Concept Journey

Counting Journey: Number Words, Numerals and Amounts

Early Level

Count, touch, say and show numbers in different ways.

For the teacher or grown-up

This journey works best with a teacher or grown-up. Read the prompts together, talk about the pictures, and let the child point, say, build or show their thinking.

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Journey guide

Robo Buddy

Your Maths Buddy is here to guide this journey.

Keep going

Explore each step, then keep going when you are ready.

Step 1 of 8

See the Amount

Look at a small group before counting.

Explore

See the Amount

Today we are using five to learn how counting works.

Good noticing. The group has five counters.

What do you notice?

Five is our example today. The same idea works for other amounts too.

Explore the cards, then mark this step as explored.

Teacher and parent: why this journey matters

This journey moves from explore, notice and talk into building, representing, reasoning and checking. It supports CfE learning now while preparing for the refreshed curriculum direction.

Concept focus: number words, numerals and quantities
Understand: counting tells how many
Know: spoken number names and written numerals
Do: count, match, compare and represent small amounts
Represent: objects, dots, tally marks and numerals
Reason: explain how you know two amounts match

Teacher notes and planning metadata

Big Idea

Numbers tell us how many there are.

Know

number words can be said in order
numerals can represent amounts
each object should be counted once

Understand

the last number said tells us the total amount
the same amount can be shown with objects, dots, fingers, tallies, words or numerals
groups can look different and still show the same amount

Do

count a small set carefully
match a numeral to an amount
show the same number in more than one way
explain how they know how many there are

Representations

real objects, counters, dots, fingers, ten frame, tally marks, numerals, number words, number line

Misconceptions

Objects should be counted once, not missed or counted twice.
The last number said tells how many there are.
Spread-out objects can show the same amount as close-together objects.
A numeral is a symbol for an amount, not a thing to count as another object.

Progression

Noticing small amounts in play, songs, fingers and everyday objects.

Comparing, joining and splitting numbers with part-whole understanding.

Curriculum links

Built around Big Ideas, progression and connected understanding.

Early Level language stays concrete: objects, fingers, dots, tallies, words and numerals before abstract notation.
Use touch-counting, moving counters, ten frames and number cards.
Evidence of understanding: pupils can show the same number in more than one way and say how they know.