Use the following dialog to discuss patterns in skip counting
by twos.
Teacher: Now that we’ve been talking about skip counting,
what does it mean when we say “skip counting by
twos”?
Roberto: Skip counting means that you skip numbers.
Teacher: How do you know which numbers to skip?
Roberto: You skip a number, then you say one, then you skip
one, and say one, and keep going like that.
Jackie: It looks like stripes on the big number chart. (100
Chart)
Teacher: Yes, we’ve colored in the numbers that we say.
They are all right beneath each other, and it makes it
look like stripes.
Tara: Skip counting goes faster because you don’t say all the
numbers.
Ming: I know which ones to say and skip because I look up at
the number line.
Tara: I know what the even numbers are because they have a
two, four, six, or eight in them.
Teacher: Let’s count on the number line and see what Tara
is saying. Look closely at the numbers as we say them
when we count by twos. Tara, point to the numbers as
we count. [Student skip counts to 30.] Do you agree with
Tara?
Jackie: I do, they all end in 2, 4, 6, or 8.
Teacher: What about zero? Do even numbers end in zero?
Ming: I think even numbers can end in zero, too. Skip 9 and
count 10. Skip 19 and count 20.
Teacher: So, even numbers end in 2, 4, 6, 8, or 0. Do we all
agree? What about odd numbers?
Roberto: Odd numbers end in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9.
Teacher: How do you know?
Roberto: [Pointing to the 100 Chart] I looked at the numbers
that are not colored red. The first column of numbers end
in one, the next column all in three, and look, this column
ends in nines.
Tara: I like skip counting because it is faster.
Teacher: Are there times when we want to go fast when we
count?
Ming: Yes, like when you have a lot of cubes, it is faster to
count by twos.
Roberto: When I count the pennies in my bank, it is faster to
count by twos.
