Lesson plan Grade 1 Math

Hazel Ridge's Bottle-Filling Station: A Grade 1 Tens and Ones Lesson

A 40-minute grade 1 lesson where students bundle counters into groups of ten while reading daily counts from a school water-bottle filling station.

Grade: Grade 1
Subject: Math
Material: Lesson plan
Time: 40 min
Prep: Low prep
Materials: About 30 small counters or cubes per pair, Small rubber bands or cups to bundle groups of ten, Chart paper showing a ten-day tally, Place-value mat with a tens and ones column (printed or drawn), Index cards for the exit ticket

Standards

1.NBT.B.2 Common Core Math

Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones. Understand that 10 can be thought of as a bundle of ten ones; that the numbers 11 to 19 are a ten plus some ones; and that 10, 20, 30, and so on refer to a number of tens with zero ones.

How this material aligns: Students bundle ten single-cup counters into a group of ten while counting a ten-day bottle-filling tally, the exact tens-and-ones grouping 1.NBT.B.2 requires them to understand.

All materials for 1.NBT.B.2 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will bundle ten ones into a group of ten and explain what the bundle represents.
Students will read a two-digit number as a number of tens and a number of ones.

Vocabulary

Key words: tens, ones, bundle, place value

Teacher overview

Hazel Ridge Elementary installed a bottle-filling station by the gym, and the school counts how many bottles get filled there over a ten-day stretch to decide whether to add a second station. This lesson uses that running tally as the reason to bundle single counters into groups of ten, which is the exact idea behind the tens and ones in a two-digit number. A common misconception at this age is treating the tens digit and the ones digit as two separate one-digit counts rather than as ten bundled ones plus leftover ones; the bundling itself is built to correct that directly.

Procedure

Hook (5 min): Show the class a pile of 23 loose counters, meant to represent 23 bottles filled at the station so far this week. Ask: "Is there a faster way to see how many this is than counting every single one?" Take guesses before introducing bundling.

Direct instruction (10 min): Demonstrate bundling ten counters together with a rubber band, placing the bundle in the "tens" column of the place-value mat. Bundle a second group of ten and place it beside the first. Place the 3 leftover counters in the "ones" column. Say together: "Two tens and three ones is twenty-three."

Guided practice (15 min): In pairs, students complete questions 1 and 2 on the handout, using a pile of counters for each day's bottle count from the chart (day 4 shows 16 bottles, and day 7 shows 21 bottles). Students bundle groups of ten, place the bundles and leftovers on the mat, and write each count as a number of tens and a number of ones before recording the total.

Independent practice (5 min): Each student completes question 3 on the handout, a written count of 19 bottles, drawing the bundled tens and loose ones on paper without counters and then recording the total number of bottles.

Closure / exit ticket (5 min): For question 4, show a set already bundled into 2 tens and 7 ones on the document camera or chart paper. Students write the total number of bottles on an index card and hand it in.

Hazel Ridge's Bottle-Filling Station: A Grade 1 Tens and Ones Lesson — Grade 1 Math

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

Bundle the counters into groups of ten. Write how many tens, how many ones, and the total number of bottles for each day.

Day 4 has 16 loose counters, one for each bottle filled. Bundle them into groups of ten, then write how many tens, how many ones, and the total number of bottles.
Day 7 has 21 loose counters, one for each bottle filled. Bundle them into groups of ten, then write how many tens, how many ones, and the total number of bottles.
Another day has 19 loose counters. Draw the bundled tens and the loose ones, then write how many tens, how many ones, and the total number of bottles.
Your teacher shows a set bundled into 2 tens and 7 ones. Write the total number of bottles.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Answer: 16 bottles. 1 ten and 6 ones is 16.
Answer: 21 bottles. 2 tens and 1 one is 21.
Answer: 19 bottles. 1 ten and 9 ones is 19.
Exit ticket answer: 27 bottles. 2 tens and 7 ones is 27.

Differentiation

Support

Pre-bundle the tens for students who need it, so they only place the finished bundles on the mat and count the leftover ones, and use a printed mat with the tens and ones columns already labeled.

Extension

Give students a count above 30 (such as 34 bottles) and ask them to bundle it into tens and ones, then explain in one sentence what would happen to the bundles if 10 more bottles were filled.

ELL supports

Pair "tens" and "ones" with a visual anchor (a full ten-frame card for tens, a single dot for ones) that stays posted during the lesson. Allow students to show their answer with bundled counters on the mat instead of writing the number in words.

Extensions

Have the class keep a real running tally of any classroom count that grows past ten over several days (books read, stickers earned) and bundle it into tens and ones each time it is updated, connecting today's skill to an ongoing classroom routine.