Math for 1st graders is mostly about adding, subtracting and place value (tens and ones). Your child learns to add and subtract within 20, to solve word problems and to see that 34 means 3 tens and 4 ones. Counting goes up to 120, and adding with tens goes up to 100. Your child also measures length with same-size objects, tells time to the half hour and splits shapes into halves and fourths. A child who finishes 1st grade quick with facts within 10 and solid on tens and ones starts 2nd grade ready.
The one-minute check
Ask your child, "I have 7 crackers. How many more do I need to have 10?" Then ask the same with 4 crackers, and with 6.
If they get it
Your child answers 3, 6 and 4 within a few seconds each, from memory or with a quick look at fingers. That means the pairs that make 10 from kindergarten are solid, and 1st grade has something to build on.
If they do not
Your child counts up slowly from 1 each time, guesses, or adds the numbers and says 17. That is the gap, and it comes from kindergarten.
One of the main 1st grade strategies for facts up to 20 is making ten. To add 8 + 6, a child takes 2 from the 6 to make 10, then adds the 4 that is left: 10 + 4 = 14. A child who does not know that 8 and 2 make 10 falls back on counting by ones, which is slow and leads to mistakes.
Read each line as "my child can…". Confident checks are strengths; hesitations are where to look closer.
Not every topic weighs the same. Adding and subtracting within 20, place value (tens and ones) and measuring length are where most of 1st grade goes, and 2nd grade is built on them. Shapes, time and data are real topics, but a smaller share of the year.
The center of 1st grade. Your child adds and subtracts within 20 with strategies such as counting on and making ten, and gets quick with the facts within 10.
Comes from last year: Kindergarten had to make adding and subtracting within 5 quick, and teach the pairs that make 10, such as 7 and 3. A child who still counts every object from 1 will find the strategies here slow and confusing.
1.OA.3 · 1.OA.4 · 1.OA.5 · 1.OA.6
Stories about adding to, taking away, putting together and comparing, with the missing number in any place. Your child also learns that the equal sign means both sides are the same amount.
Comes from last year: Kindergarten word problems stay within 10, and the missing number is usually the result. A child who has only met that kind may read every story as "add the two numbers."
1.OA.1 · 1.OA.2 · 1.OA.7 · 1.OA.8
Counting goes past 100, and two-digit numbers start to make sense as tens and ones. Every later year of work with bigger numbers depends on this idea.
Comes from last year: Kindergarten had to show that 11 to 19 are ten ones and some more ones, for example ten counters and four more. A child who knows 14 only as a word to say will find tens and ones hard.
1.NBT.1 · 1.NBT.2 · 1.NBT.3
Tens and ones put to work. Your child adds within 100 by adding tens to tens and ones to ones, and finds 10 more or 10 less without counting.
Comes from last year: Tens and ones from earlier this year, plus quick facts within 20. Adding 36 + 7 is easy only when 6 + 7 = 13 is easy, and a child who still counts by ones loses track.
1.NBT.4 · 1.NBT.5 · 1.NBT.6
Rulers come in 2nd grade. This year your child measures by laying same-size objects, such as paper clips or cubes, end to end.
Comes from last year: Kindergarten compared two objects side by side to say which is longer. Lining up the ends is the first step of every measurement this year.
1.MD.1 · 1.MD.2
Simple charts and tallies with up to three groups, such as the favorite fruits of a class.
Comes from last year: Kindergarten sorting: putting objects into groups and counting each group, with no more than 10 in a group. Comparing the groups is the new part.
1.MD.4
What makes a shape that shape, how shapes fit together to make new ones and how to cut circles and rectangles into halves and fourths.
Comes from last year: Kindergarten named shapes such as squares, circles and triangles, whatever their size or direction. A child who thinks a triangle turned upside down is no longer a triangle needs that first.
1.G.1 · 1.G.2 · 1.G.3
Reading the time to the hour and to the half hour, on a clock with hands and on a digital clock.
Comes from last year: Nothing directly. Telling time is new in 1st grade, but it goes faster when counting and reading the numbers to 12 are solid.
1.MD.3
These are the Common Core standards for 1st grade math. Each link opens a page that explains the topic in simple words, with examples, the usual sticking points and four practice questions.
| Area | What schools teach | Share of the year |
|---|---|---|
| Adding and subtracting within 20 | The center of 1st grade. Your child adds and subtracts within 20 with strategies such as counting on and making ten, and gets quick with the facts within 10. | Major |
| Word problems and the equal sign | Stories about adding to, taking away, putting together and comparing, with the missing number in any place. Your child also learns that the equal sign means both sides are the same amount. | Major |
| Counting to 120 and tens and ones | Counting goes past 100, and two-digit numbers start to make sense as tens and ones. Every later year of work with bigger numbers depends on this idea. | Major |
| Adding and subtracting with tens | Tens and ones put to work. Your child adds within 100 by adding tens to tens and ones to ones, and finds 10 more or 10 less without counting. | Major |
| Measuring length | Rulers come in 2nd grade. This year your child measures by laying same-size objects, such as paper clips or cubes, end to end. | Major |
| Sorting and counting data | Simple charts and tallies with up to three groups, such as the favorite fruits of a class. | Smaller |
| Shapes and equal shares | What makes a shape that shape, how shapes fit together to make new ones and how to cut circles and rectangles into halves and fourths. | Smaller |
| Telling time | Reading the time to the hour and to the half hour, on a clock with hands and on a digital clock. | Smaller |
Five real problems from our 1st grade bank. Work through them with your child, check each answer, and see the steps for any problem.
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Problem 1
The answer is 2 because two of the shapes are triangles. Each triangle has 3 straight sides. The square and rectangle each have 4 straight sides, so they do not match the rule.
Problem 2
The order from shortest to longest is C, B, A. Crayon C is the shortest, then crayon B, and crayon A is the longest.
Problem 3
There are 11 butterflies in the meadow.
Problem 4
Aisha has more hearts than Carlos because .
Problem 5
Aiyana has the correct pieces. The model has 2 cubes, 1 cylinder, and 1 cone. Aiyana also has 2 cubes, 1 cylinder, and 1 cone. Her blocks match the model.
These are not careless mistakes. Each one is a rule that worked perfectly well until this year, applied consistently to a place where it no longer holds, which is why the same wrong answer keeps coming back. Recognising the specific rule is far more useful than more practice.
Writes fourteen as 41.
The name "fourteen" says the four first, but the digits put the ten first. Showing 14 as one bundle of ten sticks and 4 loose sticks ties the name, the digits and the amount together.
Fills in 8 + 4 = ? + 5 with 12.
The equal sign is read as "the answer goes here." It means both sides are the same amount. 8 + 4 is 12, so the missing number is 7, because 7 + 5 is also 12.
Reads "Some birds sat on a fence. 3 more came. Now there are 9." and answers 12.
"More came" sounds like adding, so 3 and 9 get added. The missing number is how many birds were there at the start: what number plus 3 makes 9? The answer is 6.
Reads a clock that shows 2:30 as 3:30.
At half past, the short hand sits halfway between two numbers. The hour is the number the short hand has just passed, not the next one.
Schools vary, but most 1st grade classrooms move in about this order. Useful if you are trying to work out whether something is genuinely behind or simply has not been taught yet.
Next year does not re-teach these. It starts from them, which is why a gap left open over the summer tends to show up in October rather than in June.
Free 1st grade math quick check
Ten questions on the year’s main topics, about 10 to 15 minutes, with a worked solution for every one. Take it online or print it with the answer key.
Start the quick check →
Adding and subtracting within 20, word problems, the meaning of the equal sign, counting to 120, tens and ones, adding within 100, measuring length, shapes and equal shares, telling time to the half hour and simple data charts. Adding and subtracting within 20 carries the most weight, along with tens and ones.
The facts within 10, yes, by the end of the year. 1st grade asks for quick, correct answers to facts such as 7 + 3 and 9 - 4. Facts with totals from 11 to 20 are still worked out with strategies such as making ten, and 2nd grade asks for those from memory.
Start with the one-minute make-ten check on this page. For a broader read, try the free 10-question quick check. The Level Up assessment, about 30 to 40 questions on a computer or tablet, adapts to each answer and shows where your child stands, including gaps from earlier grades. It is included in the free trial.
