Using the Five-or Ten-Anchor: What is it?

This is an addition and subtraction strategy.   In order to be successful, students need to be fluent in making 10.  To make the Five-or-Ten -Anchor, students decompose both numbers to pull out the 5's or 10's making it easier to add or subtract.

Overview:

  In this strategy, students split both addends to find anchors of five or ten, as well as the leftover amount.  Using the five- or ten-anchor is a foundational skill that helps students see how numbers relate to each other.  When students focus on number relationships and build an understanding of numbers, they are able to see smaller numbers inside of larger numbers (decomposition).  The numbers 5 and 10 provide the strongest benchmarks for thinking about all other numbers.

 The recognition of the relationship of all other single-digit numbers to 5, at first, and then to 5 and to 10 help students to structure their understanding of numbers around anchors of 5 and 10.  Students benefit from many experiences with making 10 and relating 10 to other numbers before they can develop strategies for the basic facts.  It is important for students to recognize 10 as an anchor number and to be able to identify relationships between it and the numbers 0 to 10.

Supporting Students To Use Five- or  Ten- Anchors

Using visual models, such as five and then ten frames when introducing basic facts will help students to see that numbers live inside a number.  Knowing how numbers relate to each other will be helpful for students when they learn strategies for composing and decomposing numbers.

To encourage students to build the foundational skills of Making 10, use mini lessons such as Make 10 Sequence (Lawson, p. 200) as well as the following games, Steal the Bundle, Go Fish for 10 and Make 10 Concentration (page 171 – 174) from the text “What to Look For” by Alex Lawson.

Where to Next?

Students who have mastered their 5 and 10 facts and have solid recall could be encouraged to move on to Using up/down over 10. 

Games & Activities to Support Five-or Ten- Anchor

Looking to learn more? Check out the recorded session!