Number Bond Rainbow to 10

About Number Bond Rainbow to 10

Number Bond Rainbow to 10 asks for the whole set rather than one fact at a time. Each row of the grid is an arc of the rainbow — one part is given and the child places the part that makes ten with it. Working through several arcs in one round is the entire point, because the bonds to ten are not ten unrelated facts to be memorised separately; they are a pattern, and as one part climbs the other falls in step. A child who sees that pattern has learned something that stays learned, while a child drilled on the facts in isolation has ten things to forget. This is deliberately different from our Part Part Whole Boxes game for younger children, which varies the total and asks for one missing number at a time. Here the total is held still at ten and the set is what is being built, which is the step up that grade 1 is ready for. Bonds to ten also underpin almost everything that follows: bridging through ten, subtracting from ten, column methods that regroup, and mental strategies well into the junior grades all assume these pairs are instant. Rows grow from two arcs at the first level to the full five at the top, and only a small palette of numbers is offered at a time so the choice is never overwhelming. Everything is operable by tap or keyboard, each cell is announced to screen readers, and wrong placements flash and can be tried again with nothing lost. No sign-up, no advertising to children, and progress never leaves the device.