# Educator guide ## Purpose and learner fit This short lesson is designed for a learner who is beginning to connect numerals with small quantities and use objects to think about addition and subtraction. It targets about age six, while recognizing that learners develop at different rates. It has no score, timer, ranking, lives, or claim to diagnose ability. The learner will: - match numerals from 0 through 10 to a set of counters, including an intentionally empty frame for zero; - see and build several pairs that make ten, including 0 + 10, 5 + 5, and 7 + 3; - use a ten-frame to represent adding to and taking from a collection; - connect the object model with a matching equation and solve one new two-step situation. ## Prerequisites and materials No prior facts or account are required. A device with a modern browser is enough. An adult may sit alongside the learner, read a prompt aloud, or offer ten small physical counters as an alternative representation. The lesson itself does not collect a learner's name or store progress beyond the open page. ## Suggested 8–12 minute route 1. **Demonstration (about 1 minute):** Start at the home screen and explore the garden. In the first stop, Momo shows two berries in a ten-frame; the learner presses Add one or the third space and sees 2 + 1 = 3. Replay or skip is available. This is the concrete-to-equation example. 2. **Guided quantity practice (about 2 minutes):** Build the selected amount using a ten-frame. The short route begins with 0, 5, and 10. The learner may select any value from 0 to 10 at any time, change a counter, retry, and check again. 3. **Guided make-ten practice (about 2–3 minutes):** Complete six frames that begin with 0, 5, 2, 6, 7, and 9. Starting counters stay in place, and the learner adds the other part. Two optional supports can be chosen in any order: a prompt to count empty spaces, or a direct number-bond strategy. The screen shows how the parts fill the whole ten-frame. 4. **Story practice (about 3–4 minutes):** Six original one-step stories ask the learner to add or take away counters and then choose an answer. A selected counter can be changed before continuing. Taken-away counters stay visibly marked, and their space can be reused in a later step. 5. **Fresh application (about 1 minute):** A new flowers story asks the learner to add three and then give two away. The final equation and a short strategy explanation appear after a correct answer. Timing is a suggested pacing guide, not a target to enforce. Adults can pause or replay a stop without penalty. ## Scaffolds and adaptations Each make-ten and story activity offers two freely selectable prompts: “Give me a small hint” points attention to the frame or first step, while “Show another way to think” offers a worked counting/decomposition strategy. Neither asks the learner to choose a skill level. An incorrect check prompts counting or examining the remaining counters rather than stating the answer. The answer and explanation appear after a correct check. For more support, read each short sentence aloud, model one counter at a time, or use real objects beside the screen. For an extra challenge, ask the learner to predict a result before tapping, explain why two different pairs make ten, or invent a story whose counters end at a chosen number. The final two-step story supplies a transfer opportunity without adding a timer or score. ## Access and safety All core actions use native buttons. Counters work by tap/click and keyboard; dragging is not required. The interface provides visible focus, descriptive control names, a skip-to-content link, reduced-motion CSS, and an optional browser-native read-aloud with a visual fallback. Removed counters have both a dashed outline and a cross mark, so the meaning is not carried by color alone. The page uses no tracking, account, payment, advertising, open chat, uploaded media, or runtime AI service. ## Model limits The ten-frame is a representation for quantities up to ten, not a full curriculum. Story pictures set context, but the counters represent quantity rather than the physical size or identity of each pictured object. The activities provide immediate rule-based feedback and do not measure durable learning or general ability. Read-aloud depends on the device's installed voice and may be unavailable. The site has not been validated with children; do not infer universal age suitability or learning gains from an adult walkthrough. ## Learning references - **Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse, “Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades” (2021).** Recommendation 3 supports choosing and explicitly connecting concrete and semi-concrete representations; the guide lists ten-frames among semi-concrete representations for arithmetic. Recommendation 5 covers structured word-problem instruction. These recommendations informed the visible counter model, matching equations, and short story sequence. [Practice guide](https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguide/26) - **Common Core State Standards Initiative, Grade 1 Operations & Algebraic Thinking, 1.OA.A.1.** This standard describes representing addition/subtraction word problems with objects, drawings, and equations; it supports the lesson's use of manipulable counters and matching equations, not a claim that this single lesson establishes mastery. [Standard](https://www.thecorestandards.org/Math/Content/1/OA/A/1/) - **Common Core State Standards Initiative, Grade 1 Operations & Algebraic Thinking, 1.OA.C.6.** The standard names counting on and making ten as strategies for addition/subtraction within 20. The make-ten stop adapts the number-bond idea to a smaller within-ten range. [Standard](https://www.thecorestandards.org/Math/Content/1/OA/C/6/) ## Offline follow-up Draw ten empty boxes on paper. Put counters in some boxes, then ask, “How many more make ten?” Switch which color represents each part and explain how both colors still make the same whole.