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FAQ

Ten Frames

Question

Teachers have reported that when giving the 10 Frames assessment, children often have difficulty remembering the number they were asked to add to the existing stars.  I think it happens because of the question sequence. They break up the second addend then have to recall how many filled the 10 frame and how many extras.  I know this is all important, so I want to proceed carefully, but teachers want to know if it would be acceptable to write the second numeral on a white board if the child seems to need it.  What do you think?

Answer

from Kathy Richardson

I think having the number written down could influence the way children respond, so I wouldn't have them do that. This is hard for the children to remember because they aren't yet proficient breaking up numbers or thinking of ten as unit. If the child seems perplexed or is taking way too long, I would rather the teacher check in with them- saying, "Do you remember how many you added?"  Then, if they forgot, I would remind them by restating the problem. "You are adding 6 more to the 8" or whatever.  Oftentimes when you ask, you find that children do remember, but they are lost with all the parts and pieces, which is what we are trying to uncover. 

Remind your teachers that it is important to uncover what the children need even if we wish they could do better. 

Hope this helps. 
Kathy

Question

I have a question about the Ten Frames – subtraction (13 – 6 frames/questions).
Are we to show the turned-over ten frame (pretend ten frame) when it asks, "If 13 stars ... and use them to fill this ten frame, would you have some left over?"

Also, are we to show the ten frame with 3 stars when it asks, "Take away 6...."?  Is this frame supposed to be turned over?

We have different interpretations of what to do.  Some feel we are not supposed to show any ten frames for this problem.

Answer

from Kathy Richardson

The problem 13-6 is using "pretend ten frames," so there should be no ten frames in view of the child at all.

The wording should be, "If you had 13 stars and you used 10 of them to fill a ten frame, would you have some left over?"

"If you needed to take away 6 stars and you took away 3 first, would you still need to take some away?"

I never noticed before that we used "this" and "these". I will have that fixed. 

Thanks,
Kathy

Question

When I give the Ten Frames assessment, I find that it goes on to the next question when I think it is clear the child will need to count to get an answer. Shouldn't it stop?

Answer

from Kathy Richardson

The Ten Frames assessment gives the instructional level for 4 areas:  1: Adding Ones to a Ten (10 + 9 and 6 + 10); 2: Knows Parts of Numbers;  3:  Making a Ten and Adding Ones (8 + 7 and 7 + 6 and using a pretend ten frame 8 + 5); and 4: Recognizing Ten More (18 + 5).
 
There are several stopping places built into Ten Frames. Generally speaking, if the child shows any awareness of 10, the assessment will continue.

The first stopping place occurs after the first 2 questions (10 + 9 and 6 + 10).  If the child knows at least one answer without counting, or counts on for both problems, the assessment will go on so teachers can find out how the child determines the total after making a ten. If you do not want to go on, however, you can end the assessment and get the instructional level for that part.

The next stopping place is after 8 + 7 and 7 + 6. If the student counts all or counts on from 8 or 7, the assessment will stop and he will not be asked to work with a "pretend" ten frame. However, the 3 problems go together to make one instructional level, so you can't stop it yourself without getting an “Incomplete”. 

There is one more stopping place. The assessment will not go on after the "pretend ten frame" question if the student counts all or counts on from 8 for that problem.  It will go on if the child counts on from 10. If you do not want to go on after that response, you can end the assessment there yourself. 
 
I also suggest you go into demo mode and see what happens when you end at different points before you actually try stopping the assessment yourself while assessing a student.

Kathy

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