Let's Make Ten!

We survived another week! I cannot believe that it will be November next week! As if running intervention groups was not enough, I am also tutoring after-school in second grade for both reading and math. So far, I really like having the chance to work with students, uninterrupted, for an entire hour. I never get that kind of time with my reading groups! Anyways, my second graders and I started right at the beginning, with addition and subtraction strategies. Currently we are working on making ten.

To begin the lesson, we started with a simple addition problem about apples. There were ten apples total. Some of the apples were red and some of the apples were yellow. Students had to use manipulatives and ten frames to find out all of the different combinations to make ten.

(I didn't quite have enough green cubes, so a blue one snuck in!)

I love using manipulatives with my students. I think they are so helpful in establishing student's conceptual understandings.  Often times I think teachers take the manipulatives away too soon. I know my struggling students benefit greatly from using the manipulatives.

After working through the apple addition problem together, we did a similar problem using subtraction. I really wanted my students to understand that addition and subtraction are inverse operations. Once again, students used the ten frame and manipulatives to find the different combinations to make ten, but this time using subtraction sentences.

Then, students had a chance to practice making ten on their own using problems similar to the apple problems, but about cupcakes. They continued to use manipulatives and the ten frame. For a copy of the cupcake and apple problems click here.

I believe games make for very meaningful practice in math. To continue working on making ten, students played a game similar to Go Fish. This game is called Make Ten. Students have five cards to begin with. Then, students take turns asking each other for cards to make a match, and make ten. When the student makes ten with two cards (ex. 8 and 2), he or she can lay down her match. The first player to match all of their cards wins!

For the last activity, students played Fill Ten. In this game, students draw number cards, (or you can use playing cards). Students fill in the number they drew on their ten frame. Then, students take turns drawing cards. The goal is to make matches and fill all of the ten frames first. (Note: It is best to have a small deck, or else kids will be drawing cards all day!)

What sort of games do you play to work on addition and subtraction strategies?