DIY Magnetic Tens Frames!

LUCKY! That's me! I attended a workshop by another first grade teacher and all around guided math pro-Kathleen Adair. She teaches in my County and shared a bagillion ideas with us! One of my favorites was magnetic tens frames. 

I. FELL. IN. LOVE! 

But how? How could I make these A. cheap B. easy to put away and C. alluring to my little friends?

Hmmm.....when I get into these situations, I like to take time to reflect, ponder, focus, and so on. So I went straight to my happy place----Dollar Tree! 

Taaaa Daaaa!

$1.00 cookie sheet (They are magnetic!)

Tens frames copied 2 per page-print them HERE or HERE for FREE!
Tape them down with packing tape or contact paper. I did the tape.

$1.00 button magnets in the back to school section of Dollar Tree (8 per pack-5 packs makes two full sets.) Store the magnets in snack baggies. They are pink/gray and blue/black. Cute and fun and the magnets really stick!

AND they are dry erase! You can write on the board, the tens frames OR the tape! Love, Love, Love!

How to use these? 

*Call out a number like 17. Have the kids make it. Informal assessment-how did they make it? Did they count them out one at a time? Did they do 10 on top quickly and then add the others? Did they do part on top and part on bottom? 

*Practice part/part/total.

*Making tens.

*Addition and subtraction to 20.

*Solving word problems.

And so on and so on and so on! 

Run to Dollar Tree and for $7 you can have two sets! That is a steal! Let me know if you make them and how you decide to use them!