standard_description: Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones. Understand the following as special cases:
- The numbers from 11 to 19 are composed of a ten and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones.
- The numbers 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 refer to one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine tens (and 0 ones).
- 10 can be thought of as a bundle of ten ones — called a “ten.”
problem_activity: Narrative
The purpose of this Number Talk is to elicit strategies and understandings students have for adding three one-digit numbers within 20. When students look for ways to decompose addends to make a ten with another addend, and add the remaining addends to find the sum, they look for and make use of the structure of numbers and properties of operations (MP7).
Launch
Display one expression.
“Give me a signal when you have an answer and can explain how you got it.”
1 minute: quiet think time
Activity
Record answers and strategies.
Keep expressions and work displayed.
Repeat with each expression.
Student Facing
Find the value of each expression mentally.
\(6 + 4 + 8\)
\(6 + 8 + 4\)
\(6 + 8 + 5\)
\(6 + 5 + 9\)
Student Response
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Activity Synthesis
“Who can restate _____'s reasoning in a different way?”
“Did anyone have the same strategy but would explain it differently?”
“Did anyone approach the problem in a different way?”


aligns: no