Adding Three Small Numbers
Add three one-digit numbers using strategies including looking for pairs that make 10
Lesson
Set out your lesson
“Adding Three Small Numbers means finding the total of three one-digit addends. A useful strategy is looking for a pair that makes 10, then adding the third number. Other pairs can be added first when that feels easier. We will build with counters, write the equation, and notice when a make-10 pair helps.”
Bring to the table
- About 15 large counters, blocks, or dried beans (parent keeps any small pieces away from mouths)
- Paper and pencil
- Clear table space
Extra for the adult
Worked example. For 4 + 6 + 3, 4 and 6 make 10, then 10 + 3 = 13. For 2 + 5 + 8, 2 and 8 make 10, then 10 + 5 = 15. The three addends stay the same; the helpful pair can change which two you add first.
Optional challenge. For Adding Three Small Numbers, solve 9 + 6 + 4 without counters first by finding a make-10 pair, then check with counters. Optional: invent one short word story that uses three small addends and tell which pair you added first.
What to notice. Keep one parent note: triples tried; totals; whether a make-10 pair was used; order explained; support used. A photo of counters alone cannot record the strategy talk. This samples a few triples, not full fluency for every one-digit sum of three.
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1 approach
Adding Three Small Numbers means finding the total of three one-digit addends. A useful strategy is looking for a pair that makes 10, then adding the third number. Other pairs can be added first when that feels easier. We will build with counters, write the equation, and notice when a make-10 pair helps.
Spend about 12 minutes adding three one-digit numbers with counters, spotting make-10 pairs when they appear, writing the totals, and explaining the order used.
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Learning resources
Extra practice links — they do not replace Gakuva’s teaching approach.
Illustrative Mathematics · Practice link — not the full lesson
Daisies in vases
Before you open · source notes
Distribute eight daisies among three vases so the large vase has the most and the small vase has the least, then explain the arrangements. Adult reading and objects help.
Free, no sign-in. Use the student view with your child.
Before you openDiscuss whether an empty vase or equal counts are allowed before checking the arrangements. The page does not score the work.
Opening this link does not save learning or assess mastery.
Source, access and review notes
Public Illustrative Mathematics task page. The .html address responds HTTP 308 to this URL. An anonymous GET of this URL on 2026-11-10 returned HTTP 200 with no login or payment prompt. Where a teacher solution is present, it is on the same page as the student task; this check did not find a separate locked student view. An adult can use the student view section and should not read a solution aloud. Advertising was not observed in the fetched HTML text; that is not a browser, device, or ad-free guarantee. This is a paper or discussion task, not an automatically marked interactive game. Opening the link does not save practice or assess mastery. Diagrams on the page use missing or filename-only alt text, so they are not an accessible image equivalent. Accessibility still depends on an adult describing the picture.
Illustrative Mathematics. “Daisies in vases.” Licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. External task; Gakuva does not copy, host, embed, or redistribute it.
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — link only
Check understanding
- Calculate 5 + 7 + 3 by first adding 7 + 3 = 10, then 5 + 10 = 15
- Add any three single-digit numbers correctly
- Identify useful pairs within three addends to make the calculation easier
“If your child needs to add 4 + 6 + 8, can they spot that 4 and 6 make 10 first, then add 8 to get 18 — rather than just adding in order from left to right?”
Curriculum record
- Type
- Procedural
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Domain
- Addition & Subtraction
- Age range
- Ages 6–7
Standards