Ordering numbers to 20
Name, represent and order numbers from 0 to at least 20 using physical and virtual materials (number cards, on-screen ten frames and number tracks) and numerals
Lesson
Set out your lesson
“Ordering numbers to 20 means naming, showing, and lining up numbers from 0 to at least 20 so each comes before or after its neighbours. Cards, counters, or a number track make the order visible. We will build a short ordered line, fix a scrambled set, then check a fresh scramble.”
Bring to the table
- Number cards or paper slips for 0–20 (or a subset you will use)
- About 20 large counters or a drawn number track (parent keeps tiny pieces away from mouths)
- Pencil
Extra for the adult
Worked example. Cards 3, 17, 12, 0, 20 ordered → 0, 3, 12, 17, 20. Naming and representing (counters or track) support placing each numeral in order to at least 20.
Optional challenge. For Ordering numbers to 20, place missing numbers on a track with gaps (for example 11, ☐, 13, ☐, 15) and explain how you knew. Optional: order the same set from greatest to least.
What to notice. Keep one parent note: card sets ordered; names said; support used. A photo of a line of cards is stronger with a short note that the child ordered it. This session samples a few sets, not mastery of every order to 20.
Share and support
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Teaching approaches
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Ordering numbers to 20 means naming, showing, and lining up numbers from 0 to at least 20 so each comes before or after its neighbours. Cards, counters, or a number track make the order visible. We will build a short ordered line, fix a scrambled set, then check a fresh scramble.
Spend about 10 minutes naming, representing, and ordering numbers to 20 with cards and counters or a track, then checking a scrambled set.
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Learning resources
Extra practice links — they do not replace Gakuva’s teaching approach.
Illustrative Mathematics · Practice link — not the full lesson
Ordering Numbers
Before you open · source notes
Ordering tasks support putting numbers to 20 in order. Not every multi-digit rounding rule.
Free, no sign-in. A teacher solution is on the same page, so use the student view with your child.
Before you openAsk the learner to place three numbers from least to greatest and explain one comparison.
Opening this link does not save learning or assess mastery.
Source, access and review notes
Public Illustrative Mathematics task page. The .html address responds HTTP 308 to this URL. An anonymous GET of this URL on 2026-11-12 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt. Where a teacher solution is present, it is on the same page as the student task; this check did not find a separate locked student view. An adult can use the student view section and should not read a solution aloud. Advertising was not observed in the fetched HTML text; that is not a browser, device, or ad-free guarantee. This is a paper or discussion task, not an automatically marked interactive game. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. Diagrams on the page use missing or filename-only alt text, so they are not an accessible image equivalent. Accessibility still depends on an adult describing the picture.
Illustrative Mathematics. “Ordering Numbers.” Licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. External task; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute it.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — link only
Check understanding
- Put the cards 14, 3, 19, 0 and 8 in order from smallest to largest
- Show 13 on an on-screen twenty frame by dragging counters, then drag the numeral 13 to its place on a virtual number track
- Say the number that comes just before 13 and just after 13
“If your child is given a handful of number cards between 0 and 20 — like 14, 3, 19 and 8 — can they lay them out in order from smallest to biggest?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Procedural
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Domain
- Number Representation & Place Value
- Age range
- Ages 5–7
Standards