Launching Counting Collections and Choral Counting

As we start the year, place value is on many teachers’ minds. Developing a deep understanding of place value is essential for our learners, but how do we do that so that we are targeting understanding over memorizing? This week on the blog, I explore some of my favourite routines for developing what Pam Harris refers to as "Place Value understanding," as opposed to place labeling. One of my favourite ways to do this is through counting collections and choral counting.

Counting Collections:

Counting collections are a fantastic routine to build place value understanding for our learners. To launch counting collections, I often start with the question: “Why do we count?” The learners will share ideas like, "to know how many," "to learn," or "to get the right amount." I’ll then follow up with, “What can we count?” Here, they share so many interesting ideas. I love the insights into what piques their counting curiosities!

I will then share with them: “I have been collecting lots of interesting things lately, but I have been having trouble keeping track of how many of each of them I have. Do you think you can help me figure out how many things are in each of my collections?” From here, I’ll set them off in partners to count the different collections.

Some mini-lessons we have done since launching counting collections include:

• What are the different ways we can count a collection?
  The children started by counting by ones but quickly transitioned to counting by twos or tens. I did pause them mid count for a Gallery Walk to inspire (and nudge) them towards groupings by ten. From here, we started to co-create a list of different ways to count. Each day, our list has been growing, and we can see place value understanding emerging. On Day 1, they identified counting by ones and twos, and one group began counting by tens. At the end of Day 2, during our sharing time, I asked if anyone found new ways to count their collections, and they added counting by fives to the list. By Day 3, during our mini-lesson, we made a full list of ways you can count collections. I then asked, "Which way might be the most helpful and why?" From here, the children shared ideas like starting with bigger numbers or easier ones, like tens. They also pointed out that sometimes, if you have extras that don’t fit into the groups, you might need to switch to counting by ones or twos.
• What does it mean to be accurate?
  We started with this question, and initially, most children did not have an understanding of what the word "accurate" means. One child shared it’s when your number is “not too low and not too high, it’s exact.” We adopted this as our class definition of accurate. From here, we’ve had discussions about “why it’s important to be accurate?” and “how you know if you are accurate?”. While the children can identify that counting again to make sure you have the same number is one way to be accurate, they aren’t yet actually re-counting their collections—but that’s okay! This highlights a nice next step for us as mathematicians!
• What do we put on our recordings?
  Asking the children what to include on our recordings has resulted in a co-created list of three important things:
1. The total number we counted.
2. How we counted them.
3. What we counted. 

We also read the book The Collectors to inspire connections between collections and the world around them, as well as the idea of documenting (recording) your collections.

Lastly, I make sure to support our counting collections with some choral counting. This helps the children experience one way to count their collections together, but also highlights important aspects of our place value system and creates an opportunity to help children count across different decades or hundred numbers, where they might get stuck figuring out what numbers come next.

Choral Counting:

To launch choral counting, I talk about how we will count together as a community of mathematicians. For our first choral count, I always practice with easier numbers (for example, 1-20) and focus mainly on the idea of counting together as one voice. After we have counted, and I have recorded the numbers, I prompt them: “Mathematicians notice interesting things about numbers. What interesting things do you notice about these numbers?” This is an opportunity to develop our understanding of place value and math language.

If a child shares, “I notice all the numbers here start with a 1,” I will rephrase and check in with, “Oh, are you saying that the tens digit is always a 1 in this column?” Over time, the children will start to include place value vocabulary in their noticings.

Counting Collections and Choral Counting highlight the richness of exploring place value through meaningful routines, engaging learners in a deeper understanding of numbers. The practices of counting collections and choral counting foster essential skills, not only for place value but for building a collaborative and reflective learning environment. Check out my reflections of how they also work to build thriving mathematical communities:

By inviting students to help solve the problem of counting collections, you build a sense of identity as capable mathematicians. They become empowered to see themselves as problem-solvers, taking ownership of their learning and developing a strong, positive math identity. 

The process of figuring out different counting strategies, such as switching between counting by ones, twos, and tens, encourages a mindset of flexibility and perseverance. This growth mindset helps students understand that they can tackle challenges in multiple ways and adjust their thinking when needed, fostering resilience and adaptability in their approach to mathematics.

Through activities like co-creating lists of counting strategies, engaging in discussions about accuracy, and working together with partners, children are practicing collaboration. They learn to value and build on each other’s ideas, contributing to a collective understanding that goes beyond individual learning, as well as opportunities to work together to complete a shared task: figuring out how many are in their collection.

Finally, these routines strengthen mathematical communication. As students share their observations about patterns in numbers and use increasingly precise math language, they are developing the skills to articulate their thinking clearly. They are also engaged in opportunities to practice oral counting with thier partner and the negotiation of how they will work together to count their collection. This not only deepens their understanding of place value but also prepares them for rich, mathematical dialogue.

By weaving identity, mindset, collaboration, and communication into these routines, we create a math culture that nurtures the whole child—academically and socially—setting the foundation for a lifelong love of learning.