Prerequisites for Learning
Addition With Counting Boards
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Objective A child should know the individual whole numbers 1 through 20. It means that she knows their names, she can choose the required subset from a collection of small objects, and she can represent the number with counters on a counting board. Example A child has a cup of slightly more than 20 rocks, a blank sheet of paper, and a board with tokens. Task: Put twelve rocks on the sheet and show the number twelve on the board. 
Pictured above are the supplies needed for the activity. The child should use the given supplies
to put twelve rocks on the paper and show the number twelve on the board.
Remarks How the child provides the answer is not important. For example, the child can count from one to twelve, form a three by four array, or group two groups of five and two rocks. Also, the combination of counters that represent twelve on the board is not important, providing that the answers are correct. 
This image shows one to twelve rocks counted on the paper. This is represented on the number board by
a stack of twelve tokens on the one square.
This image shows six groups of two rocks on the paper. This is represented on the number board by
six tokens on the two square.
This image shows four groups of three rocks on the paper. This is represented on the number board by
four tokens on the three square.
This image shows two groups of five and two rocks on the paper. This is represented on the number board by
two tokens on the five square, and one token on the two square.
Each child should be tested for all numbers up to 20. The goal is to find whether a child is making any systematic error. The decision whether a child is ready to start learning addition has to be done by the teacher, and not by any test score. If a systematic error is detected, it needs to be corrected immediately. This is because learning addition may reinforce any preexisting conceptual error. Number Board index |