What exactly are ten frames?
Ten-frames are rectangles divided into a grid with two rows of five with dots filling in some or all of the ten spaces.
Why use ten frames?
Research shows that children have an innate ability to subitize, to instantaneously recognize the number of objects in a small group. Ten-frames are designed to
help the mind organize numbers into chunks of five and ten to match our base ten-number system. For example, the most “efficient” way of seeing 7 with a ten-frame card is one column of 5 dots and another of 2 dots equivalent to thinking of 7 as 5 + 2. Another very important potential benefit of using ten-frames is that they promote composing and decomposing of numbers. This is important in developing base ten addition and subtraction strategies.
What should children be doing?
Make sure to have students explain their mathematical thinking, this is important for them and other students listening to them. It's also a good assessment for the teacher.
How to use ten frames?
- Who Has More (War): students each pick a card from their own stack. The one with more gets both cards. Can also be played as Who Has Less.
- Plus One: students pick a card and tell what number is 1 more than number picked.
- Matching: Match ten frames to number cards.
- Line Up: Pass out cards, have students put themselves in numerical order.
These are just a few ways to use ten frames to get you started! So print up some cards to have ready for September!
