1st Grade Adding 2 Worksheet: Count On Two in Fifteen Vertical Sums

Hand a six-year-old two more crayons and ask how many there are now. Many children will count the whole pile again from one. This 1st grade adding 2 worksheet trains a faster move: start from the bigger number and count on two steps. Fifteen sums of vertical addition sit in colored boxes. They run from 3 + 2 in the top corner to 2 + 1 at the very end. The 2 sometimes sits below, as in 7 + 2, and sometimes on top, as in 2 + 9. Two of the sums go one step past ten and land on 11, so the page stretches a little beyond the facts to 10. A second page gives the answer key.

Why two more means two steps

Adding 2 asks for two steps along the counting sequence instead of one. That is the core of counting on: hold the bigger number in your head, then say the next two numbers. For example, for 6 + 2, your child keeps six in mind, then says seven and eight out loud. The last word spoken is the total.

Two details on this page help. First, the 2 changes places: 2 + 4 and 2 + 9 put it on top, so your child has to choose where to start. Then there is 2 + 2, the first double, which many children already know by heart.

Also, 9 + 2 and 2 + 9 go past ten to 11. That small step is a preview of the teen numbers. Worth a pause.

At the table: the 9 + 2 box

Begin with 3 + 2. Ask your child to hold up two fingers, then count on from three, tapping one finger per number.

The likely slip comes at 9 + 2 in the second row. A child may say "nine" while touching the first finger, so the 9 gets counted twice and the answer comes out one short. Instead of correcting, ask a question that sends them back: "Which number did you start from?"

After that, try 2 + 9 in the blue row. Some children count on nine from two, which is slow and easy to lose. A short hint helps here. Point to the 9 and ask, "Could you start from this one?"

Shoes by the door, two by two

Pairs make adding 2 feel natural. By the front door, line up the shoes and count them two at a time, then add one more pair and count on. In the kitchen, put three spoons in a cup and drop in two more. Ask for the new total before you count.

Also, the rhyme "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" moves through the numbers in pairs: one, two, then three, four. While you say it, step forward on each number. Stop now and then to ask what two more would be.

Once you finish the page, check it with the answer key side by side. Then name the effort: "You kept the big number in your head and counted on."