A request for four whole kits
Two optional 10–15 minute sessions, unpiloted; one session or a smaller separate job is fine.
Outcome
A reusable paper/material kit and a whole-source instruction label naming the useful quantity, any leftover and a check.
Plain paper, a pencil or child-directed marks, safe large pieces and named places. A place can be a drawn box or spoken label. No food, real money, purchase, printer, account or device required. A helper moves only the piece/place the child chooses.
X08
Four pretend garden-picture kits each need four whole cards. How many cards are needed in all?
- Session 1: introduce the entire fictional job and agree what would make the outcome useful. Identify the given whole/recipients/pack size or equal-kit structure.
- The child builds or directs their own model. Name each chosen member/place and retain a first drawing, dictated note or list without an adult solution preset.
- After that attempt, inspect the exact task condition and introduce the separate worked possibility if wanted. Count/recombine all original members; do not add missing pieces or cut whole cards.
- Session 2: make an instruction card containing the full source identity and meaning of the result. A willing helper may try it, or the child can explain it privately. Record what actually happened; an invitation is not an observation.
- Compare the first and revised guide as two separate records. Describe the change and the support rather than giving a completion badge.
My job
What is known
What I need to find
My model
Answer and meaning
My check
Adult teaching · open after the first try
There are 4 known kits with 4 garden-picture cards in every kit. Build or draw each kit separately and count every member once. 4+4+4+4=16 garden-picture cards in all. The numbers 4 and 4 name different quantities, so adding them as two loose parts would not represent the kits. Check each of the 4 kits still contains 4; then recount or use another taught equal-group method. A multiplication symbol is optional adult shorthand, not a prerequisite or a demand for times-table recall.
Review the actual work
Can a reader identify the whole source, requested quantity, equality/complete-size condition, any leftover and a valid whole-collection check? Record source exposure and assistance. No actual helper success is presumed.
Full different extension
A complete different project job
Three pretend garden kits each need four whole garden-picture cards. How many cards are needed for all three kits?
Keep the first guide. Read this entire separate job and let the child try before using its adult model. Make a separately named guide; compare the source, useful result unit and full check. Do not treat the changed collection as proof of unseen transfer.
My job
What is known
What I need to find
My model
Answer and meaning
My check
Adult teaching · open after the first try
There are 3 known kits with 4 garden-picture cards in every kit. Build or draw each kit separately and count every member once. 4+4+4=12 garden-picture cards in all. The numbers 3 and 4 name different quantities, so adding them as two loose parts would not represent the kits. Check each of the 3 kits still contains 4; then recount or use another taught equal-group method. A multiplication symbol is optional adult shorthand, not a prerequisite or a demand for times-table recall.
Let the child mix objects, a drawing, speech, signing, AAC, tactile marks or an exact directed helper. Read the whole source and allow processing time. Offer a quiet seated route and a pause. Record reading/motor access separately from hints that choose a mathematical step. These are choices, not fixed learning styles or neurotype assignments.