Max Collects Kwanzaa Candles: Add by Tens Race

About this Grade 1 Adding Multiples Of 10 Drill

Adding multiples of 10 is a foundational skill that helps first graders recognize patterns in our number system and build mental math fluency. When children understand that 20 + 30 = 50, they're learning that tens work just like ones—a critical insight for place value. This skill appears everywhere in daily life: counting groups of dimes, combining packs of ten crayons, or tracking scores in games. Mastering this concept now prevents confusion later with two-digit addition and subtraction. At ages 6-7, children's brains are primed to spot patterns, making this the perfect time to cement the idea that we can add the "tens" column and ignore the zeros. This builds confidence and speed, setting them up for success in second grade mathematics.

What your student will practice

• Add two multiples of 10 with sums within 100
• Recognize that 10 + 10 + 10 equals 30 using tens language
• Apply skip-counting by tens to solve addition problems
• Connect tens blocks or objects to number sentences

Common mistakes to watch for

The most common error is treating multiples of 10 like regular single digits—a child might write 2 + 3 = 5 and then randomly add a zero, writing 25 instead of 50. Another frequent mistake is forgetting the zero entirely and writing 20 + 30 = 5. You'll spot this when the student ignores place value and focuses only on the digits before the zero. A third pattern is confusion between 'thirty' and '13,' causing them to misread or miswrite numbers. Watch for students who count by ones instead of by tens, showing they haven't internalized the skip-counting pattern yet.