Making Ten
Background Information & Activities

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As your children develop their addition and subtraction skills, empower them with different strategies that will help them become faster and more efficient at manipulating numbers. Knowing how to make ten is a fundamental building block for more complex mental math in our base-ten system. For example, if students know that 3 + 7 = 10, later on they will have an easier time understanding that 30 + 70 = 100, or 43 + 7 = 50, and eventually 300 + 700 = 1000 and beyond. We recommend reviewing the Counting On and exploring Basic Addition topics with your children. This movie will explore different ways to make ten and review fact families. It will also show how combinations of ten can be used to identify related facts and solve algebraic equations.

It is important to provide counters, connecting cubes, ten-frames, or other supports to help children explore combinations of ten on their own. Ask students to share the combinations they find and write number all the number sentences together. Encourage them to find a pattern. As one addend goes down, the other goes up!

Review different ways to make ten with your children:

0 + 10 = 10

1 + 9 = 10

2 + 8 = 10

3 + 7 = 10

4 + 6 = 10

5 + 5 = 10

6 + 4 = 10

7 + 3 = 10

8 + 2 = 10

9 + 1 = 10

10 + 0 = 10

Your children should learn to commit the combinations of ten to memory. This might seem like a daunting task to some early learners, but point out that they really only have to learn six different facts. Once they know 3 + 7 = 10, they will know that 7 + 3 = 10. Furthermore, they have probably memorized a few facts already, such as 5 + 5 = 10 and 9 + 1 = 10. Encourage them to find fun ways to memorize the facts. They can create flash cards and play "memory", draw pictures, or even make up silly songs and poems.

Many early learners will count on their fingers or use counters when they begin learning addition. Memorizing ways to make ten helps children become faster and more efficient at manipulating numbers. Explain to your children that when they commit combinations of ten to memory, they can solve trickier number sentences: 3 + ___ = 10. If they have memorized that 3 + 7 = 10, they can quickly figure out that the missing addend is 7. After your children become more familiar with ways to make ten, try solving different algebra equations together.

Remind your children that a fact family is a set of facts that use the same numbers. For example, 9 + 1 = 10 and 1 + 9 = 10 are in the same fact family. Related facts are number sentences that use the same set of numbers with inverse operations: 10 – 1 = 9 and 10 – 9 = 1. The equations use the same numbers, but with different operations; they are part of the same fact family as well. We recommend using manipulatives or number triangles to help children understand fact families and related facts.

Working with combinations of ten helps children develop number sense and make connections. Empower your children with strategies they can use when they encounter more complex problems in math.

Making Ten Teacher Activities – Click Here!

Making Ten Family Activities – Click Here!

Making Ten Teacher Activities

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Ten in the Bag

Place different numbers of items, such as counters, beads, dried beans, or crayons, in clear bags. Then challenge pairs or small groups to figure out how many more items are needed in order to have a total of ten in the bag. Students can write number sentences, or create missing addend sentences to solve. They can find the other students in the room who have their missing amount to complete a perfect 10!

Related Facts

Review fact families and related facts with your students. You may want to run through different examples together and write them on the board. Then, give each student a fact to hang around their necks or tape to their clothes. Have students roam the room to find other members of their fact family.

Making Ten Family Activities

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Making Ten Memory

From two standard decks of cards, collect the ace through ten as well as the joker, which will represent zero. Then have your child play a game of "Memory". He or she can match the numbers that can be added together to make ten. Make sure your child writes down the number sentences during or at the end of the game.

Sandwich Triangles

Prepare a sandwich with your child and cut them on a diagonal to create a triangle. Then use the sandwich to create a number triangle. Instead of writing numbers, you can add different numbers of raisins, nuts, or carrots to each corner of the triangle. Create different triangles together to show fact families. Then challenge your child by creating a triangle with a missing number, and having him or her make the missing number. Then, your child can eat the numbers!