Concrete Activity Materials Needed: Activity Plan Counters: Use colorful buttons or small counters (like plastic bears or circles) to represent the buttons Pete the Cat loses. Picture book: "Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons" for the read-aloud section. Activity Description: Before Reading: Introduce the book to the students and show them the counters or buttons, explaining that these will represent the buttons in the story. Ask the students how many buttons they think Pete the Cat starts with (which will help to activate prior knowledge). During Reading: As you read through the book, stop at key moments where buttons are lost (e.g., "Four groovy buttons" to "Three groovy buttons"). Each time a button is lost, have the children remove a counter from their collection and count the remaining buttons. For example, when Pete loses his first button, students will take away one counter from four, demonstrating 4 1 = 3 41=3. Ask questions to encourage discussion, such as, "How many buttons does Pete have now?" after removing a counter