Goal: count on from 20 without recounting every item. Materials: 2 ten-strips, nine ones, toy workshop and music cards.
- Notice, 3: Cover 25–29 on the track. Say 24, ask for the next numeral and show it with 2 tens + 5 ones. Key: 25.
- Model, 5: “Two full strips are twenty. I touch six loose dots: twenty-one ... twenty-six.” Build 26; point out numeral 26 has six ones. Explicitly avoid saying each strip is “one” when naming the total.
- Together, 8: Children build 25, 27, 29 from tens and ones. Compare 27/29 by pairing the two tens and then their ones: 29 has two more ones. Use toy-workshop card for 27.
- Try, 6: Learner designs a music rhythm card with 2 lines of 10 marks and 6 more. Write/select 26 and say/show 20+6. If marks are taxing, use preprinted ten strips and six stickers or move six large counters.
- Check, 3: 2 strips and 8 dots. Key: 28; 2 tens, 8 ones. If learner starts at 1 and says 10 for the strips, ask them to audit one strip's 10 cells and count 10, 20, 21…28.