Before or After Numbers Worksheet

Knowing which number comes just before or just after another number is one of the first real signs that a child understands how our number system is built. This Before or After Numbers Worksheet gives first graders focused practice at exactly that skill, working with two-digit numbers all the way to 100. When students can name the number that comes before 47, or the one that comes after 89, without counting all the way up from one, they are showing that the number sequence lives in their heads and not only on a number line taped to the desk. That mental number line is what later work on addition, subtraction, place value and skip counting is built on top of, which is why sequencing is worth practicing on its own.

This first grade sequencing worksheet is organized into three short sections that build on each other. In the first section, students look at a printed number and write the one that comes just before it. In the second, they write the number that comes just after. The third section turns the same skill into two short word problems about Tyler and Hazel, who take turns saying numbers out loud in a counting game, so children have to read the situation before they can answer it. Print one copy per student and use it as morning work, as a quick check after a counting lesson, as homework, or as a station activity while you meet with a small group.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 8 before-and-after number problems within 100, plus 2 sequencing word problems

There are three reasons this Before or After Numbers Worksheet helps children learn. First, it separates sequencing from arithmetic, so a student who is still shaky on the order of numbers is not fighting with sums at the same time. Second, several items deliberately cross a ten — 30 to 29, 29 to 30, 89 to 90 — because that is exactly where children stumble and where the pattern finally clicks. Third, the two word problems at the end ask students to use the same skill in a spoken, real-life setting, which is closer to how assessments present it. The included answer key lets you check the page in seconds, or hand it to students so they can check their own work.

Away from the page, there are plenty of quick ways to keep this skill warm. Play a car-ride game where one person says a number and the other answers with the number just before or just after it. Write numerals on sticky notes, leave gaps in the row on the fridge, and ask your child to fill in the missing neighbors. Count backward from 30 while you wash hands or walk to the bus stop. Hide a numeral card and give clues such as “it comes right after 61.” A few minutes a day of that kind of play builds number sense faster than a whole page of drill.

Related Resources

• Number Ordering Worksheet
• Number Order Fill in the Blanks Worksheet
• Ordering Numbers Worksheet
• Count to 120 Song (Have Fun Teaching on YouTube)