Tens and ones Step by step introduction

What’s included?

This download includes x7 sheets in portrait orientation to better understand what tens and ones/units are - looking at numbers from 1 to 99.

What's it for?

This resource has been designed to introduce learners to what tens and ones are. This would benefit learners who have not yet grasped this concept, are not yet ready to move on and work with 'bigger' tens and ones numbers. The resource takes learners through what exactly 'ones' and 'tens' are step by step and gives them the opportunity to work on an activity (also step by step) to explore the concept.

Who’s it for?

This resource has been designed for pupils in years one and two as well as older students needing additional learning support.

How to use this resource

This resource has been designed to be shared with learners at a slower pace where what tens and ones/units are does not yet make sense to them. This resource could be used as a whole class introduction to tens and ones/units - displayed on a white board and completed with the help of learners. This resource could also be used as part of online teaching and learning about tens and ones/units.

Resource layout

• Page 1. Introduces learners to ‘ones’ and how ten ones can be positioned on a row or column to become a ‘ten’. Why we do this is made clear. Learners are introduced to the vocabulary ‘ones’, ‘ten/ten stick/tens stick/tens/tens sticks’, ’row’, ‘column’, ‘vertical’ and 'horizontal’.

• Page 2. Looks at why when ten ones become a stick of ten and how it is helpful to use a different colour for tens and ones. Page 2 also looks at images of ‘tens sticks’ and ‘ones’ and how these are counted and written as numbers.

• Page 3. Identifies how a large group of ‘ones’ can become confusing and tricky to count. Page 3 models how to count these ones - counting ten at a time and how these ‘groups of ten’ become ‘tens’ while the remaining ‘ones’ stay as ‘ones’. How this is written as a number is also clearly shown. Learners are introduced to the vocabulary ‘swapping/exchanging’, ‘left over’ and ‘group’.

• Page 4. Shows learners how they can draw their own ‘stick of ten’ and ‘ones’ and provides an opportunity for learners to practise grouping ten 'ones’ as ‘tens’ and writing this as a number.

• Page 5. Looks at what each digit in a number represents, e.g. in the number ’36’ the ‘3’ is the number of tens and the ‘6’ is for the ‘ones’. This is also modelled visually and learners are given the opportunity to practise writing the numbers ’27’ and ’45’ as ‘tens’ and ‘ones’ as well as drawing these numbers as ‘tens sticks’ and ‘ones’ squares.

• Page 6. Looks at numbers with no ‘tens’ (numbers 1 to 9). Learners are given the opportunity to count and write two numbers without a ‘ten’ - 8 and 5. Numbers 10 to 19 are identified as only having one ten and learners have the opportunity to count and write the numbers where 14 and 17 are represented visually.

• Page 7. Looks at numbers with ‘more than one ten’ in them - from 20 to 99. ‘Hundreds’ are not mentioned in this resource.

Important message…

ANY issues with any of this please don’t hesitate to get in touch - we are happy to make changes.