The Number Nine: The Sun and Its Planets

To let the child meet nine first as a quality living in the world, in the sun and its planets, 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 nine in the world, movement, and writing the numeral 9 large and beautiful.

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

Sun at the center, shining bright,
Eight around in day and night,
Nine together, round they go,
Dancing slow and dancing so.

The Sun's Great Dance.

Long, long ago, the Sun looked out into the dark and felt lonely. "I have so much light," she said, "and no one to share it with."

So one by one, the planets came to dance with her. First came quick little Mercury, then shining Venus, then our own blue-green Earth, then red Mars. After them came the great ones: Jupiter, ringed Saturn, sleepy Uranus, and deep blue Neptune.

Eight planets circled the Sun, each in its own ring, each at its own pace. Mercury ran fast and close. Neptune walked slowly far away. But all of them were held by the Sun's warm light.

"Now we are nine," said the Sun happily, "one in the middle and eight in the dance." And she shone on each one of them, near and far, the same.

Down on Earth a little boy sat on a hill at night and looked up. He could not see all the planets, but he knew they were there, dancing around the Sun, nine together, round and round.

Name the eight planets in order from the Sun and count them on your fingers, then add one for the Sun: nine. Visit each planet's lesson: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and little Pluto, who once was counted as the ninth planet.

Nine is three threes: three clover leaves, three times over. Lay out nine stones in three rows of three and see the square they make.

Dance the solar system: one child is the Sun in the middle, and the others walk in rings around her, the close ones quickly and the far ones slowly. Count the dancers: nine.

Paint or draw the story picture first. Then, on a fresh page, write the numeral 9 very large with a crayon, slowly, saying “nine” as you go. Beside it draw nine of something from the story.

Older children can also write the word NINE beneath, and lay out 9 counters in different arrangements to see how many ways nine can be made.

For the parent:

Nine is three times three, the storyteller's number multiplied by itself. In the old picture of the heavens, the spheres of the planets were counted in nines, and the number carries a feeling of fullness just before the new beginning of ten.

For the child, keep it simple:

Nine is the Sun and her eight planets, all dancing together. One in the middle and eight around her.

Sun so warm and planets eight,
Dancing near and dancing late,
Nine together, round and round,
In the sky my home is found.

• Paint the Sun in the middle and the planets around her with watercolor.
• Learn a planet order chant.
• Arrange nine stones in a three by three square.
• Connect to the Weekdays and Planets lesson.
• Return to One, The Sun and count up through every number lesson in order.

When children ask about Pluto, tell them the truth: astronomers once counted it as the ninth planet, and now call it a dwarf planet. Either way it is still out there, dancing.