Counting is more than saying numbers
Children can often recite numbers long before they can count objects. Counting a scattered group asks them to match one number to one picture, keep track of what they have counted, and know that the last number says how many. These sheets practise all three.
How to use them
Start with counts to 5 and circling the number, then counts to 10, then writing. Counts to 20 suit Kinder and Grade 1, when children start to count larger groups.
In the MATATAG curriculum
- KinderMatching numerals to sets of real objects, and comparing which set has more or less.
- Grade 1Counting, reading, writing and showing whole numbers up to 100 with objects and models.
The Kindergarten guide asks teachers to use local, everyday materials, so count real things before the sheet: bottle caps, seeds, shells or sticks. Then the pictures on the page are one small step away.
Many children count in both languages. Saying isa, dalawa, tatlo up to sampu while touching each picture works just as well as one, two, three, and helps children who speak Filipino at home.
Summarised in our own words from DepEd’s MATATAG Kindergarten Curriculum Guide and Mathematics Curriculum Guide, Grades 1–10 (2023).
