Ways to Make Ten - Rainbow Style

     For the last three lessons that I would be teaching math to my first graders, I knew that I wanted to make them the best yet. I had taken a break from teaching math for a little bit to observe my teacher (since I did not observe her before I began), but I was ready to do the last few lessons and finish with a bang. The first day, we had to learn which numbers add to make ten. The second day, they found the missing part of ten (how to subtract from ten). My last day teaching math, we worked on problem solving using charts.

     I wanted to plan an engaging lesson that would still go with our curriculum and use part of it since that is expected (see a previous post). On Pinterest, I saw a pin with a rainbow to teach the numbers that add to be ten. It was from Dawn Gray's blog, Blooming Kiddos. She made a fabulous worksheet that used this rainbow to teach about  adding 3 addends. I decided it would be great to make a similar worksheet for the beginning of the year since my first graders are only learning which numbers make ten now.

     My students loved this activity! I warned them that I was mainly grading them on how well they listened, which meant that they could not work ahead. First graders love to color and love rainbows, so this was perfect to incorporate in with our math lesson.

   When we completed our rainbow sheet, the students did the inside of the enVision lesson independently. When they finished and had it checked by me, I sent them to the carpet area. They playing a finger game where one person would hold up however many fingers they wanted. The partner had to hold up how many more fingers it would take to equal ten. This was a simple and quiet activity, and it kept them occupied while I helped a couple of struggling students. It was also a great lead into the following day's lesson, where we found the missing parts of ten (subtraction).

     When teaching subtraction, we worked on dry erase boards. I sent groups off to play a matching game. I used pumpkin die-cuts and wrote the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 on them. They put all of the cards face down. Then, they played like a usual matching game with their partner, except that matches were the two numbers that added to make ten. Most students enjoyed this game a lot with the exception of a few partners who had to return to their seats because they were not working together or were too loud.

     Now, it's freebie time! In case you wanted a copy of the fabulous rainbow worksheet, here it is(inspired by Dawn Gray and Pinterest). You can also click on the picture. Enjoy! Does anyone see the mistake in the example I posted? Please leave me a comment, especially if you grab a freebie. I love reading every one!