Check each sum first: is it plus or minus?
Subtraction to 10
Subtraction to 10 practice, from 9 − 1 to 10 − 2 = 8: two numbers first, then three or four numbers and balance sums, then plus and minus mixed.
Your child can start here once they can add within 10, take away to 5 and find their way on the number line; the later exercises, with plus and minus mixed, also lean on adding to 5. Taking away from bigger numbers is counting back, and a child who can picture the line sees 8 − 3 as three jumps back to 5 instead of a guess.
Usually taught in Year 1 in England and Wales, around ages 5 to 6. Every child goes at their own pace; this is a guide, not a requirement.
The first of 23 exercises in this topic. See them all
What it looks like for your child
With one exercise from this topic as the example: Work it out.
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2
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4
How it fits together
The arrows point to what can be done next. Whatever sits inside a box belongs to it.
Subtraction
Subtraction to 10
Two numbers to 10
More numbers and balance to 10
Can come next
first this, then that belongs to
30 sums in a row, everything mixed: the real test.
One minute, as many sums as possible. Not needed to move on, but good for getting quicker.
40 sums in a row, everything mixed: the real test.
Two numbers to 10
Know the pairs that make ten and you know what is left: 10 − 4 = 6, because 4 and 6 make 10.
The number that comes before: before 6 comes 5.
Count back from the first number: 9 − 3 → 8, 7, 6.
Turn it round: 9 − ? = 6 is the same as 6 + ? = 9.
Read the whole sum before you fill in: is something added, or taken away?
More numbers and balance to 10
Take them away one at a time, left to right.
Work out one side, then make the other side the same.
Work out what is already there first, then see how much is missing.
One minute, as many sums as possible. Not needed to move on, but good for getting quicker.
Take them away one at a time, left to right.
A race against time, for children who can already do it and want to be faster.
Work out what is already there first, then see how much is missing.
- Plus and minus: three numbers — on the Addition to 10 page
- Plus and minus: balance — on the Addition to 10 page
Mixed to 10
The same sum as 9 − 3 = 6, but ten times bigger: 90 − 30 = 60.
Against the clock: how many can your child do in sixty seconds?
The same sum as 9 − 3 = 6, but a hundred times bigger: 900 − 300 = 600.
Just like 10 − 3 = 7, but ten times bigger: 100 − 30 = 70.
The same sum as 9 − 3 = 6, but a thousand times bigger: 9000 − 3000 = 6000.
Just like 10 − 3 = 7, but a hundred times bigger: 1000 − 300 = 700.
Just like 10 − 3 = 7, but a thousand times bigger: 10000 − 3000 = 7000.
Why it matters
To 10, the sums don't yet get harder in form, just wider. Your child now subtracts from numbers up to 10, sometimes takes three or four numbers away one after another, and makes a balance work, with a sum on both sides of the equals sign. That last one is new: the equals sign means ‘is the same as’, not ‘and now the answer’.
Round numbers appear as well. A child who knows 8 − 5 also knows 80 − 50 and 8000 − 5000. That insight, that tens and thousands behave like ordinary numbers, is essential later for working to 100 and beyond.
How to approach it
Make sure your child knows the number bonds to 10 well: 10 is 6 and 4, 2 and 8, 5 and 5. A child who knows those pairs by heart sees at once that 10 − 6 leaves 4, without counting.
With sums of three or four numbers, it helps to work out loud: ‘eight, take away two is six, take away one is five’. Each step in between is then a small sum your child already knows. If it gets too much to hold in their head, it is fine to jot the answer so far on a scrap of paper.
When is it secure?
All 10 right in one round, and no more than 20 seconds altogether. Around 2 seconds a sum shows your child is no longer counting.