Useful outcome: Verify each five-object unit before counting full groups by fives.
Prepare: Five panels with five large marks each; separate fifteen-/twenty-five-mark sets; an alleged fifteen-mark set with 2 full fives and one four. Five-slot frames may support access but do not prove occupancy.
Notice · 3 minutes
Show a five-slot panel with four marks. Ask whether the frame alone tells how many objects are there. Count the actual marks. Keep the intended capacity and actual quantity distinct.
Model · 5 minutes
Audit a full five-panel, then five full panels. Count 5,10,15,20,25, pointing once to each complete unit. Five names the groups,25 the objects. A missing mark would invalidate treating its panel as a full five.
Guided attempt · 8 minutes
Make fifteen from three groups of five. Then compare a different alleged fifteen arrangement containing 14. Child can add one actual mark for 15 or report 14; both match a different honest purpose. Do not force adding if accurate relabelling is chosen.
Own choice · 6 minutes
Choose one route; the child selects/directs the mathematical action. A different route is available later.
Route A · Bookmark panels
Child task: Make fifteen marks as three full groups of five and count the objects.
Teacher move: Invite an audit of one group before the whole count.
Observe: 5,10,15 tied to three full groups; not just a spoken list or 3-object claim.
Next move: If 3 is the total, count actual members of one panel then two new groups as 5/10.
Route B · Pretend kit
Child task: Organise twenty-five component marks into own verified fives and track the cumulative count.
Teacher move: Move a count pointer only under child direction; keep completed groups visible.
Observe: Five equal units; every object included once, final 25.
Next move: If a group is skipped/reused, use a completed-group marker then a new fifteen-mark arrangement.
Route C · Incomplete panel
Child task: A plan claims 15 but has two full fives and one four. Repair the objects or the claim.
Teacher move: Ask what the child wants the plan to say, then carry out only directed physical changes.
Observe: Actual 14, or 15 after adding one; child justifies the chosen correction.
Next move: If counting by 5 is automatic despite a four, audit a different incomplete group before skip counting.
Exit and same-day next teaching · 3 minutes
Two audited fives and another full five are present. Ask for the next cumulative count after 10.
Teaching reference: 15, supported by the third full group of five.
Choose next: A correct answer with an unverified unit still needs membership evidence. Start tomorrow from actual full fives before extending sequences.
Retain the first response, actual range and support; a later corrected or adult-supplied model is a separate record.