How this teacher develops composition of ten with second graders was dramatically reshaped by the 2006 release of NCTM's Curriculum Focal Points . The release of Curriculum Focal Points -particularly the suggestion that number sense and computation be focal areas in the second-grade mathematics curriculum-resulted in positive changes in this author's approach to teaching these areas. Providing extended time to focus on the composition and decomposition of ten and its applications allows students to become more efficient at computation, develop greater number sense, and positively impacts the way they view math.

Enjoyable literacy strategies help elementary teachers reinforce students’ mathematics knowledge. This article shares a number of literacy strategies that can easily connect with mathematics.