## North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Cognitive Development (CD)

#### Subdomain: Mathematical Thinking and Expression

#### Goal: Children show understanding of numbers and quantities during play and other activities

#### Skill Progression: Counting

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List of Skills by Age

1-2 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

2-4 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

4-6 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

6-8 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

8-10 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

10-12 Months

Although research exists for documenting number sense in the first year of life. These are laboratory studies that cannot be replicated in home visits or centers. For this reason, skills the first year of life have been omitted.

12-15 Months

Says numbers 1,2 but with no meaning

15-18 Months

Knows a few random numbers

Recites numbers with no meaning

18-21 Months

Uses one-to-one correspondence when counting two objects

Demonstrates basic understanding of one-to-one correspondence, by putting one or more items into separate compartments

21-24 Months

Counts to two

Counts using several number words, but not necessarily in order

24-27 Months

Counts first three count words

Demonstrates one-to-one correspondence (give one to each person), but doesn’t know amount

Understands the concept of one

27-30 Months

Counts up to 4 items in a collection

30-33 Months

Verbally counts to 10 with some one-to-one correspondence, but when counting objects loses track of one-to-one correspondence or the next number

33-36 Months

Counts using fingers, but loses track of numbers

Rote counts 1-10 consistently

Counts 1-5 items with one-to-one correspondence

36-42 Months

Keeps one-to-one correspondence of from 3 to 5 items, but doesn’t know “how many in total”

42-48 Months

Counts on from a number if they count up to that number first

Counts up to 10 and knows “how many” up to 5

Understands that the last number stated is the total

48-54 Months

Counts structured arrangement up to 9 and knows “how many”

Counts 1-30 with emphasis on the counting pattern (e.g., Twenty-one, with parallel to 1,2,3)

Writes or draws to represent 1 through 10

54-60 Months

Recognizes errors in counting

Counts backward from 10

“Counts on” from a given number without starting at 1

Knows the number before and the number after a number but has to count from 1 to figure it out

Counts to 100 by ones (with emphasis on the pattern)

Counts accurately to 10

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.