Where on the Number Line? 0 to 50, Labeled Every Ten

A label every ten and a tick for every single number in between: that is the shape of all four lines on this 1st grade number-lines page. Each line runs from 0 to 50 and prints only 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50. Three orange arrows point down at ticks that carry no number of their own, and above each arrow floats an empty dashed box. The child finds the nearest printed ten, counts on along the ticks, and writes the number the arrow lands on. Twelve answers in all, and on the last line two arrows stand close enough together to catch a child who is not really counting.

Fifty ticks on a line is a lot of small marks, and that density is what this version adds. Because the labels are ten apart, a careless route can mean nine counts, so the child who starts from zero every time runs out of patience long before the page does. The efficient reader looks at the nearest ten and then decides which way to travel: thirty-eight is two back from forty, not eight on from thirty. Choosing the shorter direction is the whole skill, and with twelve arrows there is enough repetition for it to become a habit rather than a lucky exception.

Print the PDF free and ask for the label counted from to be written in pencil beside the first box on each line, so the route is visible on the page. If the runs of single ticks cause miscounts, the counting in fives version keeps the same 0 to 50 range but prints a tick every five, which cuts the marks from fifty to ten. The 0 to 30 page is the gentler step before this one. Number of the day up to 99 puts these same two-digit numbers into tens and ones.