25 minutes · AC9MFN02 (subitising 4–5); early connection to AC9MFN04 (parts within 5) · educator review pending
Success today: A child recognises four or five from a clear grouping and says or shows the visible parts, such as “two and two” or “three and two.”
Prepare: Two-colour counters; five-frame; 4- and 5-dot cards in grouped and less familiar layouts; numeral cards 4 and 5.
- Reconnect, 3 min. Briefly show a three-dot card from yesterday. Ask for its total. Add one counter: “Now we have one more. How many?”
- Model, 6 min. Place two red and two blue counters: “I see two here and two here. Together that is four.” Show 3 + 2 in a five-frame: “Three and two fill five places.” This is an oral part-whole description, not a requirement to write addition.
- Play: garden beds, 9 min. Two garden beds hold four or five pretend seeds total. Partner A arranges two colour groups; B names the whole and the parts without first counting each seed. Verify by a count afterward. Variants: four wheels split between two toy vehicles; five birds split between two branches drawn on paper. Avoid making every layout identical.
- Independent try, 4 min. Show a new five-dot card for a few seconds. Ask, “How many? What groups helped you see it?” Let the child recreate it or choose card 5.
- Check and close, 3 min. Use one unfamiliar four-dot grouping and one five-dot grouping. Record total and explanation separately.
If a child calls every full-looking group five: Place the four group in a five-frame so one space remains empty; compare with a full frame. If they count all five, accept the accurate total and model seeing “three and two” on the next view.
Access routes: Keep dots high contrast and well spaced; provide raised grouped dots or two textured counter sets. Accept a child’s pointed groups, AAC “2 and 2,” or partner placement in place of a spoken explanation. Give extra viewing time when needed; record whether recognition was immediate or followed counting.
Record: four/five total; visible parts; independent recognition in a new arrangement. Revisit any unstable quantity on Day 5.