# Day 47 — Small groups make a whole

**25 minutes · AC9MFN02 and AC9MFN04 (subitising and part-whole review); partial evidence · educator review pending**

**Success:** The child recognises a small grouped quantity by an accessible route, then splits and recombines a whole to ten with every object accounted for.

**Prepare per pair:** original four-dot card as two close pairs, ten large counters, two part spaces, numeral cards and [R5–R7](print-aids.md). Reuse the [part-whole mat](../weeks-05-06/part-whole-mat.svg).

1. **Retrieve, 3 min.** Briefly reveal the four-dot card. Ask “How many did you see together?” Count all four afterward. Record whether it was visual, tactile or described.
2. **Model, 6 min.** Put five objects in the whole space, move two to A and three to B, then return all five. Say, “These are the same five objects. Two and three are parts of five.” Repeat with ten as six and four; count the six-part rather than demanding instant recognition of six.
3. **Guided practice, 9 min.** Partners choose R6 (split five in any valid two-part way) and R7 (show six and four as parts of ten). The observer checks that every object enters exactly one part and that recombining restores the whole; swap.
4. **Fresh try, 4 min.** Give seven uncounted counters. “Make seven, split into two parts, tell or show each part, then put them back together.” A smaller route uses five and is recorded as such.
5. **Check, 3 min.** Show four and three separated. **Key:** 4 and 3 make 7; R5 four dots can be seen as two and two; R6 e.g. 2+3=5; R7 6+4=10. Other valid splits of the named whole are accepted.

**If the child counts parts as extra objects in addition to the whole:** Empty the whole space as each object moves to one part, then recombine the same objects. If visual subitising is inaccessible, use the child's accessible quantity task and mark visual evidence not assessed rather than zero.

**Access and record:** Raised part boundaries, large counters, plain-text/spoken prompts, AAC and directed placement are available. Record recognition route, whole, both parts, recombined total and support.