The Number Five: The Star

To let the child meet five first as a quality living in the world, in the star, before it ever becomes a numeral on a page.

When a number has a face and a story, counting becomes recognition rather than memorization.

Littles (3–4): the story, the verse, and counting real things with touch. No numerals yet.

Olders (5–7): the full sequence: story, finding five in the world, movement, and writing the numeral 5 large and beautiful.

• Beeswax crayons
• Large unlined paper
• A basket of natural counters: acorns, stones, shells, or beans
• Watercolors for the story picture

Five points shining, star so bright,
Head and arms and legs of light,
In the apple, in the rose,
Five is where the human grows.

The Star in the Apple.

Once upon a time a little boy wanted to find a star he could hold in his hand. He asked his mother where to look. "Go and ask the world," she said.

He asked the evening sky, and the sky showed him a bright star, but it was too far away to hold. He asked the wild rose, and the rose opened her five pink petals, but they fell away when he touched them.

At last he came to an old woman sitting under an apple tree. "I am looking for a star I can hold," he said. The old woman smiled, picked an apple, and took out her knife.

She did not cut it from top to bottom the way his mother always did. She cut it across, through its round middle. And there, inside, were five little seed chambers in the shape of a star.

The boy held the star in his hand all the way home. That night he stood in the doorway with his arms out wide and his feet apart, and his mother laughed: "Look, you are a star too. One head, two arms, two legs: five."

Count five points on the star in the apple, and then count them on your own body: head, right hand, left hand, right foot, left foot. Look for five petals on wild roses, apple blossoms, strawberries, and morning glories.

Count five fingers on each hand, and five toes on each foot. Five is the number of the hand, and the hand is how we work and help in the world.

Stand as the star, legs apart and arms out wide, and touch each point in turn while counting to five. Then walk a five-pointed star on the floor with chalk or a ribbon, without lifting your feet off the line.

Paint or draw the story picture first. Then, on a fresh page, write the numeral 5 very large with a crayon, slowly, saying “five” as you go. Beside it draw five of something from the story.

Older children can also write the word FIVE beneath, and lay out 5 counters in different arrangements to see how many ways five can be made.

For the parent:

In many traditions five is the number of the human being, the pentagram of head and four limbs, and the five senses through which we meet the world. The rose family carries five in its flowers and its fruits, and the apple holds its star hidden at its heart until we look for it.

For the child, keep it simple:

Five is the star. When you stand with your arms and legs wide, you are a star too.

Five-point star within my hand,
Five-point star wherever I stand,
Thank you, apple, rose, and sky,
Five is shining, so am I.

• Cut an apple across at snack time and find the star every day this week.
• Make a star of five sticks bound with wool.
• Paint a wild rose with five petals.
• Sing a counting song with five fingers, such as "Five Little Ducks."
• Return to One, The Sun and count up through every number lesson in order.

Five is the first number that we can't always see at a glance, so let the child count it with touch first. The hand is the best manipulative a child will ever have: always with them, always five.