
Start by asking questions about the number of whole objects, such as how many birds? Then ask questions about the number of parts, such as how many beaks in all? how many feet? Everything necessary to count should be pictured, no inference necessary. That is, the student should be able to point to what they're counting. Students respond orally. We want to make sure kids can count before we connect utterances to written numerals. For ideas of things to count via pictures, see this lesson and practice by Khan Academy.
Count and represent using fingers. Also count and represent using objects, such as counters, Unifix Cubes, base ten blocks, etc. Then represent by drawing. For example, draw 3 circles.
TODO: I vaguely recall a Khan Academy practice where the student drags a number of objects into a bin. If the range of numbers is small, this might be a good digital implementation.
Watch these Khan Academy videos:
Do these Khan Academy exercises:
Conclude by leading this investigation:
Graphene Trampoline (logic & probability)
by MathPickle
K.CC.B.4: Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.