Counting to 100 in Ones and Tens

Your child knows the count to 20. From there, familiar endings join a tens word. Say "twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two" slowly together. Keep "twenty" and change the ending, all the way to "twenty-nine".

Listen for the new tens word

After a number ending in nine, the next tens word begins. After 29 comes 30; after 59 comes 60. The endings then start again with one. Knowing this pattern saves your child from learning each longer name separately.

Say the signpost words together: "twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred". Point to their numerals as you speak. Your child needs their order to know what follows each "-nine" number.

Work through a crossing

Try counting from 27 to 42 together:

"Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two."

Pause briefly at 30 and 40. Ask your child what changed there. The tens word changes; the familiar endings start again. On the next turn, you say "twenty-nine" and leave space for your child to say "thirty".

Build up in small stretches

Begin with the count to 30. Add the stretches to 50 when the first crossing feels easy, then work toward 100. Count together first, take turns saying numbers, and let your child lead. Pointing along a hundred chart can help them keep their place.

Use a few moments while waiting in line or walking together. A counting song can help with the order, too. When a word goes missing, return to the last familiar tens word and try that short stretch again.

After "ninety-nine" comes "one hundred". The numbers keep going: in American English, the next names are "one hundred one, one hundred two, one hundred three".

Listen as your child counts, and notice the spot where the count changes. A skipped word needs different help from a muddled tens word. Let them finish a short stretch before you try it together.

Repair a crossing

"Twenty-nine, twenty-ten" shows that your child is keeping the endings going. Say, "After twenty-nine comes thirty." Try "twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one" together. Then practice just the crossings: "39, 40", "49, 50", and onward to "99, 100".

A child might say "thirty-nine, fifty" or "forty-nine, forty". Practice the tens words alone in order. Then return to the troublesome crossing. Hearing "thirty, forty, fifty" helps your child choose forty after thirty-nine.

Give the tricky words their names

Some tens names need practice: twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty. If your child says "fivety", you can say, "I hear how you made that word. We call it fifty." Sixty, seventy, eighty, and ninety sound more like the small numbers they come from. In writing, forty has no u.

Teen and tens words can sound very close. Say "thir-TEEN" and "THIR-ty" clearly, then show their amounts. Thirteen is one group of ten with three more. Thirty is three full groups of ten. Point to 13 and 30 as you name them. You can do the same with fourteen and forty or fifteen and fifty.

Slow a rushed count

If your child skips a number or says one twice, clap once for each spoken number. A steady beat leaves room for every word. Restart at the last tens word they know, and listen to that stretch.

Saying the words and counting objects are separate skills. A child may recite to 100 but touch an object twice. With objects, move each counted item aside as its number is said. The words must match the things.

Keep a note of a troublesome stretch, such as the sixties into seventy. A minute or two of practice on that part is more useful than repeating an easy start. Give the correct word gently and let your child try it.

Counting in tens goes "ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred". Each new number is ten more. This is skip counting: nine number names are passed over between the numbers you say.

Make the words show an amount

Put ten craft sticks in each bundle. Touch one bundle and say "ten". Touch a second and say "twenty". You are saying how many sticks have been counted altogether, not how many bundles there are.

One full group is 10, two are 20, and four are 40. Ten full groups make 100. Full ten frames work well, too. Each frame has two rows of five spaces, with one object in every space.

Count six bundles

Set out six bundles of ten sticks. Touch them once each:

1. First bundle: "ten".
2. Second: "twenty".
3. Third: "thirty".
4. Fourth: "forty".
5. Fifth: "fifty".
6. Sixth: "sixty".

There are 60 sticks. Counting every stick in ones would give 60 as well, but takes many more spoken counts.

There are ten spoken names in the tens count from 10 to 100. There are nine jumps between those numbers. From 0, it takes ten jumps of ten to reach 100.

Take groups away

Begin with ten bundles and say "one hundred". Remove one whole bundle and say "ninety". Keep removing one at a time: "eighty, seventy, sixty, fifty, forty, thirty, twenty, ten, zero". Each step is ten less. At zero, there are no bundles left.

Listen for a switch to teen words, such as "thirty, fourteen". Show the bundles again: fourteen is ten with four more, so it cannot follow thirty in an upward count. Model "thirty, forty, fifty".

A child may invent "tenty" after ninety. Show the tenth full group and name the total: "one hundred". Everyday tens help the words stick: count the ten fingers on each person's two hands, one person at a time.

Before counting a pile, ask your child for a close guess: "About how many do you think there are?" This is an estimate. A guess near forty for a pile of 47 is useful. You will count to find the exact amount.

Make checked groups of ten

Use cups or ten frames for sorting, or make rows on the table. Move each object into one group, saying one number word for each object. Stop each group at ten. Keep full groups apart from loose objects.

Check any group that looks too large or small. Counting in tens works only when each group has ten. A row of nine gives a wrong total if counted as ten.

Keep the total when the groups run out

Suppose you have 47 pasta pieces. Your child makes four groups of ten, leaving seven loose pieces.

1. Touch the full groups: "ten, twenty, thirty, forty".
2. Keep forty in mind. Touch the first loose piece: "forty-one".
3. Count the rest: "forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven".

The last number, 47, tells how many pasta pieces there are. Each object has been counted once, either inside a full group or as a loose piece.

Starting the loose count at "one" loses the forty already counted. Point to the full groups and say, "We have forty here. What comes next?" Counting the loose pieces as "fifty, sixty" makes each single piece worth ten. Move one loose piece at a time and use the next ones word.

Check by changing the arrangement

Spread the same pasta out and count it in ones. You still get 47. Moving the pieces into groups changed their arrangement, not their number. If the totals differ, look for a missed piece, a piece counted twice, or a group that was not ten.

Compare the exact count with the first estimate. Ask, "Was our guess close?"

For a collection of 100, make ten full groups with no loose pieces. Counting a hundred objects can be a shared project for the 100th day of school.

Counting on means starting at a given number and continuing from there. Say, "Start at forty-six." Your child says "forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty". They can begin there without saying one through forty-five first.

Practice a short start

Choose a number close to a familiar tens word, such as 21 or 51. Say it together, then let your child continue for a few numbers. Later, try starts farther into the stretch, such as 37 or 84.

If your child starts at forty when you asked for forty-six, repeat "forty-six" together. Ask, "What comes next?" If they begin at one, point to the chosen number on a chart and start there beside them.

Cross a tens word

Ask, "Start at 68 and count to 75." Say:

"Sixty-eight, sixty-nine, seventy, seventy-one, seventy-two, seventy-three, seventy-four, seventy-five."

The crossing from sixty-nine to seventy works just as it does in a count from one. The start has changed; the order has not. You can take turns: your child chooses your start, then you choose theirs.

Find the close neighbors

The next number is one more. The number just before is one less. After 73 comes 74; before 73 comes 72. Point along a number line as you ask these questions.

At a tens crossing, one more than 59 is 60, and one less than 60 is 59. Ask each question separately, leaving time for your child to say the answer. A chart can help while these words become familiar.

A gap between two counting neighbors works the same way. For "39, __, 41", count on from thirty-nine. Forty fits between the two. Check by saying "thirty-nine, forty, forty-one" in order.

Try a quick count from the page number of an open book. Begin with the number on that page and continue a little way. Your child sees that they can join the same count wherever they are.

Counting back uses the same number names in reverse order. Each step is one less. Try "fifty-three, fifty-two, fifty-one, fifty, forty-nine, forty-eight" while pointing to the numbers.

Your child learned the forward count first, so the backward count may take more thought. They might quietly say "48, 49, 50" to find the number before fifty. That is a helpful way to work it out.

Step back across a ten

Before a decade number comes a number ending in nine. Before 50 is 49; before 30 is 29; before 100 is 99. The tens word becomes the previous one.

Say "sixty-three" and count back to 55:

"Sixty-three, sixty-two, sixty-one, sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven, fifty-six, fifty-five."

Stop at sixty for a moment. Find fifty-nine just before it on a chart or line. Then try that crossing again without stopping.

Keep the step small

A child may say "fifty, fifty-nine". Point to fifty-nine and show that it lies ahead of fifty in the forward count. To go back, use forty-nine.

Another child may say "fifty, forty". That takes away ten. Place a finger on fifty and move to the very next number backward, forty-nine. Keeping one finger move for each word helps hold the one-number step.

Crossing twenty needs the teen names: "twenty-one, twenty, nineteen, eighteen". Practice this short stretch before a longer backward count. At the top of the range, try "one hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight".

Reach zero

A rocket countdown makes a friendly start: "ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero". Zero means nothing left.

With a small pile, remove one object for each backward step. Then try counting from twenty to zero. Build toward starts such as 45 or 100, using a hundred chart when your child needs help finding the next word.

A number line puts numbers in order at equal spaces. On a line marked in ones, one step right is one more. One step left is one less. Begin by finding a labeled number and tracing the marks beside it.

Find an unlabeled number

Some lines label only 0, 10, 20, and the other tens. The small marks between them still show each number.

To find 43, start at 40 and move three marks right: "41, 42, 43". To find 47, start at 50, which is closer. Move three marks left: "49, 48, 47". Let your child point to each landing as they say it.

Count jumps after leaving the start

Put a counter on 36. Ask it to make three one-number jumps forward.

1. Start on 36 before counting any jumps.
2. First jump: land on 37.
3. Second jump: land on 38.
4. Third jump: land on 39.

The landing is 39. Saying "36, 37, 38" counts the starting mark as a jump and ends one short. Draw a small arc for each move and count the arcs. From zero, the first jump lands on one.

The same rule works backward. Start on 52 and make four one-number jumps left. Land on 51, 50, 49, and 48. The counter ends on 48.

Find amounts on a bead string

A 100-bead string often changes color after each group of ten. Move three full color groups to show thirty beads. Move four more beads to show thirty-four. Count beads from the same end so each full group keeps its place.

Look at where numbers belong

On a line from 0 to 100, 50 sits halfway along. Ten is near zero; ninety is near one hundred. Seventy-five is halfway between fifty and one hundred. Ask your child to point near a number first, then use the marks to find its exact place.

"Before", "after", and "between" also have places on the line. Thirty-nine sits just before forty, forty-one just after it, and forty between those two.

A hundred chart has ten rows and ten columns. It shows the numbers from 1 to 100. You may also hear it called a hundreds chart or a hundred square.

Follow the count like a page

Read left to right across a row. At the end, return to the left of the next row. The first row holds 1 through 10. The second holds 11 through 20. The last holds 91 through 100.

Each row ends with a decade number: 10, 20, 30, and so on. One hundred sits at the bottom right. Trace the first two rows together so your child sees where the count goes after ten.

After thirty comes thirty-one at the next row's left edge. Forty sits directly below thirty, but it is not the next number in the ones count.

Find and read a number

To find 64, run a finger down the right edge: "ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty". The next row begins with 61. Move along it: "61, 62, 63, 64". You reach the seventh row, fourth square from the left, just below 54.

Read 64 as "sixty-four". In a number such as 64, the first digit points to the tens word and the second to its ending. The 2 in 21 through 29 goes with "twenty".

If your child swaps 14 and 41, name the whole number aloud. Fourteen is a teen number in the second row. Forty-one starts the fifth row. Ask, "Are we looking for a teen number or a forty number?"

Notice when a chart starts at zero

Some charts run from 0 to 99. Zero takes the first square, so the first row is 0 through 9. The next starts with 10. On that chart, decade numbers begin rows, and 100 is absent.

Compared with the 1-to-100 layout, numbers sit one square farther right, with decade numbers wrapping to the next row's left edge. Down a column still means ten more. Check which layout your child's class uses, and use that same layout at home.

Point to a number near the middle of a 1-to-100 chart. The squares around it show two useful step sizes: one across a row and ten down a column.

Move around 34

From 34, move one square right to 35. Move one square left from 34 to 33. Sideways neighbors in the same row are one more or one less.

Now return to 34 and move straight down to 44. Move straight up from 34 to 24. These moves change the count by ten because each row holds ten numbers.

Ask your child to say both the direction and the landing: "down to forty-four". This helps separate a one-square move from a one-number step. A square below 34 is ten more, not one more.

Follow matching endings

Look down the column under 7: "7, 17, 27, 37, 47, 57, 67, 77, 87, 97". Every number ends in 7. The last digit stays the same as each step adds ten.

Start at 26 and follow its column: "26, 36, 46, 56". Going back from 87 gives "87, 77, 67, 57". Your finger moves up the column.

If your child changes "twenty-six" to "thirty, forty", point to the column ending in 6. Thirty would change the last digit. A ten-number jump from 26 reaches 36.

Starting at 3 gives "three, thirteen, twenty-three, thirty-three, forty-three". Thirteen sounds different from the later names, so point to 13 while you say it.

Look across a row

In the row 21 through 30, the first nine numbers begin with 2. Their endings run 1 through 9. The last square is 30, which begins a new tens word. The first row is different: it holds the one-digit numbers 1 through 9, then 10.

Give your child a color and ask them to mark every number ending in 3. One straight column appears. Before coloring the next square, ask them to predict its number. Coloring numbers ending in 0 fills the chart's right edge.

A missing-number puzzle leaves a space in a count or a chart. Help your child use a number they can see, then check the answer against another clue.

Use neighbors on a chart

On a piece of a 1-to-100 chart, the square left of a gap is one less. The square right is one more. The square above is ten less, and the square below is ten more.

Suppose 45 is in the center of a cross. Its left neighbor is 44; its right neighbor is 46. Above it is 35, and below it is 55. Point in the direction of each move as you name the number.

If 45 is hidden but 44 is visible on its left, count one more to find it. Then check against 35 above: ten more than 35 is 45. Both clues lead to the same number.

Find the step in a sequence

Read the visible numbers before filling a gap. In "57, 58, __, 60", the count goes up by one, so 59 belongs in the space.

For "40, 50, __, 70", first look at 40 to 50. That is a jump of ten. Another ten reaches 60, and another reaches 70. Filling in 51 would change the step to one.

Backward patterns need the same care. "100, 90, __, 70" goes down by ten, so 80 fits. Other patterns may use twos or fives. Ask, "How big is the step, and which way does it go?"

A gap can sit at a tens crossing. Read "88, 89, __, 91" aloud, starting at eighty-eight. Ninety fills the space. After "98, 99" comes 100.

Watch the chart edge

Thirty is the last square in its row. There is no square immediately to its right on the chart. Thirty-one begins the next row, directly below 21. Keep the chart edge visible when you cut out a puzzle piece, so your child can see where the row ends.

Counting by twos means each new number is two more: "two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen". One number is skipped between the spoken numbers.

Hear every second number

Count in ones together. Whisper "one", say "TWO", whisper "three", and say "FOUR". Continue the pattern. Once the loud numbers feel familiar, leave the whispered ones out.

Watch the step after ten. A child may continue "eleven, twelve" and slip into ones. Point to ten, pass over eleven, and land on twelve. Each step still skips one number.

Count complete pairs

Line up the shoes of six people in pairs. Touch one pair at a time and count "two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve". There are twelve shoes. Saying "one, two, three, four, five, six" would count the pairs, not the shoes.

Socks or mittens can work too. Make sure each pair is complete before giving it a two-number count.

Follow the endings

From 2, the endings repeat 2, 4, 6, 8, 0. In the thirties, say "thirty-two, thirty-four, thirty-six, thirty-eight, forty". After an 8 ending comes the next decade number.

On a 1-to-100 chart, color the numbers in this count. Five columns fill: the columns ending in 2, 4, 6, 8, and 0. The colored columns make stripes. Counting from 2 to 100 takes fifty spoken counts.

Twos can begin at 1 as well: "one, three, five, seven, nine, eleven". The step stays two, but you land in the other five columns. The starting number decides which set of squares you visit.

Count back in twos

Start with "twenty, eighteen, sixteen, fourteen, twelve, ten, eight, six, four, two, zero". Each step is two less. Use a finger on the chart to pass over one square each time. When this feels easy, try a higher starting number, such as fifty.

The fives count begins "five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty". Each new number is five more. It can count full hands, rows of five objects, or bundles of tally marks.

Count hands and tally bundles

Ask four children to hold up one hand each. Touch or point to each hand while saying "five, ten, fifteen, twenty". There are twenty fingers.

A full tally bundle also means five: four straight marks with a fifth across them. Three complete bundles count as "five, ten, fifteen". Count the marks represented by the bundles, not just the bundles themselves.

Listen for the alternating endings

From 5, the endings take turns: 5, 0, 5, 0. Say "twenty, twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five, forty". Two steps of five make ten, so every second landing is a decade number.

If your child says "twenty-five, thirty-five", a step of ten has slipped in. Count five single steps from twenty-five to thirty. Then return to fives. Fifteen and fifty also need clear names: fifteen is 15 and comes third in the count; fifty is 50 and comes tenth.

Color the fives count on a 1-to-100 chart. It fills two columns: the fifth, ending in 5, and the tenth, ending in 0. Counting from 5 to 100 takes twenty spoken counts.

Finish with single leftovers

Put 23 buttons in four rows of five, with three loose. Touch the rows: "five, ten, fifteen, twenty". Then touch the loose buttons: "twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three".

The total from the full rows stays in the count. Each loose button adds one, so the step changes from five to one.

Go back in fives

Begin at thirty: "thirty, twenty-five, twenty, fifteen, ten, five, zero". The endings still take turns. Later, begin at one hundred: "one hundred, ninety-five, ninety, eighty-five, eighty", and continue to zero.