Knowing pairs of numbers that add up to make ten is a skill I use all the time to work out more complex problems. It is often introduced as “Friends of Ten”, but it continues beyond in Mathematics as a foundation. Eg. It assists us to recognise 37 + 3 will make the next ten of 40, 37 + 3 + 60 makes 100, 3.7 + 0.3 makes 4, 3.7 + 0.3 + 6 makes 10 so 96.3 would make 100.

Once you have reached these “friendly numbers” of the tens/hundreds/etc, the rest of the question is easer to tackle. Remember persistence is the key.

If you master these pairs you will find your brain will have energy to solve more and more challenging problems because you don’t have to think so hard.

Enjoy this game to build up your mastery of number facts of 10.                                                 

Go Fish

Deal out 4 cards to each player. (Remove picture cards, Ace is a 1)

Place the remaining deck face down to make a centre pool.

To make a pair, a player must have two cards to make ten (add to 10). Eg. 3 + 7 = 10 would be a pair.

Any pairs you have in your hand you can place in a stack beside you.

The first player asks any other player for a card they need to make a pair. If the player asked has that card, they must give it to the asking player. If they do not have that card they say GO FISH, and the asking player collects a card from the centre pool.

Continue around in a clockwise direction.

If a player runs out of cards, they choose 4 new cards from the pool.

Play continues with players taking turns asking for cards and making pairs that add up to 10.

The winner is the person with the most pairs when the centre pool.

Stephanie van der Schans, AST/Numeracy.