Counting with Sebastian Pig and Friends on the Farm

$Counting with Sebastian Pig and Friends on the Farm book cover$

Grade 1
5 skill lessons

Math

Skill lessons

The mathematics the book carries, taught directly. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1Red, Green, Blue: Three Ways up the Hundred Chart
2One Hundred Belong, One Hundred and One Were Counted
3How Many Geese? Ask the Two Numbers Either Side
4Fifty Words, Twenty Words, Ten Words, One Hundred Every Time
5The Same Twenty, Pushed into Pairs, Fives and Tens

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Reading

Reading and language lessons

The same book read as a text. What a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how the writing is put together - no mathematics.

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Skill lessons

5 lessons on the mathematics the book carries. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1. Red, Green, Blue: Three Ways up the Hundred Chart Fluency · Skip counting to one hundred by twos, fives and tens

The last page of this book is a hundred chart in three colours and its own set of instructions: the twos are red, the fives are green, the tens are blue, and every one of the three lists is printed in full and ends on one hundred. Students start where Sebastian starts, touching four cats one at a time, then walk each colour with a stick, one touch and one number word, until the chart runs out. Being fluent here is saying the next number without hunting for it and landing on one hundred every time, whichever colour you took.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Count the cats by ones (3 min)
Touch each of the four cats in the tree, one touch and one number word, and say the count out loud. Do it again with your eyes on the chart, touching 1, then 2, then 3, then 4. One touch, one number, every time.
Word preview: ones
First, he counts 4 cats.
1, 2, 3, 4.
2. Walk the red numbers by twos (6 min)
Put your stick on the first red number and say it. Slide to the next red one and say that. Keep going along every row and do not stop until the stick is on one hundred. If a partner hears a number missed, go back to the last red number you both agree on and start again from there.
Word preview: twos
Use just the red numbers to count by 2's.
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82, 84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96, 98, 100.
3. Walk the green numbers by fives (5 min)
Now take only the green numbers, stick on each one, saying it as you land. Say the whole way to one hundred without stopping in the middle of a row. Then say the last two greens on their own and check you did not skip past ninety.
Word preview: fives
Use the green numbers to count by 5s up to 100.
5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90.
95, 100.
4. Walk the blue numbers by tens (6 min)
Take the blues, one to a row, and say them to one hundred. Then write the ten blue numbers into the ten empty boxes on your strip, in order, and read the strip back with the chart turned over.
Word preview: tens
Counting to 100 by 10s goes really fast.
Try it using the blue numbers.
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Walk the green numbers by fives (4 min)
Put your stick on each green number in turn and say it, all the way to one hundred without stopping in the middle of a row.
Word preview: fives
Use the green numbers to count by 5s up to 100.
5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90.
2. Walk the blue numbers by tens (5 min)
Take the blues, one to a row, and say them to one hundred. Then write them into the ten boxes on your strip and read the strip back with the chart turned over.
Word preview: tens
Try it using the blue numbers.
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100.

Three levels

Support: Fold the chart so only the first five rows show and walk the greens to fifty, stick on every green, one touch and one number word. Unfold one row at a time and carry the count on from where it stopped rather than starting again at five. Keep the stick and keep saying every number aloud; the only thing made smaller is how much chart is in front of the child at once.
At Grade: Walk the reds, then the greens, then the blues, each to one hundred, touching every number and saying it, and write the ten blue numbers into the strip from memory of the walk.
Extension: Walk the greens and tap the table every time you land on a number that is also blue. Do it again and say how many taps there were and where they came. Then say which colour lands only on numbers the other two colours land on as well.

English learners

Touching a number and saying it is the whole task, so a child in their first week of English can take a stick and be right in the first minute. Two things need naming beforehand. The teen words say their parts in the opposite order to the way they are written - fourteen puts the four first and 14 puts the ten first - so a child reading the second row aloud can land on 14 and say forty-one, and several languages run that reversal through every two-digit number rather than only the teens. Walk the first two rows slowly with a finger holding each teen. Say each new decade word the same way, finger on the first number of its row, before any walking starts. Rehearse one frame and reuse it for all three colours: I am on ___ and the next ___ is ___. Children may argue about a missed number in their strongest language and give only the frame in English.

Materials

A hundred chart for each pair, marked the way the book's last page is - the twos in red, the fives in green, the tens in blue - with any number that belongs to more than one of the three lists carrying more than one mark
A pointing stick, one per child, for touching a number as it is said
A strip of ten empty boxes, one per pair
Word cards: ones, twos, fives, tens

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

2. One Hundred Belong, One Hundred and One Were Counted Reasoning · Deciding from a count that exactly one thing does not belong

The mystery in this book is settled by arithmetic and by nothing else. The farm holds one hundred animals, Sebastian counts every one of them, and the count comes home at one hundred and one. Students lay out ten strips of ten, count the last rows with him, set down the hundred-and-first counter from a cup, and then say what the extra counter proves and what it does not. It proves exactly one animal is over. Which one it is comes from looking at the row, not from the count, and separating those two is the thinking this lesson is for.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Set out the hundred that belong (5 min)
Lay ten strips of ten in front of you and count them by tens to one hundred, hand flat on each strip as you say it. Keep the loose counter in its cup where you can see it. Say what the hundred strips stand for.
Word preview: hundred
The farm has 100 animals.
They are in rows of 10.
2. Count the last rows with Sebastian (5 min)
Start your count at eighty, on the eighth strip, and carry it on with your hand landing on each strip: ninety, one hundred. Then listen to the number Sebastian says straight after that, and say why your ten strips cannot reach it.
Word preview: row
At the last stop, Sebastian sees sheep.
80, 90, 100, and a-ha, 101.
3. Show the one that is over (5 min)
Take the counter out of the cup and put it at the end of the last strip. Count the last strip on its own and say how many are on it now. Then say the whole thing: one hundred belong, and one more makes one hundred and one.
Word preview: extra
There is an extra animal in the last row.
and 1 calf makes 101.
4. Say how the count found him (5 min)
Tell your partner how Sebastian knew one animal did not belong before he ever looked at it. Then say the part the count could not tell him, and what did tell him. Use a number in both sentences.
Word preview: belong
He will find the one who should not be there.
It is not a sheep.
It is a calf.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Set out the hundred that belong (5 min)
Lay ten strips of ten and count them by tens to one hundred, hand flat on each strip. Keep the loose counter in its cup.
Word preview: hundred
The farm has 100 animals.
They are in rows of 10.
2. Show the one that is over (4 min)
Put the loose counter at the end of the last strip, count that strip on its own, and say it out loud: one hundred belong, and one more makes one hundred and one.
Word preview: extra
There is an extra animal in the last row.
and 1 calf makes 101.

Three levels

Support: Work with two strips of ten and one loose counter instead of ten strips. Count to twenty, add the loose one, and say twenty-one. The child still says the whole sentence about what is over and still separates what the count showed from what looking showed; only the size of the herd is reduced.
At Grade: Build the hundred in ten strips, carry the count from eighty to one hundred and one, and say in two sentences what the count proved and what it could not.
Extension: Move the loose counter to the middle of the third strip and count the whole hundred again. Say whether the count still ends on one hundred and one, and then say whether it tells you anything new about which counter is the extra one. Say what you would have to do to find the extra one if all the counters looked the same.

English learners

Belong is the word to pre-teach, because the whole task turns on it and it is not a counting word. Show it with the strips before any counting: one counter picked up off a full strip and put on the desk is the animal that does not belong, and the hole it left is what the count finds. Two grammatical points cost children time here. English says one hundred and one with an and that is not addition, and it says the extra one where several languages would say the one in excess or the one over. Rehearse one frame for the whole lesson and let it carry both sentences: the count says ___, and looking says ___. Children may work out the argument in their strongest language and give only the frame in English.

Materials

Ten strips of ten counters per pair, and one loose counter kept apart in a cup
Word cards: hundred, row, extra, belong

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

3. How Many Geese? Ask the Two Numbers Either Side Application · Finding the size of a group from the count before it and the count after it

Sebastian never says how many geese there are. He says he is only up to twenty, he counts the geese by fives, and then he says he is at thirty. That is enough, and finding out how much is enough is the work. Students build the count at twenty with counters, count on by fives while laying down what each five stands for, stop where Sebastian stops, and count what they laid down. Then they do the same trick on the cats and the dogs, where the book gives four and eight and never gives the dogs. No one takes anything away anywhere in this lesson; the missing group is built, not removed.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Rebuild the count at twenty (5 min)
Count twenty counters into your tray and push them to one side. Say the number Sebastian has reached out loud, and leave the rest of the counters where you cannot reach them by accident.
Word preview: count
Sebastian counts them by twos.
Is he only up to 20?
2. Count on by fives to thirty (6 min)
Sebastian counts the geese by fives, so lay down five counters and say twenty-five. Lay down five more and say thirty. Stop the moment you say the number Sebastian says.
Word preview: fives
Next, Sebastian sees the geese.
He counts them by fives.
He is at 30.
3. Say how many geese (4 min)
Push the counters you just laid down away from the twenty and count them on their own. Say the number, then say the sentence: he was at twenty, he is at thirty, so there were that many geese.
Word preview: geese
Where is he now?
He is at 30.
4. Do it again with the cats and the dogs (5 min)
Clear the tray. Put out the four cats and lay a flat hand over them; four is already two twos, so the next number you say is six, not two. Lay two counters down as you say six and two more as you say eight, which is where Sebastian's list stops. Count only what you laid down and say how many dogs ran by.
Word preview: dogs
First, he counts 4 cats.
Then, he adds the dogs.
Two. Four. Six. Eight.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Rebuild the count at twenty (4 min)
Count twenty counters into your tray and push them aside. Say the number Sebastian has reached out loud.
Word preview: count
Is he only up to 20?
2. Count on by fives to thirty (5 min)
Lay down five counters and say twenty-five, five more and say thirty, and stop where Sebastian stops. Push those counters away from the twenty and count them on their own.
Word preview: fives
He counts them by fives.
He is at 30.

Three levels

Support: Do only the cats and the dogs, and do them with the counters already in pairs. The child puts out four as two pairs, keeps a hand on them, then lays one pair down for six and one more for eight, and counts the pairs that were laid. The whole move is still there - hold the number the book gives, build on top of it, count only what you added - inside numbers small enough to see at once.
At Grade: Build twenty, count on by fives to thirty, count what was laid down, and say the three-part sentence. Then do the same for the cats and the dogs.
Extension: Do it once more on a group the book never names. Sebastian is at forty when the cows are done and at fifty on the road. Count on by fives from forty to fifty and say how many raced past. Then say which two sentences in the book you needed, and what you would be missing if the book had given you only one of them.

English learners

Counting on is the move and it needs a rehearsal in any language: the starting number is said once and not counted again. A child who begins at one and recounts the twenty will get a right total and the wrong group, so put a hand flat over the twenty while the fives go down. Up to in he is only up to twenty means the count so far, not a limit he must not pass, and the same two words mean a limit in most other places a child meets them. Say both meanings once with counters under your hand. Rehearse one frame: he was at ___, then he was at ___, so there were ___.

Materials

Thirty counters per pair, in a shallow tray
Word cards: count, fives, geese, dogs

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

4. Fifty Words, Twenty Words, Ten Words, One Hundred Every Time Concept · Comparing how many number words each skip count needs to reach one hundred

Sebastian's whole problem is time. Counting one by one will take forever, twos will be faster, and by the end he wants tens. The last page lets a class check that hunch instead of taking it on trust: the reds, the greens and the blues are all printed in full and all three stop on one hundred, so the only thing that differs is how many number words you have to say. Students count the words, not the animals - fifty reds, twenty greens, ten blues - and write the three counts on one slip. Faster turns out to mean fewer words for the same hundred, and that is a thing a child can see rather than be told.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Hear the problem Sebastian has (4 min)
Listen to the two sentences about how long counting will take and say, in your own words, what Sebastian is worried about. Then guess out loud: which colour will need the most number words, and which the fewest? Write nothing yet.
Word preview: forever
But counting to 100 will take forever.
Counting by 2's will be faster.
2. Count how many red numbers you say (5 min)
Point at every red number in turn and count the pointing, not the numbers. Say one, two, three as your finger moves, and stop when the finger reaches one hundred. Write that count on the reds line of your slip.
Word preview: red
Use just the red numbers to count by 2's.
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82, 84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96, 98, 100.
3. Count the greens and the blues the same way (7 min)
Do the greens the same way and write the count. Do the blues and write that count. Read your three numbers to your partner and check that all three walks finished in the same place on the chart.
Word preview: green
Use the green numbers to count by 5s up to 100.
Counting to 100 by 10s goes really fast.
4. Say why tens is fastest (4 min)
Look at your three counts and say which is smallest. Then say the whole sentence out loud: all three land on one hundred, but the blues get there in the fewest words. Say what Sebastian should have done first.
Word preview: faster
He needs to find a faster way.
Next time, I'll count by tens.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Count how many red numbers you say (5 min)
Point at every red number in turn and count the pointing. Stop when your finger reaches one hundred and write that count on the reds line.
Word preview: red
Use just the red numbers to count by 2's.
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82, 84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96, 98, 100.
2. Say why tens is fastest (4 min)
Do the blues the same way, write that count beside the reds, and say the sentence out loud: both land on one hundred, but the blues get there in fewer words.
Word preview: faster
Counting to 100 by 10s goes really fast.
Next time, I'll count by tens.

Three levels

Support: Give the child the greens and the blues only, and a slip with two lines instead of three. Everything else stays: finger on every number, counting the pointing out loud, writing the count, and saying which is smaller. Twenty against ten is the same discovery as fifty against ten and it fits in one breath.
At Grade: Count the words in all three colours, write the three counts, and say aloud that all three end on one hundred while the blues need the fewest words.
Extension: Say how many times bigger the red count is than the blue one, and check it by walking the blues five times over. Then say what the count would be for a colour that jumped by twenty-fives, before anyone marks it on a chart.

English learners

The word faster is the hard one and it is hard for everybody, not only for children learning English: here it means fewer number words, not a quicker mouth. A child who speeds up the reds is doing the opposite of what the book means, so show it once - say the ten blues slowly and the fifty reds quickly, and ask which finished first. Counting the pointing rather than the numbers is the second hurdle, because the same mouth is saying one, two, three over numbers that read two, four, six. Let a child at the start of English tap silently and hold up fingers instead of speaking the tally. Rehearse one frame: ___ needs ___ words to get to one hundred.

Materials

A hundred chart for each pair, marked the way the book's last page is - the twos in red, the fives in green, the tens in blue - with any number that belongs to more than one of the three lists carrying more than one mark
A tally slip, one per pair, headed reds, greens, blues
Word cards: forever, red, green, faster

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.

5. The Same Twenty, Pushed into Pairs, Fives and Tens Representation · Arranging one set as pairs, rows of five and rows of ten, and counting each arrangement by its group size

Sebastian's notebook does not just give numbers, it gives arrangements: animal pairs, then rows of five, then rows of ten, each with its own strip of number words underneath. Students take twenty counters and put them through all three arrangements without adding or removing a single one - ten pairs counted two, four, six; four rows of five counted five, ten, fifteen, twenty; two rows of ten counted ten, twenty. Each rearrangement is done with hands, and each is counted by the size of the group the hands just made. The point that lands is that the twenty never changed, only the way it was held.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Make the animal pairs (5 min)
Push your twenty counters into pairs, two touching counters with a gap before the next two. You should finish with ten pairs. Count them out loud by twos, touching a pair on each number word, and land on twenty. One touch, one number, all the way along.
Word preview: pairs
More animal pairs.
Two. Four. Six. Eight.
2. Push the pairs into rows of five (5 min)
Slide the pairs together until each row holds five counters. Pairs have to be broken to do it, because five is not made of twos, and that is allowed as long as nothing leaves the desk. You should finish with four rows. Count them out loud by fives, hand flat on each row, and land on twenty again.
Word preview: rows
More rows of 5.
5. 10. 15. 20. 25. 30. 35. 40.
3. Push the fives into rows of ten (5 min)
Slide two rows of five together to make a row of ten, and do it again. Count what you have by tens. Say how many rows there are now and how many counters are in each one.
Word preview: ten
More rows of ten.
They are in rows of 10.
4. Count the same twenty three ways (5 min)
Go back through all three arrangements and count each one out loud, using the notebook heading that matches it. Say the number you finish on each time, and say whether it changed.
Word preview: notebook
Count by twos.
Count by 5s.
Count by 10s.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Make the animal pairs (5 min)
Push your twenty counters into ten pairs and count them out loud by twos, touching a pair on each number word, landing on twenty.
Word preview: pairs
More animal pairs.
Two. Four. Six. Eight.
2. Push the fives into rows of ten (4 min)
Slide the counters into rows of ten and count by tens. Say the number you finish on and say whether it is the same number you finished on before.
Word preview: ten
More rows of ten.
They are in rows of 10.

Three levels

Support: Work with ten counters instead of twenty and do two arrangements, pairs and one row of ten. The child still pushes the counters themselves, still counts each arrangement by its own group size, and still says the finishing number both times. Ten is small enough to check by ones if the child wants to prove nothing went missing.
At Grade: Put twenty counters through pairs, rows of five and rows of ten, counting each arrangement by its group size, and say the finishing number after each one.
Extension: Try to push the twenty into rows of three. Say what happens at the end of the last row, and say whether you can still count the arrangement by threes and finish on twenty. Then say which one of the book's three group sizes leaves nothing over from a herd of twenty-five, and which two of them do leave something over.

English learners

The counters do the talking, so a child with no English yet can complete every arrangement and be visibly right. Two language points are worth a minute. English uses row for a line of things and rows of ten for a line holding ten, and the of is doing heavy work that a child can hear as and. Show a row of ten and a row and ten side by side on the desk. And pair is both a noun and a verb here - children pair the counters and then count the pairs - which several languages split into two different words. Rehearse one frame for all three arrangements: I made rows of ___ and I counted ___, ___, ___.

Materials

Twenty counters per pair, in a shallow tray
Word cards: pairs, rows, ten, notebook

Standards & curriculum

These lessons are being matched against curricula now.