| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) identify and build sets with up to 10 members; (2) state how many members a set has using an accurate count. |
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| Materials | Counters, seeds, bottle caps; plates; numeral cards 0-10; ten-frames. |
| Key vocabulary | set, members, count, how many |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) Mystery plates under a cloth: reveal one plate at a time for 3 seconds; children estimate how many, then one volunteer counts to check. Estimation meets counting! |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Recall the careful-counting rule (touch once, say once, organise into a line or frame). 2. Build-a-set relay: teams build sets of a called size from the resource table. 3. Plate audit: half the plates around the room are labelled with the WRONG numeral; pairs check each plate and fix the label. 4. Connect: a set of 10 fills a whole ten-frame exactly. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Quick oral: "Show me with counters — a set of 8... now make it a set of 10. What did you do?" (Added 2 more.) |
| Assessment | Plate-audit accuracy observed per pair: finds and corrects at least 3 mislabelled plates; explains the correction with a recount. |
| Teacher notes | The audit format makes checking-your-work a game rather than a chore — reuse the format all year. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) place numerals 1-10 in serial order; (2) say which number comes before or after a given number. |
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| Materials | Large floor numeral cards 1-10; chalk number line outdoors if available; music. |
| Key vocabulary | order, first, next, before, after, number line |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) Scrambled numbers scandal: the number cards are "mixed up by the wind" across the floor. "Can we fix the number path?" Children direct one volunteer to rebuild it. |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Walk the line: children step along the ordered cards counting aloud, forwards then backwards. 2. Eyes-closed game: teacher removes one card; children open eyes and name the missing number. 3. Before/after quick-fire with the line visible: "What comes after 6? Before 4?" 4. Pairs order small personal card sets 1-10 on their desks, then time themselves to beat their own record. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Human number line: ten children hold cards and arrange THEMSELVES in order while the class sings a counting song. Applause for the living number line! |
| Assessment | Desk-check each pair: cards ordered 1-10 correctly; each child answers one "after" and one "before" question using the line. |
| Teacher notes | Keep the floor line up all week — it becomes the week's reference tool. Backwards counting prepares subtraction thinking. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) identify missing numbers in a sequence 1-10; (2) name the neighbours (one before, one after) of a number. |
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| Materials | Personal numeral cards; prepared strips with gaps (e.g. 3, 4, _, 6); pegs and a number washing-line. |
| Key vocabulary | missing, between, neighbour, before, after |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) Washing-line drama: numbers 1-10 pegged on a string, but three have "blown away". Children name the missing numbers and peg them back. |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Model neighbour talk: 5 lives between 4 and 6 — its neighbours. 2. Pairs solve gap-strips of increasing difficulty (one gap, two gaps, gap at the start). 3. Neighbour riddles: "I am between 7 and 9. Who am I?" Children write the answer with counters/cards, then invent one riddle per pair. 4. Extension strip: gaps counting BACKWARDS (10, 9, _, 7). |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Pairs share their invented riddles with another pair. Close with a whole-class backwards count from 10 like a rocket launch. |
| Assessment | Collect one completed gap-strip per pair: all gaps filled correctly. Oral: each child answers one neighbour riddle during the lesson. |
| Teacher notes | Gap-at-the-start strips (_, 2, 3) catch children who can only count on from 1 — valuable diagnostic. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) observe natural shapes in the environment; (2) draw natural shapes: tree, rock, sun, hill, person. |
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| Materials | Paper, crayons/pencils; clipboard or book to lean on; a safe outdoor viewing spot or window view; nature pictures as backup. |
| Key vocabulary | shape, round, pointy, curved, straight, nature |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) Shape spy at the window or in the yard: "I spy something ROUND in the sky... something TALL and green..." Children spy and describe before naming. |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) 1. Guided observation walk (or picture study if weather is bad): stop at a tree, a rock, the outline of a hill; describe each with shape words — round, curved, pointy, straight. 2. Sketch time: children draw a scene containing a tree, the sun, a hill, a rock and a person, saying the shape words as they draw. 3. Talk partners: describe one thing in your picture using a shape word. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Mini gallery on the wall. Class finds "the roundest sun" and "the pointiest hill" — celebrating observation, not artistic skill. |
| Assessment | Every child's drawing includes at least 4 of the 5 required natural shapes; child uses at least one shape word (round, curved, pointy, straight) describing their work. |
| Teacher notes | Per the MoE guidance, dedicating a set day to a strand works well — this is the week's geometry day. Keep drawings; Week 4 adds man-made shapes to compare. |
| Objectives | Students will be able to: (1) demonstrate counting and ordering skills 1-10 (week consolidation); (2) complete a mixed skills circuit independently. |
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| Materials | Numeral cards, counters, gap-strips, washing-line; Week 3 checklist. |
| Key vocabulary | order, missing, before, after, set, count |
| Engage (starter) | (10 min) Warm-up medley: count forwards to 10, backwards from 10, then "start counting from 4... from 7" (counting-on practice, sneakily preparing addition). |
| Develop (main) | (35 min) Order Champions circuit, teacher recording the checklist: Table 1: build and label two sets (choose any size to 10). Table 2: rebuild the scrambled washing-line 1-10. Table 3: solve two gap-strips and one neighbour riddle. Table 4 (choice table): draw and label your favourite numeral with a matching set. |
| Plenary (close) | (10 min) Champions ceremony: each child completes the sentence "I am a champion at ___." Preview: "Next week, sets meet TAKE-APART — and shapes made by PEOPLE!" |
| Assessment | Week 3 checkpoint per child: counts sets to 10; orders 1-10; finds a missing number; names a before/after neighbour. Record secure/developing. |
| Teacher notes | Counting on from a number other than 1 is the single best predictor of addition readiness — note children who restart from 1 every time. |