Six mats, one for each number from 0 to 5. At the top of each mat is a big bubble number with start dots and arrows that show how to write it, beside a box of that many animals: 1 whale, 2 elephants, 3 lions, 4 turtles, 5 owls, and an empty pond for 0 frogs, with a different animal peeking over each box. Below is a big five frame, each square nearly an inch and a half wide, for children to fill with counters, cubes, buttons or balls of play dough, from the left. At the bottom they trace the number on two rows and then the number word. The mats have nothing to check, so there are no answer keys.
Slip the mats into sheet protectors or laminate them, and put them in a math center with a cup of counters and dry-erase markers. Ask a child to build the number in the five frame, count the animals to check, then trace the number and the word. Ask "How many empty squares are there?" to start talking about how many more make 5. The 0 mat is a good place to say out loud that zero means none.
Use the mats with cereal, buttons, coins or small toys as counters. Ask your child to put the right number in the five frame, then take one away and say the new number. Roll small balls of play dough for the squares, or trace the numbers again and again with a dry-erase marker.
This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:
© Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.
Counting mats for the numbers 0 to 5, each with a big five frame, the number, its word and that many animals. Children fill the five frame with counters or play dough and trace the number and the word.
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