George’s Ticket Tin

George and Amara were helping at the school garden show. They had twenty-seven tickets in a tin. Just before the gates opened, Ms Bell brought fifteen more. “Will these all fit on our counting board?” George asked.

Amara put the first tickets into groups of ten. There were two tens and seven ones. George sorted the new tickets beside them. Fifteen made one ten and five ones. “Let’s put the tens together first,” he said.

They had three tens. Next they brought the loose tickets together. Seven ones and five ones made twelve ones. George looked at the board. “There are too many ones for this little space. What shall we do?”

“We can make another ten,” said Amara. She counted ten of the twelve loose tickets into a bundle. Two were left. George placed the new bundle beside the other three. Now they had four tens and two ones.

“Forty-two tickets,” said George. Ms Bell asked them to check. Amara counted the tens, then the ones. George added in a different way. “Twenty-seven and ten is thirty-seven. Five more makes forty-two.” Their answers matched.

A breeze blew through the open gate. A few tickets fluttered on the board. George quickly put them back in the tin. “We know our total now,” he said. Amara wrote it on a card and tucked it inside.

The first family arrived to see the flowers. George handed the tin to Ms Bell. He showed her the card before returning to the garden table. “Good idea to keep a record,” she said. “Thank you for checking.”

George and Amara sat beside their sunflower pots. They could hear the visitors coming through the gate. “Those twelve ones nearly fooled me,” George said. Amara grinned. “Ten of them made a new ten, with two left over.”