requires comparing counts. Activity 2 has students make rows of leaves, touch and count each leaf, arrange leaves in different patterns, and recount after changes, giving repeated practice with counting strategies.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students lay out a collection of leaves and are guided to sort the leaves according to an attribute such as size (e.g., small, medium, large). Students are instructed to count the number of leaves in each group. Students then perform a second sort by a different attribute (color) and count the number of leaves in each of those groups as well.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 2 asks students to show a number card and count out the corresponding number of leaves, using numbers from 1–10 (or 11–20). This requires students to produce a set of objects that matches a numeral and to count objects to determine quantity. The activity therefore has students practice counting and matching a written number to a set of objects.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Activity 2 explicitly has students compare two groups of leaves: they are asked to count one group and match it to a number card, then count the other group and match it to a number card before deciding which group has more. The activity instructs using numbers 1-10 (or 11-20 for challenge) and describes matching counted objects to number cards as the comparison strategy. An optional extension asks students how many more leaves the smaller group would need to make it equal to the bigger group.
Unit 6: F - Fireflies
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills section requires students to "Count to answer 'how many?'" up to 20 and to understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity one larger. The Questions include "How can grouping objects help to count them?" which prompts use of grouping strategies. Activity 1 has students count out 10 pennies, make 9 more groups of 10, and touch each group while counting "10, 20, 30..." to 100, giving practice with grouping and counting by tens.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students cut creature pictures into cards, sort the cards into two groups (insects and non-insects), and count the number in each group. The activity also asks students to create new sorts (e.g., flying vs. non-flying) and encourages counting each resulting group. The review section includes practice with counting (by 2s and 10s), supporting students' counting skills used in the activity.
Unit 7: E - But No Elephants
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson's Skills list instructs students to "classify objects into given categories; count the number of objects in each category and sort the categories by count," which requires counting and comparing counts. Activity 2 has students arrange animals in a line and practice counting and ordinal numbers (e.g., "Who came third? Who came fifth?"), giving students practice with one-to-one counting. The Student Activity Page provides cut-out animals that students can count and manipulate.
Lesson 2
Day 2
Activity 3 instructs students to sort shapes into groups by shape and count the number of each shape, asking them to "count the number of each shape." The activity has students lay out all the shapes and name them (circles, rectangles, triangles) and then count within each group. The materials include multiple shapes to be counted and a prompt to order each group from smallest to largest.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 3 asks students to lay out number cards (0, 2, 4, 6), sort animal pictures into categories by number of legs, and count the number of animals in each category. The activity also prompts students to count the number of legs altogether in each category and to count by 2s as an extension. These tasks require students to form groups and determine the size of each group through counting.
Lesson 4
Day 4
Students sort a collection of household objects into two piles labeled "wants" and "needs." After sorting, students explain why each item was placed in its category. Students then count the objects they consider "wants" and count the objects they consider "needs."
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students count ears and feet for increasing numbers of elephants (e.g., showing two elephants and counting to write 2+2=4, then 4+4=8). The activity prompts students to use pictures as visual cues and to continue to determine totals for 3 and 4 elephants. The Student Activity Page provides four elephant images that students can use for counting or visual representation.
Unit 8: C - Millions of Cats
Lesson 1
Day 1
The lesson's Skills state that students will "count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count," and Activity 1 directs the child to sort die-cut cats by a chosen feature and "count the number of cats in each group." Activity 1 also has the child re-sort by another feature and count again, which provides multiple group counts to compare.
Lesson 3
Day 3
In Activity 2 students spread out die-cut cats, count the 10 cats, and divide them into two groups (for example, 9 and 1). They count each group, place a number card above each group, and write equations such as 9 + 1 = 10, then rearrange to make 8 + 2, 5 + 5, etc. The activity includes the 5+5 equal case and asks whether there are still 10 cats, so students verify group sizes and total equality across partitions.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The review prompt asks the child to divide the 10 cats into two groups and count how many are in each group, which has students form and enumerate two sets of objects. The poem discussion asks whether the poem would describe the scene with all the cats from the book, which invites consideration of quantities in the story. The activities include multiple counting- and grouping-related tasks tied to the cats imagery that students handle directly.
Unit 10: O - Owl Babies
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students sort the cut-out shapes into categories (circles, ovals, triangles) and are instructed to "count each category." Students also order shapes by size within categories, which involves grouping and enumerating objects.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students manipulate 10 bean "owls," first placing all in the sky and counting to 10. They act out story problems by moving owls between the sky and the tree (e.g., three flew to the tree, then two more; six in the tree, three flew away) and count how many are in each location after each move. Students also start with all 10 in the tree, move one to the sky and recount the numbers in tree and sky repeatedly. In an optional extension, students split 10 into two groups (e.g., 5 and 5, 6 and 4) and predict how many will be in the other group without counting.
Unit 11: S - Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree
Lesson 1
Day 1
Activity 1 has students move apples into two baskets and count how many have fallen, and then write equations such as 1 + 1 = 2 and 2 + 1 = 3. Students practice combining two groups of objects to find a total and reading/recording number sentences. The materials require students to manipulate and count discrete objects (pom-poms) placed into separate containers.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students count out 10 red pom‑pom apples and place them in one tree (Activity 2). Students move one apple at a time to the other tree while counting each group's apples and write equations for each distribution (10+0=10, 9+1=10, 8+2=10, etc.). Students are asked to choose a number for the left tree and determine how many apples go in the right tree so the total remains 10.
Unit 12: D - Dinosaurs Big and Small
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students lay out ten dinosaur cutouts and match each one with a number card from 1–10, practicing one-to-one correspondence and counting. Students choose a number, count that many dinosaurs into a separate group, and then count the additional dinosaurs needed to total 10. Students write the corresponding addition equation (e.g., 4 + 6 = 10), showing they can partition a set and count elements in each part.
Unit 14: B - Blueberries for Sal
Lesson 1
Day 1
In Activity 1, students draw two number cards and place the corresponding number of blue pom-poms (blueberries) in each of two pails, write the matching equation, and count the total number of blueberries. Students also take 10 blueberries and divide them between the two pails in as many ways as they can, recording the equations for each partition (e.g., 9+1=10, 8+2=10). These tasks require students to physically set up and count two separate groups of objects and to record numerical relationships between the groups.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 2 has students count 10 "blueberries" into one pail and find the matching number 10 card. The teacher models 11 as 10 plus 1 by placing one blueberry in a second pail, then adds a second blueberry to demonstrate 12, and continues this through 19. Students are asked to read a number card from 11–19 and count out that many blueberries using the pails.
Unit 15: R - Rain
Lesson 1
Day 1
In Activity 2, students are given two number cards between 1 and 10 and asked which numeral is larger or smaller. Students count out that many die-cut raindrops for each number, and for numbers 11–19 they make a group of 10 and count the remainder to create the corresponding set. The activity therefore has students compare numerals and create/count corresponding physical groups of objects.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students are shown the numbers 9 and 7 and asked which one is smaller, prompting them to identify a greater/less relationship between two numbers. In Activity 2 students lay out 5 raindrops, remove one, and count the remaining raindrops to determine how many are left, using physical objects to represent quantities and answers to written equations. Students also use raindrops to check addition and subtraction equations, which requires them to represent and count quantities.
Unit 16: N - Night in the Country
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 2 (War!) explicitly instructs students to "practice comparing two numbers." Students deal number cards, turn over the top card at the same time, and determine who has the higher number to keep both cards. The activity also specifies a tie rule when both players turn over the same number, which requires recognizing equality.
Lesson 4
Day 4
The Getting Started Review asks students to choose two numbers between 1 and 10 and asks which is greater, prompting a direct comparison of numeric magnitude. The lesson also includes activities where students collect small natural objects (leaves, feathers, pebbles), which could be used for hands-on work though no explicit comparison task is given.
Unit 17: M - Marshmallow
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 2 has students choose two stuffed animals, form a line of marshmallows along each animal, count the number of marshmallows for each animal, and write down those counts. The activity then asks the student to determine which animal is longer based on the recorded numbers. The directions show students matching marshmallows to the animal length and using counting to compare the two results.
Unit 19: J - Jump Frog Jump
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students count out 16 frogs and lay them in a row of 10, then are asked "How many more than 10 is 16?" and to write the addition 10+6=16, which has them compare the group of 10 to the larger group of 16. Students also pick a number card (11–19), count the dots on the back, and count out that number of frogs, matching a counted total to a set of objects.
Unit 20: K - Kindness
Lesson 1
Day 1
Students count the number of animal characters (nine) and are instructed to count each character only once. Students cut out animal outlines, number them according to the order introduced, mix them up, and put them back in order from 1–9, practicing one-to-one counting and number identification. Students are asked to identify what number comes before and after a given number and to read numbers when prompted.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 2 (Apple Giveaway) has the child work with ten red pompoms as apples, give away a chosen number, predict how many will be left, count the remaining apples, and write subtraction equations (for example, 10-3=). The activity has the child physically remove items from a group and determine the quantity that remains, practicing counting strategies and writing numerical representations of the change.
Unit 21: V - Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
Lesson 1
Day 1
In Activity 1 students find instrument pictures in the book and choose number cards to match how many instruments are playing (e.g., find the trombone and choose the number card 1, then add the trumpet and change the number card to 2). Students lay out instruments with the corresponding numeral and ensemble label up to 10, using counting and matching to represent group sizes. The activity explicitly prompts counting and one-to-one matching between instruments and number cards.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students are asked to count how many instruments are present (between 1 and 9) and how many are missing and to write matching equations such as 3 + 7 = 10. Students lay out all ten members, remove a subset (for example 2), count how many remain, and write equations like 10 - 2 = 8. These tasks require students to determine and record the numeric size of two related groups (present vs. missing; before vs. after).
Unit 22: Y - Little Blue and Little Yellow
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 1 asks the child to count out 10 stickers and write the numbers 1–10 under each sticker. The child crosses off stickers and is asked how many circles are left (e.g., 9) and how many have been crossed off (e.g., 2), recording equations such as 10 - 2 = 8. These steps require students to count objects and determine counts of two related groups (crossed-off vs. remaining).
Unit 23: W - George Washington's Birthday
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to count the number of stars on the American flag (50) and to count the total number of stripes (13). Students work with the flag image and are prompted to count these two distinct sets of objects. Students also cut out and manipulate pictures, demonstrating hands-on interaction with visual items that can be counted.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students count a pile of 20 craft sticks and then count out a shown number from 11–20 by removing that many sticks. Students group sticks into tens and identify how many extras remain. Students count a second pile of sticks and count out a different shown number for that pile.
Unit 25: X - An Extraordinary Egg
Lesson 5
Day 5
Activity 1 has the child lay out 40 eggs in 4 rows of 10 and count them by pointing and by tens. The child is then instructed to divide the eggs into two groups, count each group, and decide which group has the greater number. The child may also lay both groups out in groups of 10 to compare them.
Unit 26: Z - Greedy Zebra
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills list explicitly states the goal to identify whether one group has greater, less, or equal objects. In Activity 1 students create two groups of animals (one with 9 and one with 7), count both groups, and tell which has the greater number of objects. Activity 1 also asks students to divide a group of 10 animals into two groups including the 5+5 split, and the Skills list asks students to classify objects into categories, count each category, and sort categories by count.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Activity 2 asks students to sort animal cards into groups based on the number of legs and instructs them to count how many are in each group. The activity also offers an added challenge to count how many legs are in each group and to sort by different criteria, requiring students to perform counting after sorting.
Lesson 5
Day 5
In Activity 1 students number animal cards 1–20 and are asked to choose two animals by number to compare. The activity includes comparison language and examples such as 'The rhino has more legs than the hornbill' and 'The elephant is bigger than the onyx.' In Activity 2 students are asked to identify which three books were non-fiction, requiring selection of a specific subset of items.
2: Holidays
Unit 27: Halloween
Lesson 1
Day 1
The Skills section explicitly lists identifying whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group. Activity 2 asks the child to predict how many toilet-paper "wraps" it will take and then to count the actual number of wraps. Activity 2 then instructs to compare the child's prediction to the actual number, which requires determining whether one number is greater than, less than, or equal to the other.
Lesson 3
Day 3
Students make 10 tissue-paper ghosts, divide them into two unequal groups, and are asked which group has more. Students are encouraged to count and compare the groups and to use the ghosts to solve join and take-away story problems. Students are also asked to determine how many more ghosts are needed to reach 10 when given a smaller group.
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students divide 10 die-cut stars into two groups in many ways (10+0, 9+1, 8+2, 7+3, 6+4, 5+5), which gives direct practice creating and observing group sizes including an equal split. Students add additional stars to an existing small group (e.g., start with 2, add 3) and count the total, practicing counting combined groups. Students write the numbers 1–10 on the stars, reinforcing one-to-one counting correspondence for each object in a group.
Unit 28: Thanksgiving
Lesson 5
Day 5
Students cut out three turkeys labeled with numbers (14, 4, 12) and read the number on each turkey's breast. They count out and glue the corresponding number of feathers onto each turkey, which has students form and enumerate groups of objects.
Unit 30: February Celebrations
Lesson 2
Day 2
Students are asked to sort a cup of mixed change into piles of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, which requires grouping and can lead to counting each group. Students are also asked to figure how many pennies equal one nickel, how many pennies equal one dime, and how many pennies or nickels equal a quarter, which asks them to count and match quantities across coin types. These tasks involve counting and matching strategies to determine numerical relationships between sets of coins.