Teen Board: Names of the Teens

Materials

• Seguin Board A: a board or two card-stock strips with "10" written nine times in a column
• Nine unit cards numbered 1–9, each cut so it exactly covers the zero (index cards work well)
• A clear table or floor mat where the board can lie flat in front of the child

No materials at home? Use the virtual Teen Board (Seguin A).

Before this lesson

• The Colored Bead Stair

Aims

Presentation

1. 1 Sit beside your child with the board flat on the table and the unit cards stacked in order nearby. Point to the top slat and read it together.This says ten.
2. 2 Take the 1 card and slide it slowly over the zero of the top slat, so your child watches the 10 become 11.Now it says eleven. Eleven is ten and one.
3. 3 Slide the card off so the slat reads 10 again, then slide it back on. Invite your child to do the same — the transformation is the whole show.
4. 4 Move to the second slat and place the 2 card over its zero.This is twelve. Twelve is ten and two.
5. 5 Do the same with the 3 card on the third slat.This is thirteen. Thirteen is ten and three.
6. 6 Now teach those three names in three periods. First name each number while pointing. Then mix the cards and ask your child to point: "Show me twelve." Only when pointing is quick and easy, point yourself and ask, "What is this?"Show me twelve. Show me eleven. What is this?
7. 7 Stop while it is still fun. On later days continue with 14 through 19, three at a time, always beginning with a quick review of the numbers already learned.
8. 8 When all nine cards are familiar, invite your child to build the whole board from top to bottom and read it like a list.Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen…

Points of interest

• The moment the zero disappears under the card and 10 turns into 14
• The 1 never moves — only the second digit changes down the whole board
• The strange names: "eleven" and "twelve" hide their ten, while "fourteen" nearly says it out loud

Control of error

• Reading down the board out loud: a card in the wrong slat breaks the counting sequence, and the child can hear it
• On the virtual board, a quiet check mark appears beside a row when its card sits in the right place — like a teacher's pencil mark, nothing more

Vocabulary

• eleven
• twelve
• thirteen
• fourteen
• fifteen
• sixteen
• seventeen
• eighteen
• nineteen

Variations

• Build the board from the bottom up, counting backward from nineteen
• Shuffle the cards and hand them over one at a time in random order for your child to place
• Say a teen number out loud and let your child build it with the right card

Extensions

• Hunt for teen numbers around the house: the clock, a calendar, page numbers, prices in a grocery flyer
• Count a pile of buttons or dry beans past ten, then write the total

Follow-up work (pencil & paper)

• Print a teens practice page: your child traces and writes the numerals 11–19 and fills in the missing numbers in short counting sequences.Printable: Teens & Tens
• On plain paper, write prompts like "10 and 4 make ___". Your child builds the number on the board first, then writes the numeral in pencil.
• Make a paper teen board together: one strip of card with "10" written nine times and nine small unit cards, so your child can practice away from any screen.

What comes next

When the names and numerals are steady, move to "Teen Board with Beads: 11–19," where each numeral meets its real quantity — a golden ten-bar plus a colored bead bar. After that comes the Ten Board (Seguin B), which names 10 through 90 the same way.

Next in this strand: Teen Board with Beads: 11–19