Subtraction Facts within 10 Sort Task Box

About this resource

EVERYTHING INSIDE — 22 pages, 150 type-in fields

• 12 subtraction fact cards across 3 levels (4 cards each), each card showing one group of dots — some solid, the rest hollow to mark what was taken away — never a picture, never an emoji digit — with a row of numeral choice tiles below it
• Every card twice: accent-colored dots for a laminated classroom box and black ink-saver dots for the photocopier — the same facts, the same choices, only the fill color changes
• 2 difference reference strips (color and ink-saver), every starting number 2 to 10 in order, each beside one example solid/hollow split and its answer's number word
• An answer key listing every card by level, the fact shown (starting number minus the amount taken away), and the numerals printed on it
• A task box data sheet (16 rows: date, level, cards used, cards correct, cards given, percent, help given, initials)
• A percent graph, sessions across, with a level box under each session
• A filled example — an invented student, 8 sessions, every percent re-counted from its own row
• A family practice page with six of the same cards and a mini number strip
• A phrase bank: 25 lines in 6 groups (spoken lines for running the box, written starters for the note afterward)
• Start Here, a contents page with page thumbnails, and a "what's next" back page

A task box built around single-digit subtraction facts that stay within 10 — one group of dots a child counts, where the dots already taken away are drawn hollow instead of solid, then marks the numeral that names how many are left. It comes with the same data sheet, graph and phrase bank as the rest of the collection, so this practice turns into a line on a page a case manager can bring to a meeting.

HOW A CARD SHOWS "TAKE AWAY" — every card draws ONE group of dots: the dots still counted are solid, the dots already taken away are hollow (an open, dashed circle, not a small crossed-out mark that can be hard to read at card size or after a photocopy). A plain text tag under the dots also states the amount taken away in digits, so the operation is never left to guessing from the picture alone.

Three Levels, And The Distractors Change With Them

• Level 1 — 4 cards, small starting numbers (3 to 6), take away 1, two numerals to choose from, the wrong numeral always far from the true answer, so the first cards are nearly impossible to get wrong.
• Level 2 — 4 cards, starting numbers in the middle of the range (7 to 9), three numerals to choose from. The wrong numerals are never adjacent to the answer, so a child has to count the solid dots rather than guess the number next to a familiar-looking one.
• Level 3 — 4 cards, starting numbers approaching the box's ceiling (8 to 10), four numerals to choose from. Every card carries at least one wrong numeral exactly one away from the true answer — the near-miss a child lands on after missing or double-counting a single dot.

Nothing on a card says its level except a dot code in the corner (one, two or three dots), so a mixed-up box sorts itself back together.

PLAIN DOTS, PLAIN NUMERALS, ON PURPOSE — every dot is a plain drawn circle and every choice a plain text tile, never an emoji or a keycap digit (those do not render consistently across readers). Nothing here depends on a picture library or a codepoint; the only thing being tested is the subtraction.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

It is a fillable PDF: type into the data sheet, the graph header, the family page and the example-style notes, or print and use a pen. The card pages and reference strips print on cardstock or plain paper and cut along dashed lines. It works offline with no account or subscription. It is NOT an editable online slideshow or word-processor document, and it is not a test of anything. It does not cover addition, multi-digit subtraction or regrouping — it is single-digit subtraction facts with starting numbers to 10 only.

It carries no prompt hierarchy, fading schedule or mastery rule, and it does not decide what a percent means for a student or when to move up a level. The goal line and the criterion field are blanks for your district's own wording and your team's own number. It measures one thing: cards with the right difference marked.

Who This Is For

Special education teachers and paraprofessionals running independent work stations or task box rotations with students working on early subtraction fluency, case managers who need that practice to show up as data, and the families who get the practice page sent home.

More In The Collection

This is one set in the Task Box Collection; more sort, counting and identification boxes are being added to the collection regularly, all on the same cards-plus-data shape.