Chapter 4 — Making 10

Chapter 4, Making 10, covers dot patterns, the concept of zero, number pairs that make 5 and 10, and counting objects up to 20 by grouping in tens.

The story of Gola the monkey losing his shirt buttons one at a time is used to show zero. When all four buttons fall off, children see that zero buttons remain, helping them understand zero as a real number.

Number pairs of 10 are two numbers that add up to 10, such as 1 and 9, 2 and 8, 3 and 7, 4 and 6, and 5 and 5. The chapter uses a finger game to help children discover all these pairs.

Subitization means recognising how many objects there are at a glance, without counting one by one. The chapter builds this skill through activities with dot patterns on ladybugs and dot flash cards.

Children see that 11 to 20 are each made of a group of 10 plus some extra units. For example, 10 and 3 is 13, and 10 and 9 is 19. A packing-oranges story makes this idea concrete.

One child shows some fingers and the other must show the right number of remaining fingers to reach 5 together. For example, if one child shows 3 fingers, the other shows 2.

Two children take turns rolling a dice and colouring a box with the same number of dots as shown on the dice. The child who colours more boxes wins the game.

Five sets of number cards (1 to 10) are placed face down. Two children take turns picking cards; if the two face-up cards together make 10, the second child takes both cards. The child with more cards at the end wins.

The chapter suggests using tamarind seeds, pebbles, buttons, and bindis to make dot designs and count the number of objects in each arrangement.

Children count beads or buttons already shown in a frame and then draw more to complete a total of 10, practising how different amounts combine to reach 10.

Children circle the smallest or biggest number from a set, order a list of numbers from biggest to smallest, and find hidden numbers in a sequence. This builds understanding that a number like 15 is bigger than 11 because it is 4 more.

Children are asked to find things around them that come in groups of 10, such as bindi cards, and to make their own number cards from 10 to 20 using old cardboard or waste materials.

Children join numbers from 1 to 20 in order using a dot-to-dot puzzle, which also reveals a hidden picture of an animal or bird at the end.

Aastha's tenth birthday is used to show that 9 and 1 more makes 10. Children count birthday items like diyas, beads, laddoos, and crayons to connect the number 10 to real-life celebrations.