For starters, do these kids instantly recognize dice patterns? Simply flash dice number cards to find out. If they don't, practice flashing daily and they should learn them pretty quickly. Older students in the building or parent volunteers can flash your students daily if that works out! Free dot cards can be found here (sift through to find the dice patterns or make your own):
http://bit.ly/2GerVHb
Do your kids know one more? Practice in a number routine or number talk. Dominoes are great for this because they also have dice patterns on them! Select dominoes that have one on the second face and flash them or talk about them with the larger number on the right and the single dot on the left. After students discuss strategies for knowing one more, present the dominoes with the one dot on the left and the larger number on the right and see if they choose to start their sum with the larger side. Free domino cards (with flaps to cover the faces!) can be found here:
http://bit.ly/2FsgRsN
Next, are they comfortable with counting on? Number routines or counting circles will be your practice. Start from numbers that are not one, and continue counting. Focus on counting on from three, four, five and six. As you count on around the circle start with a new number every fifth or so student, rather than counting up into the 20s or 30s. Even roll a die as the number a student will start counting from! Now you are hitting recognizing a die roll, and counting on from it!
Last, it is the goal to transfer the three skills above to game time! Yes, may times they revert back to counting every pip so, how do you get them to stop? In small group or one-on-one, after identifying the roll, cover one of the dice with your hand. Ask the student how many dots there were on the hidden die. Then point to each pip on the second die and ask, "Four and this dot is...and this...and this. Some kids will want to show the number that is on the hidden die on their fingers. At first, let them. They are in a stage where they must see the counters so they remake them on their fingers when you hide the pips. Say, "How many did you count? Five? Ok, five (and cover their fingers and/or slightly move the fingers away/down) and this dot is...?" Again your goal is to get that first die or the fingers they bring out to be out of their vision or put away and held as a quantity with which to count on from. "Great. Five. There was five on that die. You counted five fingers. Great," and make sure there is a moment before your counting on to separate the recreation of that amount and to process the starting quantity.
Now, they are ready for numerals. Replace one of the dice with a numeral die. So, they are rolling a numeral die and a die with pips. I made a numeral die with numbers six, seven, and eight, and a pip die with one, two, and three. This gets very interesting. Some kids will once again want to get out their fingers for the number on the numeral die. That's ok but when working with that child, gently acknowledge the starting number they recreated, and cover it up with your hands. "You have seven here. We need three more." Direct their vision to the pips and say, "Seven was there," (gently move their fingers down or away a bit) and have them touch the pips to say, "This one makes eight, then nine, then ten."
With some gentle pushes in the direction of counting on and not representing the number that they can't see (because now it is a numeral), your pip counters, in time, will move to more advanced strategies.
Let the games begin!
