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