Choral Counting is an invitation; it provides an opportunity for each student to generate important mathematical ideas and for teachers to be curious about their students’ thinking. (Franke, pag.)

We want teaching and learning to remain as normal as possible during the time we are apart.

One important part of our math program is choral counting.  We believe choral counting lays a deep foundation for developing algebraic reasoning as well as fluency. Choral counting empowers learners to visualize and verbalize relationships and patterns.

Here’s a quick nine minutes of why and what to do.

We do not limit choral counting to our Early Elementary Division. We offer the following examples to show how we planned and anticipated what students would notice and learn.

Choral Counting: Start at 6; count up by 5

Choral Counting: Start at 0; count up by 2/3

These activities help us enact our commitments to equity. We know that a sense of belonging and investment, of being seen, known, and heard by teachers and classmates, is fundamental to creating schools where children and families feel welcome and where they flourish. Because these activities foreground student sense making and cultivate a joy for doing mathematics, they can be powerful tools for teachers to counter narrow views that only a few can identify with mathematics or that mathematics is disconnected from students’ home lives, their communities, and their own interests. (Franke, pag.)

As I said in the video, start with blank paper, sit side-by-side with your child. If there’s more than one child at home, have them do this together – the more the merrier! Don’t be afraid to start with 1 and count by 1’s even with older children. The patterns change every time you change how you write it down, and we see curiosity grow. The patterns are intriguing to all.

Franke, Megan L. Choral Counting & Counting Collections: Transforming the PreK-5 Math Classroom . Stenhouse. Kindle Edition.

(Note: My book is at school, so I cannot cite page numbers. I will update when I have the physical book. This above citation is what Kindle generated for me.)