Primary Inspiration: Sums of Five and Ten

Monday, October 28, 2013

Sums of Five and Ten - Dollar Deal!

Hello, Teaching Friends!

EVERY young math learner can benefit from some extra practice with sums of ten. Whether you call them sums, combinations, or even friends of ten, your students need to know these pairs of numbers well as they move toward toward using ten as a benchmark number when adding within 20, and even beyond.

This is a foundational skill. Here's a fun way to build the strength and fluency, and in a fun way!

This composing and decomposing set has built-in variety! At each level (sums of five, sums of ten), you'll get two activities: a b/w printable for independent use and a colorful game board for two players. Laminate the game or insert into a plastic sleeve for long term use.

This is an easy prep and engaging math activity for you and your kiddos. It's great for math centers (with a handful of manipulatives to support your earliest learners), for independent work, or for early finishers.

Number searches like this are very appealing to students and a great way to practice both basic facts and more complex combinations. They are challenging and engaging enough that you can feel comfortable having these set up as an activity for your early finishers, or even sending the blackline version as a fun homework alternative.

Want to learn more about how this early exposure to composing and decomposing transfers to other math areas across the grades? Here's a great post by Donna at Math Coach's Corner.

If you'd like your students to have even more practice with composing and decomposing numbers, this set of number searches at my TpT store includes searches for the sums of 5 through 20. It has both blackline printables and partner games like Thinking About Thirteen, pictured below.

How many more combinations for 13 can you find in the picture? I don't know about you, but a challenge like that tends to keep me compulsively searching. aka Sneaky Learning Disguised as Fun!