Interactive Math and ELA Lesson using Ten in a Hurry by Lo Cole
Summary
Ten in a Hurry by Lo Cole is such a cute book! This lift-the-flap book starts with 10 different colored fish swimming in a line. Each of the rainbow-colored fish pop off the pages against a black backdrop. Then along comes a bigger fish and GULP; he swallows a fish one at a time, so the count keeps decreasing.
Not only are the illustrations fun and engaging, but the text has a fun rhyming scheme, and it has flaps!!! Plus, it reinforces color names which is great for the younger kids. The best part about is that it can be used as a great teaching tool because you can see both the eaten fish and the fish that are left simultaneously. Additionally, the 10th fish is bigger than the 1st fish which indirectly implies magnitude.
Buy Ten in a Hurry by Lo Cole! Note: I am NO longer participating in the affiliate link program (8/28/25).
Teaching Skills
Counting Backwards
Counting backwards is an essential skill for children. Not only does it help with subtraction but it’s important that students are able to move fluently in both directions on a number line which will set the stage for understanding integers in later grades. Note: The National Research Council (and thus most state standards) recommends delaying teaching of the number line until Grade 2, but students in younger grades can still practice counting backwards using physical objects like sidewalk blocks or going up and down steps.
Decomposition Within 10
Decomposing and recomposing numbers is an important skill for children to build number fluency. Ten in a Hurry is the perfect book for teaching decomposition and composition among 10. You can talk about how there are still 10 fish even though some of the colored fish are in the big fish’s belly and some are still swimming in a line.
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Addition and Subtraction Situations
It’s important to give students a variety of addition and subtraction situations. See Table 1 of the Common Core Math Standards which is also shown below. This lesson is going to focus on the “add to” row and “change unknown” and “start unknown” columns. Point out that a composition (put together) situation undoes a decomposition (take apart) situation.
Lesson
Introduction
To get the students engaged and moving, play the Goldfish Song by Laurie Berkner, Baby Shark by Pinkfong or other song or finger play about fish.
Part A: Initial Read
Pre-reading: Show students the cover of the book, and ask them what they think the book will be about.
Reading: Read the book Ten in a Hurry by Lo Cole capturing the story, rhyme, and rhythm.
Post-Reading Discussion:
- Flip to a page in the book, and ask students to explain what happened on that page. Specifically ask them how the illustrations help us understand the story better.
- Ask students how many fish were eaten and how many were left. Ask the students how many fish they can see on the page. Flip to a new page and repeat the questions.
- Ask students each number relates to its successive number. For example how does 10 relate to 9? How does 9 relate to 8? etc.
Part B: Counting Up and Counting Down
Have students practice counting up to 10 and back down to 1 using their fingers.
Part C: Act it Out
Prior to the Lesson
- Draw a big fish either on bulletin board paper and hang it on the wall or on the board.
- Cut out the 10 fish and glue them to popsicle sticks. See my lesson plan on the Math Lessons page for fish to cut out. Each fish should be one of the colors to match the book. You can print them on colored paper or have the students color them.
- Write each number 0 through 10 on a construction paper as well as an addition and equal sign.
Lesson
Ask for 10 volunteers and give each student a colored fish on a Popsicle stick. Give someone the equal sign to hold. You may want to post the plus (addition) sign next to the big fish, but you can also have a kid hold that as well. (Teaching tip: You many want to give each student in the class a fish and let them “swim” around the classroom to get their energy out before starting the lesson).
- Next to the big fish, have each of your fish volunteers stand in order of the colors of the book: Pink, purple, blue, turquoise, green, yellow, gold, orange, brown, and red.
- Ask students how many fish there are? Count them together. Either hang the number 10 on the board next to the student holding the equal sign, or have another student hold the number 10.
- Then read the book again slowly, page by page. Each time the big fish gulps, have one of the students move toward the belly of the fish. Then post the numbers on the board: number of little fish in big fish’s belly + number of fish swimming = 10.
- Move the equal sign around during the reading. Sometimes have it come before the big fish on the left, and at other times have it on the right side after the swimming fish. For example, 10 = 2 + 8 and 3 + 7 = 10. Ask students if it matters where the equal sign is placed. This is a really important discussion as it stresses that the equal sign means equivalence which confronts the common misconception that the equal sign means “the answer is.”
Homeschool Adaptation
Since there are not enough students in a homeschooling situation to have each student be a fish, affix the fish to a magnetic white board, so an individual student can move the fish around.
Part D: Partner Work
Assign students partners. Give students the worksheet found on the Math Lessons page and 10 fish. (You may want to laminate them.) Have the students count the total fish. Then have one partner put some fish of their choosing in the belly of the big fish. Have the other partner write the addition equation ,and put the remainder of the fish swimming in the water. Repeat the exercise so that each partner has 3 or 4 attempts to write the equation. Make sure you also offer opportunities to have students put the swimming fish in the water first and then find the number of fish that were eaten. This illustrates start unknown and change unknown situations in Table 1 of the Common Core and Ohio’s Math standards.
Post-Discussion: Ask students what they noticed and wondered when they were doing the activity.
Part E: Independent Work
Give each student 10 linking cubes, a number cube (die), and the worksheet found from the lesson plan found on the Math Lessons page. Have students count the linking cubes. Then have the students roll the number cube, and place that many cubes in the fish’s belly. Then have them model the rest of the equation using the linking cubes and write the equation.
The reason we are moving from fish to linking cubes is that we want students to start abstracting the numbers. To help with understanding, it’s always a good idea to start with contextual problems. The fish are contextual and concrete. The linking cubes are still concrete, but are more of an abstract way of representing the fish that can be applied to other situations.
After doing one example together ask the following questions:
- What is alike about the linking cubes and the fish?
- What is different?
- How can using linking cubes help you do other math problems?
Bruner’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Bruner’s Theory of Cognitive Development has students go through the enactive, iconic, and symbolic modes (aka concrete, pictorial, and abstract). This lesson has students go through both the enactive and symbolic modes by using the fish and writing the equation. For more information on Bruner’s theory you can read the following:
- Jerome Bruner Theory of Cognitive Development & Constructivism (simplypsychology.org)
- CPA Approach Explained | Learn the Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract Method (mathsnoproblem.com)
- Concrete, Pictorial, and Abstract: How One Psychologist Revolutionized Math Forever – Singapore Maths Club
Math Vocabulary
The linking cubes are a good way to introduce math vocabulary of composition and decomposition of numbers. Show students that composition is putting together the blocks and decomposition is taking apart the blocks. Point out that a composition (put together) situation undoes a decomposition (take apart) situation and vice versa. Students should not be required to use the words composition and decomposition, but as a teacher you should model math vocabulary by stating something like “Put together or compose the blocks” and “take apart or decompose the blocks” when instructing students.
Part F: Ten on a Twig (optional)
You can repeat the same lesson using Lo Cole’s Ten on a Twig to reinforce the same concepts using a different scenario.
Buy Ten on a Twig by Lo Cole.
Disclosure: I only recommend products/books that I think would be helpful to you in your journey as an educator. All opinions expressed here are my own. I am NO longer participating in Amazon’s affiliate link program (8/28/25) Read my full privacy policy here.
Comment
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Standards
English Language Arts
This lesson addressed Common Core and Ohio’s ELA standards:
- RL.K.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
- RL.K. 7 With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).
- RL.K.10 Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. Activate prior knowledge and draw on previous experiences in order to make text-to-self or text-to-text connections and comparisons.
Math
This lesson addressed Common Core and Ohio’s Math standards:
- K.CC.4 Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
- Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger.
- K.OA.3 Decompose numbers and record compositions for numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way by using objects and, when appropriate, drawings or equations.
- K.OA.4 For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or, when appropriate, an equation.
In Ohio’s Learning standards counting backwards appears in 2.NBT.2 Count forward and backward within 1,000 by ones, tens, and hundreds starting at any number; skip-count by 5s starting at any multiple of 5. Ohio added counting backwards in the 2017 revision as Common Core omitted it, but it should be taught as part of PrK-2 curriculum.
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