Annotated Bib - Beginning Counting Books

I chose counting books which focus on numbers 1-10 for first graders. These books are mostly easily-read independently by first graders. These books should be used mostly as reading practice and math review because the reading level surpasses the level of the math concepts in this book. While I'd say that the math concepts are appropriate mostly for struggling first graders, the reading level of most of the books is appropriate to difficult for independent first grade reading.

Books
Three Happy Birthdays By Judith Caseley. (1993) 40p. Mulberry Books, (9780688116996). Gr. K-1.
This is a book that would be helpful for first graders who are just being introduced to number concepts. The book presents numbers 1-3 to represent the three birthdays in a family. The book draws children in because of it's description of birthday events and easily introduces the numbers 1-3 this way.

And What Comes After a Thousand? By Anette Bley. (2007). 32p. Kane/Miller, (9781933605272). Gr. 1-2.
The main attraction of this book is the interesting illustrations. Each page of the book contains a lot of words, so first or second graders are probably the most suitable audience for the book. The book mentions numbers from 1 to 20 in capital letters on various pages. The book does not mention all of the numbers from one to twenty, but the numbers are presented in the correct sequence. This book might be a good one for the teacher to read aloud to the class.

10 Little Rubber Ducks By Eric Carle. (2005). 36p. HarperCollins, (9780060740757). Gr. 1.

This repeatedly introduces a group of ten ducks. Throughout the first half of the book, children are able to see and count the ten ducks in different situations. Then the concept of cardinality is introduced. Stories are told about the 1st, 2nd, etc. duck and the numbers are in boldface. This book could be easily read by a first grader.





One Giant Splash By Michael Dahl. Illus. By Todd Ouren. (2006). 24p. Picture Window Books,( 9781404811225). Gr. K-1.
This book uses marine animals to count back from 12 to 1. Brightly-colored illustrations and easy-to-read pages make this a good book for K or 1st grade.




1, 2, 3 To the Zoo: A Counting Book By Eric Carle. (1998). 32p. Puffin, (9780698116450). Gr. K-1.
Numbers 1-10 are introduced through illustrations of the corresponding number of one type of animal. Each number is assigned to a different type of animal. A child is reminded of the numbers that came before the current number of animals by simply looking down in the bottom left corner of the page. The book is easily read independently by a kindergartner or first grader.



Websites

Apples for the Teacher
This website provides templates and manipulative ideas for teaching first graders counting skills for numbers 1-100.

IXL
This website provides students with multiple choice practice problems dealing with counting.

SoftSchools
This website provides counting and number sense games for first graders as well as worksheet templates for teachers.

MathWire
This website provides ideas for counting games for teachers of first graders.

AAAMath
This website provides lesson plan ideas for teaching counting to first graders.

For the Teacher
VA Standards of Learning
1.1(a): The student will count from 0 to 100 and write the corresponding numerals.

Background Information from the Curriculum Framework

• There are three developmental levels of counting:
– rote sequence;
– one-to-one correspondence; and
– the cardinality of numbers.
• Counting involves two separate skills: verbalizing the list of standard number words in order (“one, two, three, …”) and connecting this sequence with the items in the set being counted, using one-to-one correspondence. Association of number words with collections of objects is achieved by moving, touching, or pointing to objects as the number words are spoken.
• The last number stated represents the number of objects in the set. This is known as the cardinality of the set.
• Rote counting is a prerequisite skill for the understanding of addition, subtraction, and the ten-to-one concept of place value.