Looking for a versatile and customizable visual aid? This printable five frame template is perfect for teaching math, organizing data, and more!
A five frame is a visual tool used in early math education to help students, especially young learners, grasp fundamental arithmetic concepts like addition and subtraction. It consists of five boxes or compartments, serving as a simple framework for understanding numbers up to five and fostering numerical fluency through hands-on exploration and visualization.
There are so many different math activities that can be completed using this free printable blank 5 frame template!
This printable five frame template is available to download in PDF and Publisher formats. The template can be printed on regular copy paper. If you plan on using this template again and again, I suggest laminating it before using with students. If you print on cardstock before laminating, it will be even more durable.
MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…
A laminator is a MUST-HAVE for me as a math teacher! I spent my first six years as a teacher at a school with a broken laminator , so I had to find a way to laminate things myself.
I’ve had several laminators over the years. I currently use a Scotch laminator at home and a Swingline laminator at school.
I highly recommend splurging a bit on the actual laminator and buying the cheapest laminating pouches you can find!
If you do go the lamination route, I suggest using two color counters or bingo chips when representing numbers on the printable 5 frame.
If you prefer to have students draw on the five frames, you could place them inside a dry erase pocket to make them erasable and reusable.
MATH = LOVE RECOMMENDS…
I cannot imagine teaching math without my dry erase pockets! They instantly make any activity more engaging and save me countless hours at the copy machine since I can use the same class sets of copies year after year.
Here are my current go-to recommendations:
Dry erase pockets are seriously one of my favorite classroom tools!
The printable five frame template can easily be projected on interactive whiteboards to allow teachers to model for students how to represent numbers on the five frame.
You could easily use these printable five frame templates with students in small groups as a way for students to practice basic number facts. For example, if students were in pairs, you could give each student a number to represent on their 5 frame. Then, you could challenge students to add their two numbers together. This could be a great opportunity to practice writing basic number sentences.
If you want to use these templates as a math centers activity, you could have a stack of number cards next to the template. Students could take turns turning over one of the number cards and representing the number on the five frame template using plastic counters.
Students will enjoy these hands-on activities much more than just completing a simple worksheet. Five frames are a fun way to help students build confidence with subitizing numbers.
If you plan to have students using the frame to do basic operations, you might want to go ahead and opt for a ten frame template instead of the five frame template.
Looking to work with larger numbers with your student than a single five-frame template can handle? I have created several other free printable empty frames including a blank ten frame printable and a blank double ten frame printable.
This printable blank five frame template is available to download in PDF format and as an editable Publisher file. If you want to edit the Publisher file, you will need to make sure that you have Microsoft Publisher installed on your computer.
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Sarah Carter teaches high school math in her hometown of Coweta, Oklahoma. She currently teaches AP Precalculus, AP Calculus AB, and Statistics. She is passionate about sharing creative and hands-on teaching ideas with math teachers around the world through her blog, Math = Love.
