Make Ten—Jonah Beats Gigi Three Times!

 

Conversations with Jonah: Make Ten—Jonah Beats Gigi Three Times!

As many of you know, I have a five-year-old grandson named Jonah. He is five going on fifty—full of life, energy, questions, and plenty of opinions!

Jonah is very inquisitive and loves learning, especially mathematics. He loves adding, counting, and figuring out how numbers work. As a mathematics educator and, more importantly, his Gigi, I pray he keeps this love of mathematics as he grows.

A couple of weeks ago, I taught Jonah a new game called Make Ten. What I did not expect was for him to start beating me at it!

What Is Make Ten?

Make Ten is a simple card game that helps children develop fluency with combinations that make ten. The goal is to find pairs of numbers whose sum is 10.

To play, we arrange nine number cards in a 3 × 3 array. The cards contain numbers from 1 through 10. During each turn, a player looks for combinations that make ten and collects those cards. The empty spaces are then replaced with new cards from the deck. We continue playing until we have found all the possible combinations.

At the end, we count our cards.

The person with the most cards wins.

Simple enough, right?

Well, apparently, I created a little competition for myself!

The First Game

When I first introduced the game, I modeled how to play. I showed Jonah how I could look at a number and think about what number it needed to make ten.

For example:

6 + 4 = 10

7 + 3 = 10

8 + 2 = 10

5 + 5 = 10

During Jonah's turn, I would ask:

“Do you see any more combinations that make ten?”

We continued taking turns until we ran out of cards. Then we counted our cards to determine the winner.

I won that first game.

But I must confess—I went a little easy on him! I intentionally left a few combinations on the table so he could find them. After all, I wanted him to understand the game and experience some success.

Well, that kindness came back to haunt me!

Gigi Is Not Going Easy Anymore!

The next week, we played again.

This time, I decided I was not going to be so kind. Jonah understood the game now, so Gigi was playing to win!

We played three rounds.

I won the first round.

Jonah won the second.

Then Jonah won the third.

Yes, my five-year-old grandson beat me two games in a row!

And across our games together, Jonah had now beaten his Gigi three times.

I was kind of glad when he said he was tired because I don't like to lose!

But Wait...Did He Really Win?

After our final round, Jonah had collected 22 cards, while I had collected a measly 18 cards.

Of course, we had to verify his victory.

Rather than simply counting 22 individual cards one at a time, I used the opportunity to extend his mathematical thinking.

We organized Jonah's cards into two groups of ten and two ones.

22 = 2 tens + 2 ones

Then we organized my cards into one group of ten and eight ones.

18 = 1 ten + 8 ones

Then came the questions.

I asked Jonah:

“How do you know you have more cards than I do?”

Without hesitation, he explained that he had 22 cards and I had 18.

Then he told me:

“22 is greater than 18.”

Okay, Jonah!

So, of course, the mathematics educator in me had to keep going.

“How many tens are in 22?”

Two.

“How many tens are in 18?”

One.

“Who has the most tens?”

Jonah.

He answered the questions with ease—and with a huge smile because, more importantly to him, all of this mathematical reasoning proved one thing:

He beat Gigi!

The Mathematics Behind the Game

What began as a simple game of Make Ten became an opportunity to explore several important mathematical ideas.

Jonah was practicing combinations that make ten, addition fluency, counting, comparing numbers, place value, composing numbers into tens and ones, and using mathematical language such as greater than.

But there was something even more important happening.

He was thinking mathematically.

Instead of asking Jonah only to give me an answer, I asked him to explain what he noticed and how he knew. Those questions gave me an opportunity to listen to his thinking and gave Jonah an opportunity to communicate his mathematical ideas.

What Does This Tell Us?

Children's mathematical understanding can be seen—and strengthened—in many different ways.

Mathematics does not always have to look like a worksheet.

Sometimes mathematics looks like a five-year-old sitting at a table with his Gigi, searching through playing cards for combinations that make ten.

Games provide wonderful opportunities for children to develop number sense while having fun. When adults intentionally ask questions such as “How do you know?” “What do you notice?” “Can you show me another way?” and “Who has more?”, a simple game can become a rich mathematical experience.

These conversations allow children to explain their reasoning, make connections, develop confidence, and see themselves as mathematical thinkers.

And sometimes, apparently, they also give five-year-olds the confidence to beat their Gigi three times!

I guess I need to sharpen my Make Ten skills before our rematch.

What are your thoughts? What mathematics game should Jonah and I play next?