Making 10 is a powerful strategy where students decompose one addend to help make a complete group of 10, which is then easier to add to. For example, to solve 8 + 5, students think: 8 + 2 = 10, then 10 + 3 = 13. This strategy bridges to place value and makes mental math more efficient.
Use ten-frames with counters to physically show how to decompose and regroup. Start with numbers close to 10, then extend to larger addends. Use consistent language: 'I need ___ more to make 10.'
You already know how to add numbers within 10, and you've worked with number bonds — pairs of numbers that join to make a given total, like 3 + 2 = 5 or 4 + 1 = 5. Making 10 is a strategy that uses those number bonds as stepping stones: instead of adding two numbers directly, you rearrange them to pass through 10 first, because 10 is an especially easy number to work with.
Here's why 10 is special: our number system is built around groups of ten. You already know that 10 = 10, and that adding to 10 is straightforward — 10 + 3 = 13, 10 + 6 = 16. The number 10 acts as a bridge. So when you see 8 + 5, instead of counting up from 8 five times, you think: "8 needs 2 more to reach 10. I'll take 2 from the 5, use it to fill up to 10, and then add what's left." Breaking the 5 into 2 + 3 gives you 8 + 2 + 3 = 10 + 3 = 13.
The decomposing step — splitting one number into two parts — is what makes this strategy work, and it draws directly on your number bond knowledge. If you know that 5 = 2 + 3, and that 7 = 3 + 4, and that 6 = 1 + 5, you can flexibly break numbers apart to make whatever piece you need. With 9 + 4, you know 9 needs 1 more to reach 10, so you split the 4 into 1 + 3: now you have 9 + 1 + 3 = 10 + 3 = 13. The ten-frame makes this visual: show 9 filled squares, then move one counter from the group of 4 to complete the frame — suddenly the answer is obvious.
This strategy matters beyond just getting answers faster. It teaches you that numbers can be broken apart and rearranged without changing their total value — a flexible way of thinking that underlies mental math, place value, and eventually column arithmetic. Knowing that 8 + 7 = 8 + 2 + 5 = 10 + 5 = 15 is the beginning of number sense: the ability to see numbers not as fixed symbols to count but as flexible quantities you can reorganize to make computation easier.