Make a Ten to Add Worksheets for Mental Math

About this resource

What's inside this resource

Practice pages walk students through the "make a ten" mental-math strategy for addition, starting with two-addend problems like 5 + 6 broken into a ten plus a remainder, moving through ten-frame dot diagrams where students complete the frame and write the resulting equation, and ending with three-addend problems where students circle the two numbers that combine to make ten before solving. The final pages simplify to direct missing-addend problems such as "8 + __ = 10," reinforcing the core ten-combinations before students apply them to larger sums. Each page repeats the same make-a-ten instructional prompt with new numbers, building the strategy through repetition rather than varied problem types. No answer key is included, so the pages are left as blank practice sheets for students to complete.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Decompose an addend to make a ten when adding two single-digit numbers
Complete a ten frame and write the matching addition equation
Identify which two of three given numbers combine to make ten
Find the missing addend that completes an equation equal to ten

Teaching tips

Introduce with the ten-frame pages first, since the dot visual supports the more abstract make-a-ten equations that follow.
Since there is no answer key, review answers as a class or prepare a key in advance before assigning independently.
Use the final missing-addend-to-10 pages as a quick daily warm-up to build the automatic ten-combinations the make-a-ten strategy depends on.

Skills covered

Make-a-ten addition strategy — students decompose one addend to complete a ten before adding the remainder, e.g. 8 + 6 becomes 10 + 4.
Ten-frame representation — students complete dot ten frames and translate the visual into a written equation.
Three-addend combinations — students circle two numbers from a set of three that combine to make ten before solving the full sum.

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Curriculum

Standards, concepts & topics

Standards

1.OA.C.6 — Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10. Use strategies such as counting on; making ten (e.g., 8 + 6 = 8 + 2 + 4 = 10 + 4 = 14); decomposing a number leading to a ten (e.g., 13 – 4 = 13 – 3 – 1 = 10 – 1 = 9); using the relationship between addition and subtraction (e.g., knowing that 8 + 4 = 12, one knows 12 – 8 = 4); and creating equivalent but easier or known sums (e.g., adding 6 + 7 by creating the known equivalent 6 + 6 + 1 = 12 + 1 = 13).
K.OA.A.4 — For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or equation.
K.OA.A.3 — Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 5 = 2 + 3 and 5 = 4 + 1).

Core concepts

make a ten strategy
addition
ten frames
number combinations to 10

Topics

Basic Operations Math Worksheets addition first grade

More to explore

Make a Ten to Add - Addition Strategy Worksheets

What's inside this resource