Counting to 20: Numbers All Around Us
Look down at your fingers and toes — together they add up to 20! That's exactly how far we're counting today. Numbers help us count our shoes, our snacks, and our friends in line, and once you know your way to 20, you can count almost anything in your classroom.
What You'll Learn
- How to count out loud from 1 to 20 in order - How to count real objects one at a time without skipping - How to tell which of two numbers is bigger - How to write the numbers 1 through 20
One Touch, One Number
The most important counting rule is: touch one object, say one number. If you touch two objects but only say one number, your count will be wrong! Try lining up 10 crayons in a row and touching each one as you say 1, 2, 3, all the way to 10.
Past 10: The Teen Numbers
After 10 comes 11 (eleven), 12 (twelve), 13 (thirteen), and so on through 19 (nineteen). Notice that after 13, most of the teen numbers end in "-teen" and start with the ones digit: fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen. Then comes 20 (twenty), a whole new word for two full groups of ten.
Bigger or Smaller?
When you count higher, the numbers get bigger. 15 is bigger than 9 because when you count up, you say 9 before you say 15 — you pass it on the way. A fast trick: the number with more digits (like 15, which has two digits) is almost always bigger than a number with just one digit (like 9).
Practice counting the same group of objects twice in a row. If you get the same number both times, you counted correctly!
Match the number word to its numeral.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
You count 8 blocks, then count the same pile again and get 10. What should you do?
Which number is bigger: 13 or 17?
Count Your World
Find three groups of objects around your room (like books, socks, or toy cars) each with fewer than 20 items. Count each group out loud touching one item per number, then write the numeral for each group's total on paper. Deliverable: a paper listing all three groups with their counted totals.
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