MathGrade 2ages 7–8
➕ Add up to 20
Given "9 + 6," a child who starts counting "1, 2, 3…" from the very beginning — instead of starting at 9 — is using a slower, more error-prone method than they're ready to drop.
Try this lesson freeNo card needed. The first lesson is free.
Download on the App StoreWhat your child learns
- Start from the bigger number.
- Count on by what you add.
- 9 + 6: nine, then ten… up to fifteen.
- Or make ten first, then add the rest.
The mistake most kids make here
Starting from 1 instead of the bigger number.
Try one question
9 + 6
- 15
- 16
- 3
Answer
15 — That's it. 9 + 1 = 10, five left, together 15.
How Maya teaches it
Your child tells Maya what they did in class. She teaches this topic at her desk, asks questions with tappable answers, and when the answer is wrong she explains why that answer was tempting instead of saying “try again”. She remembers what did not land and comes back to it.
Your child has it when they can: 8 + 5 without going back to one.
How to help at home
"Counting on" means starting at the bigger number and counting up by the smaller one — for 9 + 6, starting at 9 and counting "ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen," six counts forward.
Practice with two dice or two piles of coins: always say the bigger number first, put a finger on it, then count the smaller pile out loud starting from there, one at a time.
If your child starts over from 1, say: "we already know it's 9 — let's start there and just add the rest," and count on together rather than restarting the whole sum for them.
A related trick worth showing once counting-on is comfortable: "making ten" — for 9 + 6, take 1 from the 6 to make 9 into 10, leaving 5, so 10 + 5 = 15. A sign they've got either skill: they no longer touch every single item when adding two numbers under 10.
Questions parents ask
- Why does my child count from 1 every time instead of starting from the bigger number?
- Counting from 1 is the first method children learn, so it's the default until "counting on" is practiced enough to feel just as safe. Physically starting at the bigger number's pile, out loud, builds the new habit.
- What is "making ten" and is it necessary?
- It's a shortcut for sums like 9 + 6: borrow 1 from the 6 to make the 9 into 10, then add the remaining 5. It's not required, but most children find it faster than counting on once they understand it.
- How much addition should a child be able to do by the end of grade 2?
- Comfortably adding any two numbers up to 20, without recounting from 1 each time, is the usual target by the end of grade 2 (around age 7–8).
- How does Maya teach addition to 20?
- Maya offers the count-from-1 mistake as a visible wrong path in some questions, so the child notices the slower habit and practices starting from the bigger number instead.
No card needed. The first lesson is free.
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