Math adventures: Ways to make ten

Now that we are close to the end of the year (I can't believe it!), we are practicing some tougher math concepts to help us get ready for first grade. One of the Common Core math standards for all kindergarteners to master by the end of the year is the following:

For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when
added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and
record the answer with a drawing or equation.

In other words, kindergarteners should know all the ways to make 10! (by adding together two numbers...e.g. 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, etc.) We have been practicing this concept a lot lately, in many different ways. Here are a few of the fun activities we've to help us know all the ways to make ten.

Q-tip Painting

In this activity, I rolled a ten-sided dice and called out the number. They picked one color of paint and made that many dots on their ten-frame (a ten-frame looks like this and gets filled in with the appropriate amount of dots to represent a number). For example, if I rolled a 3, they would yell out "3!" and make 3 purple dots. Then they switched colors and made the remaining dots in the new color. For example, they would make 7 green dots. Then we would say the number sentence that goes with it, e.g. "3 and 7 make 10."

Make 10 Memory
Using number cards, we played Make 10 Memory in small groups. Instead of looking for a match (like a 3 and a 3), we looked for a pair that added up to 10 (like a 3 and a 7).

Make 10 Hide & Seek
This was a really fun one. I handed out a ten-frame to each person and they had to find their partner in the group (for example, someone with a 3 card would look for someone with a 7 card). Then one partner got to hide their card somewhere in the room while the other person closed their eyes, and then went to find it. Who knew math could incorporate Hide & Seek (the favorite game of every six-year-old everywhere)??

Roaming the room looking for their Make 10 match

Make 10 Scavenger Hunt
I don't have any pictures from this one, but I hid number cards throughout the school and they were each in charge of finding their Make 10 match somewhere in the hallways! This was exciting but also an exercise in self-control, since getting 18 kindergarteners to resist running down the hallway screaming "Where is a 7??" is quite a challenge.

Make 10 Rainbow
Our culminating activity was making this rainbow of sums to ten. If you haven't spent much time in a kindergarten classroom, you might not know the extent to which they LOVE rainbows. They are completely fascinated by them. So anything I can do to incorporate rainbows into learning will automatically make it more interesting for them. Here are our Make 10 Rainbows! (The cloud on the left is connected to a cloud on the right, and the two numbers written inside add up to ten.)