Ten Frame

Ways to use it in class

• How many? Fill a number and ask how students know without counting: "a full row is five, and two more".
• Make ten. Show 6 in red and ask how many yellow counters fill the frame. The count line says how many more make ten.
• Teen numbers. With two frames, 14 is a full ten and four more, the first step toward place value.
• Quick looks. Press Flash: the frame shows for two seconds and covers. Ask how many, then reveal.

Printing ten frames

Press Print for the frames as they are, or Clear them first for blank ten frames students can draw counters in.

Questions teachers ask

What is a ten frame?

A rectangle of two rows of five boxes, ten in all, that holds counters. Because every child knows a full frame is ten and a full row is five, a ten frame lets them see a number like 7 as five and two more, or three less than ten, without counting one by one.

How do you use a double ten frame?

Two frames side by side hold numbers up to 20. Children fill the first frame before starting the second, so 13 reads as one full ten and three more: the start of place value.

What are two-color counters for?

Showing the two parts of a number. Six red and four yellow in one frame is 6 + 4 = 10, the pairs that make ten that children use for faster adding.

What is a quick look or flash?

Show a frame for a moment and hide it, then ask how many counters there were and how the student knew. It builds subitizing, seeing an amount without counting. Press Flash to show the frame for two seconds.