Ten Friends Years K - 1

Summary Children love to play this easy-to-state, easy-to-start game based on a ten frame. It involves children in predicting and checking addition facts to ten. Discussion is important and calculators are used to make a symbolic record of what is created. Children often want to extend the challenge for themselves. Suitable for threading. Materials One calculator per pair One Poly Plug per pair One spot dice per pair

Procedure Remove two rows of plugs from the red board so the rows are side by side. This makes a Poly Plug 10 Frame. Player A rolls the dice and leaves it where it lands... then places that number of yellow plugs into the gaps in any way... and writes on the calculator the number placed [5]. Player B has to 'look hard' at the empty spaces and tell their guess of the number of blue plugs it will take to fill the gaps. Then they check their guess by counting them into the spaces... and completes an equation on the calculator to make ten, in this case 5 [+] [5] [=] 10.

Content Listed alphabetically. Primary content in bold. 1:1 correspondence addition facts beyond 10 addition facts to 10 complementary addition conservation of number counting estimating number group counting mathematical conversation problem solving recording - calculator recording - written subitising visual & kinaesthetic representation of number

Alternatively, Player B may tell their guess, write the equation first to show they know the Ten Friend. However, a mathematician always checks things another way, so they now count in the blue plugs to confirm.

Once an hypothesis has been checked, players swap roles and play another round. They will want to continue for many rounds.

Touch & Tell

At the simplest level, expect children to 'touch and tell' number stories like those below. Later, expect the children to write equations which can be justified by touching the plugs in the frame. Plugs are not moved. For example, in the finished picture above you might see:

• 5 + 5 = 10 (two zig-zags)
• 10 - 5 = 5 (cover one zig-zag)
• 10 - 5 - 5 = 0 (cover one zig-zag then the other)
• 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 10 (touch the yellow/blue pairs)
• 5 x 2 = 10 (same way)
• 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 10 (touch each plug as you count)
• 10 x 1 = 10 (same way)
• 3 + 3 + 2 + 2 = 10 (first 3 blues and first 3 yellows each make a triangle and the twos are the arms of the remaining cross)
• ...

Variations

1. Choose a finished board such as 6 + 4 =10 and ask children to explore and record all the ways they can arrange the plugs to still 'say' 6 + 4 =10.
   - How many arrangements are there?
   - How do you know when you have found them all? Recording can simply be spots of yellow and blue in two rows of five on scrap paper, or you might design a record sheet. In either case, model the recording you want.
2. Children soon begin exploring with more rows of plugs removed. Perhaps they will need two dice per pair.
3. Four red boards make 100 gaps!

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