Early Math Project

Slip, slide, and splash about with seven small ducklings out for an adventure.

 

Topics: counting, addition, counting on, commutative property of addition, combinations of numbers that equal seven

 

Activities To Do Together: 

• Point to and count the ducks together

• Talk about all of the ways you can add two numbers together to equal seven.

• Practice counting on. For example, if you see you have a group of five ducks and there are two more on another page, say five (for the first group), six, seven. You have seven ducks total.  

• Talk about how the order in which you add numbers doesn’t matter - 5+2 = 7 and 2+5=7. Test this idea with your child using real objects. 

• Practice writing equations for the pictures in the book. 3+4=7 and 7=6+1, etc.

 

Extension Questions: 

1. What are all of the ways you can split seven ducklings into two groups?

2. Why do you think the author used “6  plus 1,” “5 plus 2,” “4 plus 3,” “3 plus 4,” “2 plus 5,” and “1 plus 6” when telling this story?

3. The author talked about a group of “4 plus 3” ducks and on the next page a group of “3 plus 4” ducks. How are these ideas different? Do you still have seven ducks either way? 

4. If seven ducklings got into three groups and the first group had two ducks and the second group had three ducks, how many ducks would be in the third group? If you don’t know, how could you figure it out? 

5. On the page before the story begins, the author shows seven ducks walking across a log. If every duck has two feet, how many ducks would you have if there were ten feet walking across the log? What if there were six feet walking across the log?

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Vocabulary for Building Math Concepts: 

count, plus, row, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven

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Please check out the Book Guide for Quack and Count for more!

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Online External Resources for Quack and Count:

• Math Picture Book Guide from the author

• Three Lessons: Using Storybooks to Teach Math