Do They Know the Number System?
If a student is having trouble counting or sequencing numbers, they might not be able to understand the system that makes up the numbers from one to one hundred.

1 to 13.

• It will take memory work to get to 13. Remember numbers are just symbols and for a beginning student their name make no logical sense.
• Start by making it a counting game or song.
  eg. Count to ten, say a nursery rhyme, count to ten and say another.
• Use wooden or plastic numbers to work through the numbers. Hopefully, the student will see the system once they get beyond 13.

Mastering the tens.

• Once they can count to twenty, then start counting by 10s so they learn the names twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty and ninety. Use the counting game method.
• Now that they know the names of the tens, adding the numbers from one to nine is all that is needed.
• When counting forward is mastered, have them practice counting backwards.

My own son was unable to sequence numbers thus making counting to 30 very difficult but once he reached 30 in one night he counted to 100. The way I tackled this problem was by taking a wooden number puzzle my sister had given my son and every night before he fell asleep, we would take out that puzzle and count.
It took forever to get to twenty as all the numbers from one to thirteen are unrelated and make no sense. Fourteen to nineteen could be related to four to nine. Twenty had to be mastered but then twenty-one to twenty-nine had a system to them. Thirty had to be mastered but then, except for learning the names of forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty and ninety, the rest made perfect sense to my kindergarten son.
So it took us weeks, maybe even months, to get him to count to thirty but then it only took him one night to count on to 100 and beyond. I tried to turn learning activities into a fun time spend with my son. (This isn't always possible -- as one of my female grade seven tutoring students used to say with a grin "Your idea of fun or mine?")

See our Teaching Resources for Math for counting worksheets, lesson plans, etc.

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