A Routine Called Choral Counting
Mount Holyoke College alum Rebecca Holden MATM’21 explores how choral counting can help build students’ number sense and develop the language they need to communicate their discoveries.
What does Choral Counting offer?
Students have many opportunities to think about and experience counting — through read-alouds and their illustrations, counting collections, play, movement, singing and more. Choral Counting is another way for students to experience and think about counting.
During a Choral Count, students say number names aloud and see those numbers written. As they move through the counting sequence — which can include teen numbers — a word is called out as its number is written. For young students, there are many possibilities for exploring and extending ideas about counting.
Number ideas to explore and extend with younger students through choral counting
| Symbolic Coordinate number name and symbol. | Verbal For example, as you write the number three on the board, say “‘Three’ is written like this.” (Write ‘3’ on the board.) | Quantitative How much does a number represent? How far is it from other numbers? |
| Ordered sequence The counting order. | One-to-one Exactly one number from the counting sequence is assigned to each item. | Cardinality The last number in the counting sequence assigned to a collection represents the number of objects in the collection. |
| Patterns and structure The counting sequence follows a pattern that represents a structure (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9). The structure underlies our number system (base 10). |
Connections to the Standards of Mathematical Practice
Here are two Standards of Mathematical Practice (SMPs) we believe support the counting concepts used during Choral Counting:
SMP7: Look for and make use of structure.
Students look closely for patterns or structures.
SMP8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Students notice if the patterns are repeated and look for generalizations.
Developing identity and agency
The Choral Counting routine is an amazing way to nurture students’ sense of identity (they see themselves as doers of mathematics) and agency (they develop the ability to rely on their reasoning). During this routine, students count, notice, discuss and listen to each others’ ideas. As students reason and make their own sense of the mathematics, they are engaging as a math community. Students also see how their ideas, and those of their classmates, are valued.
How a Choral Count works
Before doing the routine, design the count (what number the class starts with, what the students count by and how the counting should be arranged and recorded). The most important part of planning a Choral Count is thinking ahead about how the count will be recorded.
As you plan, ask yourself:
- Should I record the numbers horizontally or vertically?
- How many numbers are in each row or column?
- With which number should I start and end my count?
- How many numbers do I need to count for students to notice patterns?
During the routine, students will count out loud together as the facilitator records each number on a chart or board that everyone can see.
After the counting, the facilitator will scoot out of the way, encourage the students to lean in and ask them what patterns they notice. As students share, their thinking is made visible and accessible to the community by using colored markers, arrows, symbols such as + and -, numbers, words, equations and manipulatives — the possibilities are endless. With young students, as they are finding the language to describe what they notice, you might ask them to first use their words to explain what they notice and then encourage them to come to the chart to show their ideas to everyone.
Planning a Choral Count
Designing the count
(while referencing the planning list and considering mathematical concept connections)
Choral Count (Grades 1/2), Start at 4, Count by 5s
Organize count in rows with five numbers in each row, and record count vertically.
| 4 | 24 | 44 | 64 | 84 |
| 9 | 29 | 49 | 69 | |
| 14 | 34 | 54 | 74 | |
| 19 | 39 | 59 | 79 |
Math ideas
- Patterns in the base 10 system.
- Patterns when counting by 5s.
- Connections to computational strategies.
- There are four 5s in 20.
- Computational strategies - adding across a decade number.
During the count
After inviting students to count, record each number as it is said, following your plan.
The invitation might sound like this:
“Today you are going to Choral Count. You are going to count by 5s, starting with 4 and stopping at 84. Your job is to count, and my job is to write down what you say. After we have finished counting, I’ll scoot out of the way, and you will lean in and see what you notice.”
After the count
Here are possible student observations and how you might notate them on the recorded counting arrangement.
What students may notice
- In a column, there's a pattern in the ones place - 4, 9, 4, 9.
- If I count four times, there are 20 more added on.
- There's a pattern across the first two rows in the tens place - 0, 2, 4, 6, 8. The ones stay the same - 4 or 9.
- A diagonal goes up by 25.
- Every other row has 10 more.
The best part of the Choral Counting experience is knowing that when students lean in to notice and share, the whole class gets to listen, learn, and be surprised.
Where to find more inspirations and a planning tool
Below are some Choral Count arrangement inspirations as well as resources for possible mathematical noticings and notations:
- Inspirations for Choral Counts (Flynn Education)
- Choral Counting & Collections by Megan L. Franke, Elham Kazemi and Angela Chan Turrou
- Check out this webinar from the authors sponsored by the Kentucky Center for Mathematics
Use this resource planner to try arrangements or make your own.
