The Brown Bag Teacher

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Representing Numbers and Making 10: Ten Frame Practice

One of the great parts of being back in Primary Land is teaching math. Hands-down this is one of my favorite subjects to teach. Of course, my 1st-grade friends think every subject is my favorite, but I have a special affinity for math. Everything is so hands-on and it’s so real-world. Especially in 1st grade, we love the concrete, the hands-on, the games – it’s wonderful!

This week, we have been working with numbers to 10 – subitizing, multiple representations, and later in the week making 10. 10 becomes such an important benchmark for students, especially as we head into addition and subtraction. Becoming fluent in 10 is a fantastic tool for mental math, and when students begin adding larger numbers (especially in other grades), having mastered 10 is critical! Therefore, we will spent a lot of time with 10, and we’ll spiral review with 10 through out centers each week.

Subitizing is a great skill for helping students ‘see’ numbers and recognizing them quickly. We have been playing a lot of “Flip, Write, Draw, and Make”. Students flip the dot pattern, write the number, draw the tally marks, and make the number with manipulatives (in this case unifix cubes).

We’ve been rolling dice to make numbers and then, showing them in then frames. For my below-level students, we’re working with 1 dice, my on-level students we’ve been using 2 dice, and above-level we’ve been using 3 dice.

As we’ve become more comfortable filling ten frames and representing numbers in this way, we have begun making 10. The National Council for Teaching Mathematics hosts a free site called ‘Illuminations’ which offers great online activities. We used this 10 Frame activity on our SMART Board as we had matching 10 Frames on each of our desks. 
We would fill our 10 Frames in one-colored block, and then, add another color until we made it to 10. Some friends then used the 2nd 10-Frame as a structure for writing the addition equation (2 + 8 = 10). ..but not all friends were ready to do that…yet! As we worked with different combinations to 10, we recorded our ideas in our Interactive Math Journals. 
Using 10 Frame playing cards, we have also been enjoying Making-10 Go Fish. Students work with the four friends at their table to make 10 matches. The only ‘rule’ is that students must say the full number statement when they make the match – “4 and 6 make 10”. We know that talking about math is a great way to become a better mathematician, so we want to practice this skill! For students who struggle with Making 10, they keep a 10 Frame and counters with them on the floor.
Music is important in our classroom, and we have really enjoyed listening to math! We used this “10 Friends” song throughout the week to practice combinations to 10. 🙂
During Math Centers, we’ve been using Ten Frame Fill. This is a great (and FREE) app that gives students practice filling 10 Frames and making combinations to 10. There are lots of settings for how the frame fills, wait time, what equations (if any) you want shown, etc. This is a perfect app for building automaticity with 10!
If you use this Ten Frame Fill app, make sure to visit the settings. These are the settings I used with my students. For some students, I bumped up the challenge by filling randomly and added additional subtraction sentences. 
This is an awesome app and one I encouraged my families to download and practice at home. A parent tip? When sending information home about an app or posting it on your class website, post screen shots of the app in action so parents know what to expect. I included the Settings screen to make sure families were best utilizing the app!

Students then have the opportunity to ‘fill’ the 10-frame and select an answer. If a student knows the answer by sight (woohoo), he or she may just select the missing addend without filling the frame. Then, students check if their answer is correct (or are guided to a correct answer), and see a completed equation. Right now, we are NOT focusing on the equation – just the visual of the 10 Frame. Having the equation on the screen is a great side feature, though!

We are moving to the more abstract (numbers and sentences) in a few weeks, but we’ll practice and reinforce this concept repeatedly over the number few weeks. 10 becomes a foundation for most of what we do in math, so we have to ‘get it’. 🙂 
What are your favorite activities, centers, and technology resources for teaching 10? I would love your ideas! 🙂

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Comments

  1. Hi Catherine–I absolutely love your blog! Where did you get the cards in your post both the tens frame and the subitizing cards with the different color dots & are you going to make things for TPT now that you have switched to first! Thanks so much! Chris

    Reply

    • Hi Chris! Thank you so much. Blogging has been such an amazing teaching resource for me. 🙂 I'll definitely be posting resources for 1st and hope to have some up in the next week of so. In terms of math resources, I am so blessed that our school has invest in a TON of Making Math Magic materials. We have cabinets full of playing cards and other awesome math games! Here is a great site where you can snag the playing cards for free – http://www.ircsd.org/webpages/dyoung/ten-frames.cfm!

      Reply

  2. Yay!! I am so glad you are in 1st grade now! I loved your blog last year, but love it even more now that you teach 1st grade. 🙂 Thanks for sharing the Illuminations website. I didn't know about it.
    Have a good night!

    Kelly
    Thirsty Firsties

    Reply

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