Where on the Number Line? 0 to 10 with Two Arrows a Line

Every line on this 1st grade number lines page runs from 0 to 10 and carries just three printed numbers: 0, 5 and 10. A tick stands at every whole number in between, and two orange arrows point up at two of the unlabelled ones, each with an empty dashed box floating above it. The child finds the nearest printed landmark, counts on tick by tick to the arrow, and writes the number in the box. Two arrows a line, and no line asks for more.

Two arrows is a deliberate limit. The whole skill here is counting on from a landmark rather than starting again at zero, and a short line with few questions gives the child room to practise that without the page becoming a marathon. Watching the pencil tells you which method is in use: a finger sliding from 0 every time works and is slow, while a finger that lands on 5 and steps twice has understood what the printed labels are for.

Print the PDF free and ask the child to say aloud which label they counted from before writing each answer; that sentence is the thinking made audible. This is the shortest number line page in the set. The fewer labels version keeps three landmarks but stretches the line to 20, so the runs between them get longer, and the to 30 version widens the range again. Number of the day includes one of these lines among its boxes.