Number of the Day with Ten Frames

number of the day

Written by Donna Boucher

Donna has been a teacher, math instructional coach, interventionist, and curriculum coordinator. A frequent speaker at state and national conferences, she shares her love for math with a worldwide audience through her website, Math Coach’s Corner. Donna is also the co-author of Guided Math Workshop.

One of the perks of being a math instructional coach is that you get to visit classrooms on a daily basis. On one of those visits, I observed this 1st-grade number of the day routine using ten frames.

The daily routine begins by showing the number of the day (which is the number of days in school) using ten frames. Each day a student gets to draw another dot on the ten-frame. You could have students add a dot sticker, but it was kind of cool to see the kid-drawn dots.

What happens next is the magic of this routine. The teacher had put adhesive magnet squares on the back of the ten frames (which you see on the board), so the kiddos could move them around. When I walked in, the students were showing different ways to make 83 using two addends by sliding the ten frames into two columns. So what you see in the picture below is a student showing 83 as 50 + 33. Brilliant, right?

number of the day

As students came up to show different ways to decompose the number, the teacher recorded their expressions on a mini whiteboard.

number of the day

With each new way to decompose the number of the day, the class counted aloud each addend (practicing counting by tens) and confirmed that the expression was correct.

THEN, the class moved on to three addends! Just awesome.

number of the day

Best question of the day: “So, class, no matter how we move the numbers around, what number will we always have?” EIGHTY-THREE!

Do you need a ten-frame template? Just click here to grab one that prints three to a page.

21 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    I like it! Thanks for sharing! Do you happen to know what all was on the “Checklist” at the top of the board in the first pic?

    Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      Great question! I do, but I don’t have an electronic copy at home. I’ll get one and add a link to it on this post tomorrow!

      Reply
    • Anonymous

      Even though we are at day 97 I started today. Great way to review what we have done already. Def. going to start earlier next year! Thanks again. – Ashley (original poster)

      Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      Awesome, guys!! So glad you like the routine! 🙂

      Reply
  2. barb :)

    May I make a suggestion for second grade teachers – instead of counting up, count back! Boy, do the subtraction light bulbs start going off for second graders then. 🙂
    barb 🙂

    Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      Sounds great, Barb! Thanks for the suggestion. 🙂

      Reply
    • Gayle Morrison

      Thanks for that suggestion!

      Reply
  3. Elizabeth Pruyn

    Thanks, I have been looking for ways to add CCSS to my Math Their Way calendar routine. This & counting by 10s (4, 14, 24, etc.) will help! Elizabeth

    Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      Absolutely, Elizabeth! Always nice to have new activities to add to the mix.

      Reply
  4. Anonymous

    Thanks for your blog. The only thing that is that the zig zag backround really makes it hard for me to concentrate reading your blog! It is distracting and makes me a bit dizzy! I was not able to read the post you had today from trying not to focus on the zig zags 🙁

    Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      Oh no! I love the zig zags! I’m so sorry they bother you. 🙁

      Reply
  5. Anonymous

    Hoping you will change them some time so I can enjoy reading your posts 🙂

    Reply
  6. Erin

    Could you post something like this for grade 4?

    Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      Erin, there’s LOTS of stuff for Grade 4 on my blog! Be sure to use the Search by Topic on the right hand side and look for 4th Grade. Here is a link to another blog post on a daily routine that could be used for 4th grade. 🙂

      Reply
      • Erin

        Thanks! We are currently working with standards that are a bit more rigorous in our 4th grade class. Do you have any number routines for 4.OA or 4.NBT? Looking for more multiplication and division. Thanks!

        Reply
  7. Roger

    Too complicated for my Aussie brain. Please explain ? !

    Reply
  8. Roger

    I have already !

    Reply
  9. Sheila Infante

    Wow…love this! Wish I could follow that teacher! Do you know if she has a blog or anything?

    Reply
    • Sheila Infante

      oops! seeing that this is from 2013. still so great, tho!

      Reply
    • Donna Boucher

      Sorry, no blog. 🙂

      Reply

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