1st Grade: Using 10 to add 9

There has been a lot of talk recently about how to get our 1st graders adding and subtracting fluently. It is challenging to build and a lot of students just are not visualizing these strategies and using them independently.

Yesterday, I watched an amazing small group lesson with Ms. A at KAO. She was using a double ten frame mat and unifix cubes to model moving
the cubes around to make ten.

It is really important for students to understand that addition is just a faster way to count, so you can move things around and still get get the same sum. She was showing them that the amount of cubes were not changing, just moving so you can make it easier for yourself and still get the same sum.

If students do not have quick and easy strategies for adding 10, this lesson will not go well. They need to know that adding 10 is easier and be able to do that quickly to make this strategy worthwhile.

Thank you Ms. A for doing such an excellent job on this lesson and letting me jump in and teach with you :)