Quick lessonMathKindergarten
Showing Ways to Make Five with Fingers
About this lesson
Children use their fingers to find pairs of numbers that make five, first with the teacher and then with a partner. They practise composing and decomposing five, a key step toward early addition. You only need a whiteboard and a marker, and it takes about 10 minutes.
- Grade
- Kindergarten
- Subject
- Math
- Time
- 10 min
- Prep
- None
Objective
Students will show and name pairs of numbers that combine to make five.
Prep
No prep
Materials
- whiteboard
- marker
Steps
- Hold up one full hand and say, 'This is five.' Then hold up three fingers and ask, 'How many more fingers do I need to make five?' Have children show the missing fingers on their own hand and say the number together.
- Repeat with one, four, two and zero fingers, each time drawing the two groups as dots on the board and saying the pair aloud, such as '3 and 2 make 5.'
- Pair children up and have one partner hold up some fingers on one hand while the other partner holds up enough fingers to make five. Both partners say the pair aloud, for example, '1 and 4 make 5.'
- Have partners switch roles and repeat several times. Circulate and ask pairs to tell you their pair.
- Bring the class back together and ask children to call out the pairs they found while you list them on the board. Point out that 2 and 3 and 3 and 2 both make five.
Quick Check
Hold up a number of fingers from 0 to 5 and ask individual children to quickly show the missing fingers and say the pair.
Differentiation
Make it easier: Let children count the fingers on the teacher's full hand one by one before showing how many are missing.
Make it harder: Use both hands to make ten, with one partner showing fingers and the other showing how many more are needed to make ten.
Good For
- Transition time
- Morning warm-up
- Before lunch
- Supply teacher
