Do your students struggle with identifying and understanding numbers such as eleven and twelve? If so, you are not alone. Teen numbers can be a struggle for kindergarten students for many reasons. First, the “structure” of the number does not follow the traditional rule, and these numbers are synonymous to the idea of “site words” in mathematics.
In Kindergarten, students learn that the numbers 11-19 are made up of “ten ones and some more ones.” The language we use to name the teen numbers does not always support that idea. For example, the number twelve does not provide any clues to a kindergarten student that it is composed of ten ones and two more ones. To help students conceptualize the of “teen numbers” try the strategy, “Say a Ten Way.” This strategy encourages students to build models of numbers 11-19, then students practice naming the model using the “Say a Ten Way”
To describe this example using the “Say a Ten Way”, students would say “Ten and two.” To say it the conventional way, they would say Twelve. Students should practice saying both representations of the of the number to help them conceptualize the idea of teen numbers.
So how can we help students understand teen numbers? Check out this quick video below!
https://www.engageny.org/resource/common-core-video-series-grade-k-module-5-mathematics-example-of-instruction