Teacher brief

Numbers to 10

Grade 1 · Lesson 1 · Dimensions 1A, pages 2–5

What this lesson is

Every number tells you HOW MANY, and counting each thing once is how we find it.

Why it is built this way

This is the first lesson of the year, so there is nothing to retrieve. The lesson opens at the big idea.

The worked example is built one step at a time and nothing is erased. A finished example on the board is not a visual instruction plan — Fred Jones warns specifically against the habit we all grew up watching, of making summary graphics at the end. Each step gets its own picture, drawn as that step is taught, so the child sees the ORDER the steps happened in. That order is the method.

The same numbered steps are printed on the student sheet, which is the part that matters most and the part most often left out. Jones: the VIP is first and foremost for the student — a permanent record they can refer to at will. When it is in front of them, helping a stuck child costs about five seconds and one pointed finger instead of a re-explanation, which is what keeps you free to work the room.

After the I DO come two guided examples of the same type, and only then the book. Dimensions gives few problems per lesson because it expects the method to have been built first; three authored examples mean a child has met this type four times before they are alone with it. The book's own problems are clipped onto the slide rather than retyped, so the numbers on the board are the numbers in the child's book.

The question they should be asking themselves

“Did I touch every one, and only once?”
Watch for
A child who says the answer instantly is recognizing, not counting, and will fail at 8 and 9. Ask them to touch each one even when they are right.

Closure

Hold up your board. How many fingers am I holding up?