Number before a given number: Challenge Page
Kindergarten · Counting & Cardinality · CCSS.Math.K.CC
- What number comes right before 74? ___
- What number comes right before 9? ___
- What number comes right before 29? ___
- What number comes right before 44? ___
- What number comes right before 78? ___
- What number comes right before 13? ___
This is the preview. Hit "Print this worksheet" above to open a clean, ad-free, one-page version with name and date lines and writing space for each problem. A separate answer key prints on the second page for the grown-up. Tear it off before handing the practice page to your child.
This printable worksheet gives Kindergarten students focused practice on Number before a given number, an essential building block within Counting & Cardinality and one of the milestone skills inside the Common Core CCSS.Math.K.CC cluster.
Because the worksheet is designed for independent practice, the directions are written in friendly student language and avoid teacher-only jargon. By the end of the page, learners should be able to explain their strategy in a sentence, not just write an answer.
Print one copy per child, set a quiet 10–15 minute block, and let students work through the page with a pencil and an eraser. Sit with them as they finish so any misconceptions surface right away instead of getting practiced into bad habits.
Want a different angle on this skill? Try the matching variants in our Kindergarten · Counting & Cardinality collection, or jump up to the cross-grade Counting & Cardinality hub.
Parents tell us the most useful thing about this Number before a given number page is how fast they can hand it to a kid. No login. No PDF locked behind an email gate. Click print, hand it over, get ten quiet minutes of real math practice without prepping anything.
This worksheet is aligned to Common Core State Standard CCSS.Math.K.CC and supports the broader Counting & Cardinality progression that students continue to build through later grades. The same skill is revisited each year with greater abstraction, so the work your student does on this single sheet feeds into the multi-digit and multi-step problems they will see in middle school.
Looking for more Counting & Cardinality practice? Browse the rest of the Kindergarten collection for related printables that scaffold the same standard from different angles.
Sample problems on this worksheet
- What number comes right before 74? ___
- What number comes right before 9? ___
- What number comes right before 29? ___
- What number comes right before 44? ___
- What number comes right before 78? ___
- What number comes right before 13? ___
How to use this worksheet
Print one copy per child on standard letter or A4 paper. Set a quiet 10 to 15 minute window. Hand your student a sharpened pencil and an eraser, and let them work top to bottom. The first row is a warm-up on purpose. The last row is a stretch on purpose. Sit with them as they finish so any misconceptions surface right away instead of getting practiced into a bad habit.
If your student finishes quickly, flip the page over and ask them to write two new problems of their own that target the same skill. It's a powerful retention move. If they get stuck, pull out manipulatives that match the skill (counters for early addition, base-ten blocks for place value, fraction tiles for fractions) and work through one or two problems together before letting them try the rest on their own.
Common Core alignment
This page targets CCSS.Math.K.CC inside the broader Counting & Cardinality progression. The skill is introduced earlier in elementary school through concrete representations and revisited each year with greater abstraction. To see how it develops across grade levels, visit our Counting & Cardinality hub. To see the rest of the Kindergarten work in this strand, visit the Kindergarten · Counting & Cardinality collection.