Have you seen a ten frame come home with your child's homework and asked yourself “what are these things?” You're not alone.
Many parents often ask me about the different learning models their children are using in math these days. Ten frames are an amazing tool used in kindergarten and first grade to help your children understand counting, place value (e.g. where the digit in a number is), adding, subtracting, and more.
As you'll see below, a ten frame is a two-by-five rectangular frame into which counters are placed to demonstrate numbers less than or equal to 10. Counters can be arranged in different ways to represent different numbers, which visually help your children develop strong number sense.
Now you may be asking yourself, why "10?" Well, because 10 is the building block of our Base 10 Number System. Young learners who have a solid understanding of this number, can relate that understanding to all different areas of math. For example, a child who can "see" 10 as being made up of a 7 and a 3, can then start to see 100 as a 70 and a 30. It's imperative your children make these connections, and using ten frames really helps them do this.
But seeing, and even better, doing, is actually believing!
To help you practice using ten frame models like your children do, we've created a printable just for you.
Download our ten frame printable today to practice this truly helpful model that your kindergartner or first grader is using to increase math skills. (And don't worry. The answer key comes included!)
Also, if you'd like to find ways to motivate your kids to practice their ten frames, check out my last blog post, 4 Easy Math Games to Practice the Number 10.
Featured Photo Credit: © Ratstuben/iStockphoto