Learning standards have shifted in American public schools and the new first-grade expectations are old second-grade expectations. Students are expected to finish kindergarten knowing all their letters, sounds, and numbers up to 100 with a focus on 0-20.
Students are expected to be able to read short CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and know sight words by heart. In first grade, students are expected to count to 100, by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s, starting at any number. First graders are expected to be able to add and subtract numbers 0-20 (this has always been an expectation in 2nd grade). As standards are pulled back toward younger and younger grades, many students and teachers have found this approach challenging since it doesn’t align with the child’s development and abilities. Yet, here we are. With all educational research, the U.S. hands the educational policy and expectations to those who have never been in a classroom nor studied the cognitive development of children.
To get a sense and master numbers at this young age, teachers need to make number practice a daily activity in all primary grades, kindergarten through third. Just like we infuse our daily instruction with letters, sounds, and word study, good teachers ensure number activities are part of daily activities.
Our ultimate goal is to grow students who have a good sense of numbers and that visualizing math becomes automatic. Skip counting, when learned and retained will be a foundation for multiplication and division that is a major part of 3rd grade math curriculum.
Students complete fill-in activities, skip counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, counting backward and forward, and from fandom numbers. Students also learn and practice even and odd numbers, which my 3rd graders are also still mastering. Ideally you would laminate these worksheets and be able to easily reuse them in centers, daily.
Kids Read 