# Day 1 — Empty can be zero

**25 minutes · AC9MFN01 (0–3, partial), AC9MFN03 (counting to 3, partial) · educator review pending**

**Success today:** A child can show an empty set as zero, make one, two and three with one object per count word, and answer “How many?” without starting again.

**Prepare:** Numeral cards 0–3; two trays; three large blocks per child; pencil and paper. Keep an empty tray visible.

1. **Notice, 3 min.** Place one block on a tray, then remove it. Ask, “What is here now?” Accept “nothing” and connect it: “We call the number of blocks zero. Zero tells us this tray is empty.” Show numeral 0 beside the empty tray. Do not say that zero means the tray does not exist.
2. **Model, 5 min.** Build 1, 2, 3 slowly. Move each block as you say one number name. After three, sweep a hand around the set: “The last number I said was three. There are three blocks altogether.” Reset to zero and show each matching numeral.
3. **Play: delivery depot, 10 min.** Partner A is a shopkeeper requesting 0–3 parcels. Partner B reads or hears the number card, loads the tray and tells the total. Swap. Variation: a bus gets 0–3 passengers, or a pet bowl gets 0–3 pretend biscuits. No edible items are required.
4. **Independent try, 4 min.** At their own places, all children build 0 and one requested number from 1–3 without a model. Partners can compare only after both have made a set. Closely observe three or four planned focus learners and ask, “How did you make sure you had exactly that many?” Rotate focus learners across the next lessons; offer a quiet check later when individual evidence is needed.
5. **Check and close, 3 min.** Put three blocks in a line and ask the group, “How many?” Then point to the empty tray and ask for its number and numeral. For the focus learners whose actions you could see, record whether each touched the blocks once and gave three as the total. Do not count an unseen or copied group answer as independent evidence.

**If a child counts an object twice:** Separate the blocks, model moving each counted block to a second tray, then let the child retry. If they say “none” but cannot choose 0, pair the numeral card with the empty tray again; never call zero “one empty tray.”

**Access routes:** Use a raised-edge tray and large textured pieces for touch; describe the numeral aloud and allow a partner to place pieces under the child’s direction. A child can show the answer by pointing, signing, AAC, selecting a card, or directing a partner. The evidence is the quantity link, not speech or fine motor speed.

**Record for observed learners:** 0 ↔ empty [yes/with support/not yet]; 1–3 one-to-one count [yes/with support/not yet]; last count word as total [yes/with support/not yet]. Mark others **not yet observed** and carry any “not yet” into Day 2’s opening or a later focus check.