Download Skip Counting

Skip Counting
What to do:
 Rote count in twos, fives and tens with your child. You can do this anytime: as you drive in the car, walk to school
or wait for the movie to start.
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12…
5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30…
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60…
 Start your counting in different places
15, 17, 19, 21, 21, 23…
33, 43, 53, 63…
 Count forwards and backwards
60, 50, 40, 30…
32, 30, 28, 26, 24…
There are lots of opportunities to practice counting in twos, fives and tens. These include:
 Look at the numbers on letter boxes as you walk.
What number will be on the next letter box you pass?
What about the one after that?
 Counting money to help develop counting in tens.
 Count the fingers in your family in fives.
 Count the eyes in your family using twos.
Crazy Twos
What you need:
 A pack of cards with picture cards and jokers removed. (Ace =1)
What to do:
 Deal each player 6 cards.
 The other cards are placed face down in a pile.
 The player to the left of the dealer places a card from their hand face up on the table.
 Players take turns to place a card that is 2 greater than the card turned up. e.g If a 5 was turned up then a 7 is
needed to have a turn. If the player can’t place a card he/she has to pick up a card from the deck. If that card can
be placed the player can put it on the pile.
 When either a 9 or a 10 is placed on the pile, the next player starts the sequence again by placing any card they
choose.
 The winner is the first player to get rid of their cards.
Skip Counting in 2s and 5s
What you need:
Ruler or tape measure
Counters (or masking tape, or sticky notes, or blobs of plasticine)
What to do:
Cover over the 2s with counters (or masking tape, or sticky notes, or blobs of plasticine) up to 20. Ask your child to skip
count in 2s (2, 4, 6, 8, etc) by looking at the ruler or tape measure and saying out loud the number hidden under the
cover.
Remove the covers, and replace over the 5s.
Variation:
Start skip counting at any number, for example start skip counting in 2s from 12 or in 5s from 15.
Work towards not using the ruler or tape measure as a prompt.
Skip Counting
"Skip Counting" is counting by a number that is not 1
Example: You Skip Count by 2 like this:
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, ...
Learning to "Skip Count" helps you:
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count many things quickly
learn your multiplication tables
Skip Count by 2
Learning to skip count by 2 means you can count things faster!
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 25, …
Skip Counting by 10s
Skip Counting by 10s is like normal counting, except there is an extra "0":
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, ...
Skip Counting by 5s
Skip Counting by 5s has a nice pattern:
5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, ...
That pattern should make it easy for you!
Skip Counting by 3s and 4s
Skip Counting by 3s is:
3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, ...
Skip Counting by 4s is:
4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, ...
Skip Count Backwards!
Yes, skip counting also works backwards:
-1
-2
-5
-10
Skip Counting Backwards by 1
Skip Counting Backwards by 2
Skip Counting Backwards by 5
Skip Counting Backwards by 10
Skip Count by Bigger Numbers!
Try these for a challenge:
25
50
100
Skip Counting by 25s
Skip Counting by 50s
Skip Counting by 100s
Skip Counting Activities
Buzz
The leader announces starting and finishing numbers and which numbers will be ‘buzz’. For example, we might
start at 1, finish at 100, and say buzz on numbers that are multiples of 5. Students stand in a circle to count in
turn by ones, but they say buzz instead of the specified numbers.
For example, a correct sequence would be “1, 2, 3, 4, buzz, 6, 7, 8, 9, buzz, 11 ….”
If a student forgets to buzz, they are out of the game. Last one standing wins.
Bizz Buzz
This is a variation of Buzz. The rules are the same as for Buzz, but we buzz on some numbers, bizz on others
and bizzbuzz when both are required.
For example if we are buzzing on multiples of 3 and fizzing on multiples of 10 the correct sequence is “1, 2,
buzz, 4, 5, buzz, 7, 8, buzz, bizz, 11, buzz, 13, 14, buzz, 16, 17, buzz … and bizzbuzz” is said instead of 30.
Whisper Count
This is an activity which assists children to move from orally counting by ones to skip counting.
When counting from the starting number to the finishing number the children whisper the
numbers that are not part of the count and say loudly the numbers that are part of the count. For
example: If counting by twos the children would whisper the odd numbers and say loudly the
even numbers (in bold): 1 2 3 45 67 8 9 10.
In the following example the students are using Whisper Count to count by twos starting at 2
and stopping at 20.
Initially, record all the numbers from 2 to 20.
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Have your child circle the numbers that are part of counting by twos, starting with two.
Starting at one, you and your children whisper the odd numbers and say loudly the even numbers forwards from
2 to 20 and then count backwards from 20 to 2. Gradually increase the range.
Starting at any number
Once students have learnt to count fluently starting at zero, they need to learn to count confidently from any number. When asked to
start at 13 and count by twos some students will accidentally slip into the more familiar sequence. For example, students might say 13,
15, 17, 19, 20, 22 …. The 2, 4, 6, 8 pattern of the even numbers is much more familiar than the odd numbers.
Similar comments are made when students are asked to count from 43 by tens. Some students count by ones and cannot attend to the
patterns in the tens place because they are paying attention to all the numbers in between. They therefore cannot identify the pattern:
43, 53, 63, 73 … This relates to developing sound place value understanding.
Using the Hundreds Grid for counting
To develop fluency in skip counting students should place transparent counters on a Hundreds Grid to mark the counting sequence.
Transparent counters are used so the students can still see the numbers. Once the counters are in place students whisper the numbers
that are not part of the counting sequence and touch the counters as they say these numbers out-loud. Once students have confident
recall with the counting sequences or can calculate the next number readily, they will not need to use the Hundreds Grid.
Note that students should always be encouraged to move on from ‘counting by ones’ strategies. They may learn to skip count by 3
whispering all numbers, as above, but they should not use such a strategy for skip counting by 9, which they should see as adding 10
and subtracting 1.
On the Hundreds Grid below, a student has started to place red counters on the counting pattern starting at 53 and counting by threes.
When students have said and recorded their counting sequences the teacher can ask questions such as:
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
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Where would the next counter go on your grid?
How far can you continue counting by threes?
How would this help you count by sixes?
What patterns can you see in where the counters are? (e.g. are they in rows?)
For fractions, you will need a number line that shows the fractions. A ruler will be a great start.
The students can start by skipping counting with one-half.
1/2, 2/2, 3/2, 4/2, 5/2, 6/2, 7/2, etc.
Then you can introduce or re-introduce simplifying fractions and mixed numbers.
Show the same skip count with simplified and mixed numbers.
1/2, 1, 1 1/2, 2, 2 1/2, 3, 3 1/2, etc.
Then you can move to 1/4
1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 7/4, 8/4, 9/4
Simplified and mixed numbers.
1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/4, 1 1/2, 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/4
Then move to 1/3
1/3, 2/3, 3/3, 4/3, 5/3, 6/3, 7/3, 8/3, 9/3
Simplified and mixed numbers
1/3, 2/3, 1, 1 1/3, 1 2/3, 2, 2 1/3, 2 2/3, 3