Ten Frames

I went to a workshop last week on addition and so of course I put the things I learned into practice this week. ;) We started with ten frames. First I handed out large versions of the ten frames I found on this awesome site (they have so many blackline masters for math, it's very exciting!!) and the students had to find their partner. Their partner was the student that completed them (made 10). They really enjoyed this activity and my high energy boys got to move around. Then we played Terrific 10 Snake where they took turns making pairs and the person who finds the last pair wins. One person starts (and wins, but the kids don't know that) and  puts a bingo chip on two circles that add to 10 (1+9, 2+8 etc). Then their partner finds two circles that makes a pair and puts their coloured bingo chip on those two circles. They go back and forth until the last pairing is made. Then comes the next level!

The next level of this game is to see who can make the longest section of the snake in their color bingo chips. This is where strategy comes in finding pairs that will give you a bigger section of the snake while blocking your opponent from doing the same. This was too hard for some kids, but with more practice maybe they will handle it better. 

We also played ten frame memory with these mini ten frames I found on the workshop presenter's blog (it's a great blog by the way!) I printed them on card-stock, and some fabulous moms and my SEA cut them out for me! One person starts by flipping two cards over, if the cards make 10 they get to keep them, if they don't, they must flip them back over and their partner tries to find 10. (The full ten frame cards will be used later when talking about adding 10 to a number..)

At first my students had trouble working with ten frames, but they are starting to see the pairs more quickly. 

We also used this great "learning tool"online during our first computer block this year. They really seemed to enjoy playing this game and collecting points and they were ecstatic to play anything on the computer. Hello MOTIVATION!!

They enjoyed using the stars or apples instead of the circles too! The different games on the side "bump up" the difficulty which was good for my more capable students. The students also work with partners during our computer period, so they were able to help each other which is good for my strugglers! 

I think a few more days with ten frames and we can move on to doubles!