Counting to 100 - Stair Step Style

I recently ran into a retired K-1st grade teacher having a garage sale. I basically bought out her sale. She had lots of math materials. One of my findings was these stair step math cards. I've decided to use them to work on counting to 100. Lexy counts to 30 independently, and she can count to 100 with transitional help. So, I really want to take time to help her understand the pattern of counting and what makes up a number.

I've decided to take it very slowly by starting off reviewing 1-20. I want Lexy to understand the teens as 10 plus a number. These stair step cards are broken down into groups of numbers 1-12, 13-20, etc. First, she put 1-20 in order and then matched up the individual numbers over the top. We would say each number as we covered it.




After putting the numbers in order, she used base 10 blocks to put the correct amount above each number. Without me asking her to, she made these into an AB pattern. She was able to notice that each group was one step higher than the previous...like stairs. She also saw that each one would end in a different color than the previous one had.

After she did 10-11, I brought out the group of 10. I showed her how we could replace the 10 individual blocks with the one long group of 10. For numbers 11-20, she used the group of 10 plus 1,2,3, etc. This was a great way to review the concept we practiced with our number boards talked about here.


We will continue on to 100 by adding a group each time. Next will come 21-30. She will use the base 10 blocks to make the numbers above each group. We will also continue practicing counting by 10s.