Find the partner that makes ten

What it looks like when your child can do it

• — Shown a box with six beans, your child counts the four empty holes and says six and four make ten.
• — Your child folds down some fingers, looks at the ones still up, and names the folded partner.
• — Asked for the partner of five, your child says five, because the empty bottom row matches the full top row.

How to teach it at the kitchen table

1. 01

   Fill some, look at the rest

   Put six beans in the box. Ask your child to count the empty holes. Say it together: six filled and four empty make ten.

2. 02

   Let the empty holes name the partner

   This is the book's own rule. A partner is the other part that fills the box to ten, and the empty holes always show it.

3. 03

   Walk through every partner in order

   Start with zero filled and ten empty, then add one bean at a time. One and nine. Two and eight. Three and seven. Keep going all the way to ten and zero.

4. 04

   Use fingers when the box is away

   Hold up ten fingers, then fold some down. The fingers still up and the fingers folded down are partners that make ten.

You will need: A dozen-egg carton cut down to two rows of five cups · Ten dried beans, buttons or pennies · Small counters like beans, buttons and pennies can choke a child, so stay at the table while they are out and put them away from younger children

Try it together

1. Try 1

   Put two beans in the box. Ask how many holes are empty.

   Listen for  Eight. Two and eight make ten.

2. Try 2

   Put eight beans in the box. Ask what the partner is.

   Listen for  Two. The same two numbers as the question before, turned around. Eight and two make ten, just as two and eight did.

3. Try 3

   Fill every hole in the box. Ask what the partner of ten is.

   Listen for  Zero. No hole is empty at all. This one surprises children, so it is worth a second try on another day.

4. Try 4

   Put three beans in the box and ask whether three and six make ten.

   Listen for  No. Three and six leave one hole still empty. Three and seven make ten.

5. Try 5

   Hold up ten fingers and fold down one. Ask how many are folded and how many are still up.

   Listen for  One folded and nine up. One and nine make ten.

Watch for

• — Counting the filled beans again and calling that the partner. Ask your child to point only at the empty holes before answering.

If it is not there yet

• — Go back to showing six through ten on the box, one number at a time, until each one is quick.
• — Stay with one pair for a few days, five and five or nine and one, before mixing the pairs up.

A few days of this is normal, and it is time well spent. The lesson will still be there, and it will go faster.

Where this skill comes up

• Zig and Zag Count to Twenty · Lesson 21

  Ten and Some More

  Needs it because teens are a full ten plus leftover ones, so ten as a complete box has to be automatic.