Grade
K

Math in Our World: How Many Marbles?

Looking down on a jar with a bunch of marbles in it. A slip of paper next to the jar has the number 64 written on it. Nearby, a line of marbles stretches down the space between two floorboards. The line looks like it has 4 sets of 3 marbles plus 2 more. The marbles have green and red and blue colors. Some colors are swirled and some are solid.
Looking from the front at the jar of marbles and the line of marbles next to the jar. From this angle, the marbles in a line are hard to count. We can also see one of Hayden and Charlotte's tracks in the background.

Hayden and Charlotte love to build tracks for their marbles.

We wondered how many marbles we had in our home, so we decided to count all the marbles we could find.

  1. What do you notice? What do you wonder?
  2. Use pictures, numbers, or math words to show or tell what you know about the marbles.
  3. What math questions can you ask about the picture? Answer all the questions you can!
  • Draw a ten-frame to organize and count the number of marbles outside the jar.
  • Draw a number line starting at 64 and count on.
  • Show your work to someone else, and explain your thinking. Did they understand?
  • Ask whether they have any other questions you can answer!

We have a lot of marbles at home so we made a counting collection, or a big group of items to count. Can you make your own counting collection? You could use rocks, toys, or even food!

Printable Version

Google doc for printing and copying

Reference for Educators

Sample problems and solutions