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Children revise counting forwards and backwards to 100 using different activities. Begin with concrete objects: give a child 23 marbles and ask them to count one by one to see how the total grows. Show how tens are groups of ten objects and ones are single objects left over. Use bundles of sticks or drawing of tens-frames to show that 47 is 4 tens and 7 ones. Teach reading and writing numbers both in figures and words, for example 58 and 'fifty eight'. Practise skips: count by 2s up to 20, by 5s up to 50, and by 10s up to 100. Use a number line to fill missing numbers: mark every fifth number to make patterns visible. Compare two numbers by looking at tens first; for example 63 is greater than 58 because 6 tens is more than 5 tens. Play small games: who can say the next three numbers after 69? Ask students to make numbers using tens and ones blocks and exchange tens for ten ones to understand regrouping. Encourage writing complete number sentences like 30 + 6 = 36. These activities build clear number sense and make later addition and subtraction easier.
Key ideas:
Addition is joining two groups to find how many there are altogether. Start with real objects so children see the join: if you have 12 apples and you add 11 more apples, put them together and count the total. Teach adding ones and tens separately: for 34 + 25 first add the ones 4 + 5 = 9, then add the tens 30 + 20 = 50 and combine to get 59. Use place value blocks or drawings to show when ones become ten and you must carry to the tens place. Show how to carry with a clear step: when ones sum to 10 or more, write the ones digit and carry 1 ten. Use number bonds to 10 (for example 7 + 3 = 10) to help mental addition. Number line jumps are a useful picture: start at 34 and make a jump of 25 in two steps: +20 and +5 to reach 59. Teach simple properties like commutativity: 12 + 8 = 8 + 12, so changing order does not change the total. Practice mental shortcuts: adding 10 increases the tens digit by one. Play classroom games where children add small numbers to practise speed and accuracy. Encourage checking answers by reversing the operation (subtracting one addend from the total).
Steps:
Subtraction means taking away some objects from a larger group to find how many remain. Use toys or counters so a child can remove items and count what is left. Explain subtraction as the inverse of addition: if 8 + 5 = 13, then 13 − 5 = 8. Teach subtracting ones first and then tens. When the ones digit of the number from which we subtract (minuend) is smaller than the ones digit being subtracted (subtrahend), show borrowing: take one ten from the tens place and add ten ones to the ones place so subtraction can continue. For example, to do 42 − 19, change 42 to 3 tens and 12 ones, then subtract 9 from 12 and 1 ten from 3 tens to get 23. Use number lines for backward jumps to visualise subtraction: start at 50 and jump back 17 to reach 33. Teach checking answers by adding the difference and the subtracted number to see if they make the original number. Use story problems like 'There are 20 sweets, you eat 7, how many are left?' to link subtraction with everyday life. Encourage clear written steps and practise different examples so children become confident with borrowing and mental subtraction.
Methods:
Children learn to recognise and describe common two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. Use many real objects so the ideas are easy to remember: a plate is a circle, a book is a rectangle, a dice is a cube, a juice can is a cylinder. For each 2-D shape say how many straight sides and corners it has; for example a triangle has 3 sides and 3 corners, a square has 4 equal sides and 4 corners. Talk about curved sides too: a circle has one curved side and no corners. For 3-D shapes use the words face, edge and corner (vertex). Explain that a cube has 6 faces, 12 edges and 8 corners, while a sphere (ball) has no edges or corners and only one curved surface. Ask children to sort shapes into groups: straight-sided and curved-sided, or flat (2-D) and solid (3-D). Drawing shapes and labelling their parts helps learning: draw a rectangle and mark its 4 sides, then count corners. Simple craft activities—cutting out shapes and making a house from triangles and rectangles—make the properties stick. Encourage correct vocabulary and let children describe shapes they see at home and school.
Activities:
Measurement helps us say how long or how heavy things are. Start with non-standard units so children understand the idea: measure a pencil using paper clips or blocks, counting how many paper clips long it is. Then move to standard tools like a ruler for length and a balance or kitchen scale for weight. Teach centimetre marks on a ruler and show how to place the zero at one end of the object. Explain words like long, short, longer than, heavier and lighter. Give many simple comparisons: which is longer, my pen or your eraser? Which is heavier, a book or an apple? Show measurement steps clearly: line up the ruler, read the nearest mark, and if an object is between two marks, choose the nearer whole number for practice or state the exact centimetre for confident students. For weight, demonstrate using a balance scale: heavier side goes down. Let children practise estimating first (guess then measure) to develop judgement. Record answers in simple sentences: 'The pencil is 12 cm long.' and 'The mango is heavier than the orange.' These activities build helpful skills for everyday life and for later measurement work in higher classes.
Tips:
Learning to tell time helps children organise daily activities. Use a real analogue clock with movable hands or a paper clock to practise. Explain that the short hand (hour hand) shows the hour and the long hand (minute hand) shows minutes. When the long hand points to 12 it shows exactly o'clock. For example, when the short hand points to 4 and the long hand to 12 it is 4 o'clock. When the long hand points to 6 it is half past the hour, meaning 30 minutes past; for example short hand slightly past 7 and long hand on 6 is 7:30 or half past 7. Teach how the short hand moves between numbers as minutes pass. Use daily routines: 'School starts at 8 o'clock', 'Lunchtime is half past 1' so children connect times to events. Give practice: ask children to move clock hands to show given times and to read times shown. Show the change of position: between 3:00 and 4:00 the short hand moves from 3 towards 4. Play games where children match picture activities to clock times. Make sure they first master o'clock and half past before introducing minutes and quarter hours later on.
Steps:
Children learn to recognise common rupee coins and use them to count and pay. Start with coin pictures or play coins: show 1, 2, 5 and 10 rupee coins and explain their values. Practice making amounts using different coins, for example make 12 rupees with a 10-rupee coin and two 1-rupee coins. Teach simple addition of coin values and how to give change by subtraction: if an item costs 6 rupees and a child gives 10 rupees, the change is 10 − 6 = 4 rupees. Use role-play shop activities where children price classroom items and others buy them by paying exact amounts or receiving change. Explain grouping tens: ten 10-rupee coins equal 100 rupees in value. Use word problems to connect counting coins with everyday life, such as buying a snack or paying bus fare. Encourage children to count aloud while handling coins to build confidence. Remind students to organise coins before counting by placing similar coins together. These hands-on activities help children understand money and prepare them for more complex work later.
Games:
Patterns help children notice regularity and predict what comes next. Begin with colour or shape patterns: red, blue, red, blue and ask what comes next. Show number patterns like 2, 4, 6, 8 to teach counting by twos. Ask children to make their own repeating patterns using beads or coloured papers. For simple data, collect a small amount of information from the class such as favourite fruits or pets. Teach tally marks to record each answer quickly: one tallies each item and groups of five make counting easier. Then show how to transfer the tallies into a pictograph: draw a small picture symbol for each item and place the correct number of pictures in columns. Ask questions about the pictograph: which is most popular, which is least, how many more children like apples than bananas? These activities teach observation, recording and reading information. Use group tasks where children collect data from classmates and present it using tallies and pictures. Encourage neat drawing and accurate counting so the pictograph is easy to read.
Activities: