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Features

Count seeds in ten frames
Make ten to add
Build arrays
Graph a harvest
Draw equal groups
Solve garden word problems
Answer keys included

Skills Covered

Count to 20 with ten frames
Make ten to add within 20
Add equal rows in arrays

Tally, graph, and compare data
Repeated addition with equal groups
Add and subtract in word problems

About the Three Sisters

Corn, beans, and squash have been grown together by many Native nations across North America for centuries. The name “Three Sisters” comes from Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) tradition. Each plant helps the others: tall corn gives the beans a pole to climb, beans add nutrients to the soil, and wide squash leaves shade the ground to hold in water and keep weeds down. The pack opens with a short “Meet the Three Sisters” panel, and every problem is set in a class garden.

How to Use This Pack

Six worksheets that build from counting to problem solving, all set in a Three Sisters garden. Start with seeds in ten frames, make ten to add, count rows of corn and squash, graph a harvest, plant equal groups of seeds, and finish with garden word problems. Each worksheet has its own answer key at the back of the pack.

In the Classroom

Pair the pack with a fall, harvest, or plant unit, or with Native American Heritage Month in November. Read the “Meet the Three Sisters” panel together, then use the pages as math centers or a week of warm-ups. The harvest graph works well as a whole-class discussion: which crop did the garden grow the most of, and how do you know?

At Home

Do one page a day. If your family has dried beans or popcorn kernels, use them as counters for the ten frame and equal-groups pages. The pictures are black-and-white line art, so kids can color each page when they finish.

Tips for Success

On page 2, have students move bean seeds into the empty (dashed) spots to see the make-ten strategy
For arrays, point along each row as students skip count
Ask students to explain the graph in a full sentence: “The garden grew more beans than squash.”
Page 6 mixes problems within 20 and within 100, so first graders can stop after the first three

Common Core Standards Alignment

This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:

1.OA.A.1 Solve story problems up to 20 that join, separate, combine or compare amounts, with the missing number in any spot, using objects, drawings or equations.
1.OA.A.2 Solve story problems where three numbers are added together for a total of 20 or less.
1.OA.C.5 Connect counting with adding and subtracting, such as adding 4 by counting on four more.
1.OA.C.6 Add and subtract to 20, working fluently within 10, with strategies like counting on, making ten, fact families and doubles plus one.
1.NBT.B.2b Know that 11 through 19 are each made of one ten plus 1 to 9 ones.
1.MD.C.4 Sort and show data in up to three groups, then answer questions about the total, each group's count, and how groups differ.
2.OA.C.4 Use adding to find the total in an array with at most 5 rows and 5 columns, and write it as repeated addition.
2.MD.D.10 Make picture and bar graphs (one unit per square or picture) for up to four categories, and answer joining, separating and comparing questions from them.
2.G.A.2 Cut a rectangle into a grid of equal squares and count how many squares it holds.

Three Sisters Garden Math

1st – 2nd Grade

Math built around the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash grown together. Students count seeds in ten frames, make ten to add, build arrays, graph a harvest and solve garden word problems.

Download PDF

What’s Included

6 worksheets, each with a matching answer key (12 pages)
A “Meet the Three Sisters” panel introducing corn, beans, and squash
Ten frames filled with corn and bean seeds, arrays, a tally chart, and a bar graph
Black-and-white line art kids can color after they solve

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Free to print and share

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