L19 – WWW – Number Bonds to 10

Working Without Worksheets – Reception Maths: Number Bonds to 10 Support your Reception pupils in developing fluency with addition through this Working Without Worksheets lesson on number bonds to 10 . Using ten frames, strawberries, cubes, counters, and playful activities, children systematically explore all the ways that 10 can be made from two smaller numbers. The lesson begins with a starter activity : Show a ten frame with some counters on. Point out how many are there and ask: “How many more do we need to fill the ten frame?” Model adding counters until the frame is full and confirm the number bond aloud. In the main input , children explore bonds to 10 in a real-life context: Introduce the story of Elephant and Tiger sharing 10 strawberries. Partition the 10 strawberries in different ways. Ask questions like: “If Tiger has 1 strawberry, how many does Elephant have?” Record the bond pictorially and as a number sentence: “1 and 9 make 10.” Work systematically through all the possible pairs to make 10. For the independent activities , children practise number bonds through hands-on, engaging challenges: Towers of Ten – use cubes or Lego to build towers of 10, then split them into two parts and describe the bond aloud ( “6 and 4 make 10” ). Ten-Frame Treasure Hunt – children place objects in a ten frame and count how many more are needed to reach 10. Beanbag Toss – throw beanbags into a hoop, count those inside and outside, and say the number bond ( “7 in the hoop, 3 outside – that makes 10!” ). Shake and Spill – shake 10 two-coloured counters in a cup, spill them, and describe the arrangement ( “5 and 5 make 10!” ). The plenary brings children together to share the number bonds they discovered, reinforcing the use of full sentences: “__ and __ make 10.” What’s Included in the Pack? ✔ Full teacher planning with objectives, vocabulary, and plenary ideas ✔ Starter: explore bonds to 10 with a ten frame ✔ Teacher modelling: story context with Elephant and Tiger shari