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Are Your Students Ready for Grade 1 Math?


As a first-grade teacher, have you ever felt the frustration of not knowing which math skills your new students are bringing to Grade !?  Do they recognize numbers?  Can they count?  If so, how far?  Do they have one-to-one correspondence when they count?  Can they solve simple addition and subtraction problems?  Do they have critical thinking skills? Do they recognize patterns?  Where do you begin to teach?

To solve this problem, I decided to develop my own "test". The Readiness for Grade 1 Math Assessment was created while I was taking my Specialist in Primary/Junior Math.  It was field-tested by teaching students in the Greater Toronto area and later used by my school board. 

The math assessment is based on the Principles of Counting which are fundamental concepts that help us understand how to count and quantify objects. Here are some key principles:

  1. Stable Order: The first principle of counting involves using a list of words to count in a repeatable order. 

  2. One-to-One Correspondence:  When counting objects, each one has only one number name.

  3. Cardinality:  The last number counted is how many objects are in the set.

  4. Order Irrelevance:  Objects can be counted in any order.

  5. Conservation:  The number of objects remains the same regardless of their arrangement.


Other topics assessed include:
  • estimation
  • abstraction (the quantity remains the same regardless of the differences in the other objects counted)
  • movement is magnitude
  • number relationships
  • problem solving (addition and subtraction)
  • sort and classify
  • ordering objects
  • recognize and print numerals to 10

The Readiness for Grade 1 is a one-on-one assessment to determine the level of readiness for Grade 1 math in students either at the end of Kindergarten or the beginning of Grade 1.  It is similar to doing a reading assessment where the teacher asks the students to do an activity and then records the responses.  There is a question sheet, a response sheet where a percentage is scored, and then a rubric.  The rubric does not evaluate the student but rather describes what the student can do.  For example, if a child receives 75%, that means that the child has considerable knowledge and skills, problem-solving, application of procedures, and communication skills and, therefore, is ready for Grade 1.  The response sheet highlights the areas in which the student requires support.

The information that comes from this assessment helps you to determine which skills you need to focus on at the beginning of the year, particularly in number sense.  For example, it would identify which students needed more work on one-to-one correspondence when counting so that I could address those needs in a small group or as a whole class. 

The assessment also gives a baseline to track individual student progress for reporting purposes.

Because the test is a one-on-one assessment, it does take you away from your class like a reading test. I would usually have students working in math centers (see the FREE Patterning task cards for Grade 1 available in this blog) while I worked with individual students.

If you know that most of your students have a strong skill set coming from Kindergarten, you can use the assessment just on those who appear to be weaker to identify their needs and determine the next steps for their learning.

In conclusion, the Readiness for Grade 1 Math Assessment provides detailed information on how ready your new students are to learn the Grade 1 math curriculum expectations and where to focus your instruction, particularly for those who may be struggling.  Click this link for more information:


You may also be interested in our number sense and other math products for Grade 1 Ontario Math Curriculum 2022 in our store:

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