LESSON PLAN

Decomposing Numbers to 10

Apothem Team

Kindergarten · Number

LESSON AT A GLANCE

Warm-up

5 min

Explore

15 min

Consolidate

10 min

Practice

12 min

Exit reflection

3 min

Warm-up

Show 7 dots arranged in different ways (a row of 7, a 5+2 arrangement, a 4+3 arrangement). Each time: 'How many? How did you see them?' Record all strategies. Note: the number is always 7, but we can see it in many ways.

Explore

Pairs of students each take a ten-frame and 10 counters. One partner places some counters; the partner says 'that's ___ and ___ make ___.' They record each combination found. Challenge: 'Can you find a way you haven't tried yet?'

Consolidate

Practice

Students choose a number 6–10, show it on a ten-frame, and find two different ways to describe what they see. Exit: teacher holds up a ten-frame with some counters; students whisper 'how many more to make 10?' to a partner.

Exit reflection

TIP Resist moving too quickly to symbolic notation (7 = 5+2). Spend substantial time with concrete materials and visual models. The symbol should come after the understanding, not before.

WORKED EXAMPLES

A student has 6 counters on a ten-frame, all in the top row. How is this useful?

It shows 6 and 4 make 10 (4 empty spots) AND it shows 6 is 5 and 1 more (they filled the top row and one more). Two powerful ideas visible at once.

During a number talk, you ask 'What is 5 and 4?' A student says '10.' How do you respond?

Thank them and ask them to show you with materials. This surfaces the misconception gently. Another student may offer the correct answer; the goal is the discussion, not the correction.

MATERIALS

•Ten-frames (one per student)

•Double ten-frame on whiteboard

•Two-colour counters

•Linking cubes

•Rekenrek (counting frame) if available

WATCH FOR

!Students may not see numbers as having parts — they may know '7' as a symbol without understanding it as a quantity that can be split.

!When using a ten-frame, students may fill spaces randomly rather than from left to right — this makes the benchmark structure harder to see. Model the convention explicitly.