Featuring the picture book Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
Expand your child’s mathematical scale with this PF on the Go kit designed to bridge the gap between simple counting and the world of multiplication. Using the iconic and minimalist imagery of Ten Black Dots, families reimagine each circle not as a single unit, but as a group of ten. This shift in perspective allows children to visualize how large quantities are built, moving beyond rote memorization to a concrete understanding of place value and skip-counting. As you read together, the "Interactive Read Aloud" suggestions transform every page into a prompt for discovery and proportional reasoning.
The mathematics come to life through the Multiples Mural project, a hands-on art experience where children take ownership of their learning. By using dot stickers to represent values from 10 to 100, students create a physical model of the first ten multiples of ten. Families also play Connect the Multiples: Tens, a strategic game that uses ten-sided dice to reinforce these new patterns. By using precise language like factor and product during the "Talk About It" prompts, children build the academic vocabulary needed to describe their mathematical thinking. These experiences work together to show that mastering multiples of ten provides a critical foundation for multi-digit multiplication and basic fact fluency.
Included Materials:
- Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
- Connect the Multiples: Tens Gameboards (3)
- 10-sided dice-in-dice
- Transparent counters (24)
- Cardstock (5 sheets)
- Black circle dot stickers (560)
- Four full-color activity cards printed on durable card stock, with clear, step-by-step instructions for every activity
Start with Kit A and progress in order to Kit J. Kits A–E are prerequisites for Kits F–J. Students should master the facts in the prerequisite kits before starting the later kits.