Free worksheets · Kindergarten
What Number Comes Before? Counting to 100 Worksheet
Read each run of three numbers up to 100 and write the number that comes just before it on the blank line.
Free printable
What Number Comes Before? Counting to 100
12 questions, one page, US Letter. Print it and do it on paper.
On the sheet: Write the number that comes before, one lower than the first number you see.
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About this worksheet
Each of the 12 questions is a run of counting numbers with the first one missing, like ____, 81, 82, 83. The child writes the number just before. The numbers range across 1 to 100.
Counting back is the start of subtraction, and children get far less practice saying numbers backward. Runs that begin on a ten, like ____, 90, 91, 92, practice stepping back across a ten, which is where most mistakes happen.
A worked example
____, 81, 82, 83
- Read the numbers already there: 81, 82, 83.
- Each number goes up by one, so the blank is one less than 81.
- Count back one from 81: 80.
- Write 80 on the line.
Answer: 80, 81, 82, 83
The common mistake
What it looks like: Writing 99 or 80 before 90.
Why it happens: Counting back across a ten is unfamiliar, so the child changes the wrong digit or keeps the tens the same.
How to fix it: Count up to the ten from below: "87, 88, 89, 90." The number just before 90 is 89. Then read the whole run aloud with the answer in it to check it sounds like counting.
Ten minutes a day, on paper. We plan what comes next.
A printed page and a pencil. No screen, no login for your child. Snap a photo when they’re done: AI scores it, and what they missed comes back on the sheets that follow.
- Mon What Number Comes Before? Counting to 100
- Tue What they missed, back again
- Wed The next step, when they’re ready
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