▸ Why It Matters
This sheet is your child's first real bridge into two-digit thinking. Problems like 8+3, 9+4, 6+6, and 7+7 all land somewhere between 11 and 15, which means every single answer crosses past 10. That crossing point is the whole point: your child has to notice the total "spills over" ten and figure out what to do with the leftover amount. That noticing is the earliest seed of the regrouping (carrying) skill they'll rely on once they start adding two-digit numbers in school.
▸ Getting Started
Teach the "make 10 first" strategy using a problem like 8+5: break the 5 into 2 and 3, use the 2 to turn 8 into a full 10, then add the leftover 3 to land on 13. The same trick works throughout this page — for 9+4, borrow 1 from the 4 to make 9 into 10, leaving 3 to add, for 13. For doubles and near-doubles like 6+6, 7+7, and 6+5, it can help to lean on memorized "double facts" as anchors instead, since children often learn these faster than other sums.
▸ If They Get Stuck
If splitting numbers apart feels like a new and confusing extra step, that's completely normal — fall back to counting up from the larger number, one finger or one hop on a number line at a time, until reaching the total. It's slower, but it's a dependable safety net while the break-apart strategy is still unfamiliar. Watch for a very common slip: children often count the starting number itself as the first count, landing one too low. If an answer like 9+4 keeps coming out as 12 instead of 13, gently ask them to recount starting from the number after 9.
▸ Praise Points
Celebrate any attempt at the "make 10" strategy, even when the final number still needs a recount to confirm — trying the strategy at all is the real milestone, not instant accuracy. You might say, "You broke the number apart to build a 10 first — that's exactly what real mathematicians do, and it gets faster every time you practice." Also praise noticing their own mistakes and fixing them without help; that kind of self-checking habit matters just as much as getting every sum correct on the first try.
🎯What This Worksheet Builds
This worksheet gives your child fourteen addition problems, each with two single-digit addends that combine to sums between 11 and 15, including doubles like 6+6 and 7+7 and near-doubles like 6+5 and 7+6. Rather than counting one by one, the goal is for your child to start seeing these totals as 'a full ten plus a little extra,' the mental structure that supports faster, more confident number-bond thinking and lays the groundwork for regrouping in later multi-digit addition.
👉Next Step
Once these teen sums feel comfortable and your child can explain the 'make 10' strategy in their own words, move on to Addition Practice 4 - Doubles, which builds instant recall of facts like 4+4 and 6+6. Strong doubles knowledge becomes a shortcut for solving near-double problems like 6+7 or 8+9 almost automatically.