Count on from a given number

What it looks like when your child can do it

• — Told there are seven pennies under a cup, your child adds two more and says eight, nine.
• — Asked what comes after fourteen, your child says fifteen without counting up from one.
• — On the stairs, your child starts at the step you name and keeps counting from there.

How to teach it at the kitchen table

1. 01

   Name the given number

   Count five blocks with your child, then cover them with a towel. Say there are five under here. That five is where the count begins, so nobody needs to count those blocks again.

2. 02

   Say the next number

   Set one more block beside the towel. Your child says six, not one. Add another and they say seven. The towel keeps them from starting over.

3. 03

   Start in the middle of the stairs

   Stand on a stair and call it four. Step up and count on: five, six. Your child hears a count that begins in the middle.

4. 04

   Count back by one too

   Once counting on is steady, ask what comes just before a number. Before nine is eight. Filling gaps between numbers needs both directions.

You will need: Twenty pennies, dried beans or blocks · Small counters like beans, buttons and pennies can choke a child, so stay at the table while they are out and put them away from younger children · A cup or a small towel · A set of stairs

Try it together

1. Try 1

   Put six pennies under a cup and tell your child there are six. Set three more pennies beside the cup. Ask how many in all.

   Listen for  Nine. Listen for seven, eight, nine as they touch the new pennies, with no restart at one.

2. Try 2

   Say twelve and ask your child to count on three more numbers.

   Listen for  Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen.

3. Try 3

   Ask what number comes just after sixteen.

   Listen for  Seventeen.

4. Try 4

   Ask what number comes just before eleven.

   Listen for  Ten. Counting back is harder than counting on, so give it time.

5. Try 5

   Say five, then ask your child to count on six more numbers, putting up one finger for each.

   Listen for  Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Crossing ten is where counts slip, so listen closely at ten and eleven.

Watch for

• — Touching the first new penny and saying seven. That makes the answer one too small. The seven are already under the cup, so the first new penny is eight.

If it is not there yet

• — Go back to counting from one to twenty out loud, with no skips, until the order is steady.
• — Practice one more on the box of ten holes: show a number, add one bean, and say the new number.

A few days of this is normal, and it is time well spent. The lesson will still be there, and it will go faster.

Where this skill comes up

• Zig and Zag Count to Twenty · Lesson 24

  Put Them in Order

  Needs it because finding a missing neighbor is counting on or back by one from a known mark.