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Bond Blocks

An Australian Mathematics Teaching and Intervention System

From Counting to Addition and Subtraction

Award Winning

Bond Blocks – Winner of the 2022 Educational
Publishing Awards
Primary Student Resource Category

What Is the Bond Blocks System?

The Bond Blocks system has two uses:

  1. Whole class teaching (Tier 1): teaching well initially in order to reduce the number of students who need intervention efforts
  2. Maths Intervention (Tier 2 and 3 Intervention): in small groups or with pairs of students to build up foundational skills.

Informed by research using evidence-based methodology, developed by Australian teacher Narelle Rice together with Dr Paul Swan.

Bond Blocks System

How you can get this award-winning system implemented into your teaching, whether your needs are Tier  1 Classroom teaching for Pre-Foundation to Year 3 or Tier 2 and 3 Intervention from Pre-Foundation to Year 7:

Pre-Foundation Year (Age 4) Content

Covers Pre-Foundation counting content.

Tier 1 Maths Classroom Teaching

Class Teaching

Suitable as a Tier 1 Class Teaching resource for
Pre-Foundation.

Tier 2 and 3 Maths Intervention

Intervention

Suitable as a Tier 2 & 3 Mathematics Intervention resource for
Pre-Foundation to Year 7.

Foundation Year (Age 5) Content

Covers Foundation counting content.

Tier 1 Maths Classroom Teaching

Class Teaching

Suitable as a Tier 1 Class Teaching resource for
Foundation.

Tier 2 & 3 Maths Intervention

Intervention

Suitable as a Tier 2 & 3 Mathematics Intervention resource for
Foundation to Year 7.

Year 1 to Year 3 Content

Tier 1 Maths Classroom Teaching

Class Teaching

The Bond Blocks Core Kit provides a whole-school approach to Tier 1 classroom teaching from Year 1 to Year 3
in Counting and Addition/Subtraction.

Tier 2 & 3 Maths Intervention

Intervention

The Bond Blocks Core Kit is also suitable as a Tier 2 & 3 Mathematics Intervention resource for Year 1 to Year 7+ in Counting and Addition/Subtraction. See the features list below for more details.

Features

The Bond Blocks materials have been created with all the extras required to support good teaching and intervention.

Bond Blocks Pre-Foundation and Foundation Counting Kits

Pre-Foundation (Age 4)
Foundation (Age 5)

Target counting skills identified by research as key predictors of difficulties in maths at this stage of development as assessed in early years state testing with student led play, guided play and teacher led instruction.

Bond Blocks Core Kit

Years 1 - 3 Addition & Subtraction

(Tier 1) - Bond Blocks as a School-wide Prevention Solution

A whole-school approach to Tier 1 teaching from Pre-Foundation to Year 3 in Counting and Addition/Subtraction.

Handy pre-configured kits for single and double stream schools available:

(Tier 2 & 3) - Bond Blocks as an Intervention Solution

Intervention (Tier 2 and 3) working with a group of up to 4 students at one time.

Pre-Foundation (Age 4)
Foundation (Age 5)
Years 1 - 3 Addition & Subtraction

Bond Blocks for Tutoring / Homeschooling

Using Bond Blocks as teaching system at home or with tutoring students.

Pre-Foundation (Age 4)
Foundation (Age 5)
Years 1 - 3 Addition & Subtraction

Over 100 specific activities

in the Core Intervention Kit

The Bond Blocks Maths Intervention Program is fully sequenced, Australian Curriculum linked and follows a Concrete-Representational-Abstract approach. 

Every activity is completed on one A3 board by an individual student or pair.

Activity boards are reusable and ready-to-go with minimal equipment and setup.

Complete one activity a week. All you need is approximately 8 minutes, 3 times a week. 

Every activity has its own publicly accessible webpage, where the activity is:

  • modelled in a short video for consistent, school wide teaching.
  • explained with specified mathematics and language.
  • differentiated ‘a little easier’ or ‘a little harder’.

The Support:

Teaching Modelled in Video

  • Explicit teaching of the activity
  • Demonstrating to teachers how to link the mathematical manipulative, the language and symbols

Differentiations – Done!

  • Free downloads and website instructions to make the activity a little easier or harder

Activity Instructions,  Assessments, Monitoring, Teacher Notes

Example of an activity video

How to administer the assessment

The Blocks

  • Bond Blocks are not scored, with individual
    unit lines. They are a representational
    manipulative that supports students to
    move from counting to calculating with
    numbers.
  • The length of the block helps student
    develop the concept of a mental number
    line.
  • The natural wood, sustainably-sourced New Zealand Pine, reduces distraction of colourful plastic and focuses children on the written numerals.
  • Ten is represented with two different blocks: Linear Ten and an Empty Ten Frame, similar to a ten strip and ten frame.
  • They are a ratio of one unit : 2 cm making them easy to manipulate.
  • They are self-checking, encouraging number sense and estimation.

There’s a lot you can do with just the Blocks themselves and the Bond Blocks Out of the Box book, but the activity boards (included in the Core Intervention Kit) let you do so much more.

An Australian Maths Intervention Program Developed:

  • Based on research
  • With extensive classroom trials and teacher feedback
  • In partnership with Dr Paul Swan (www.drpaulswan.com.au)
  • By a Western Australian teacher

Testimonials

Whether you’re a teacher or homeschooling parent you can be sure Bond Blocks will be an effective tool

Just an update on how our school has implemented the Core Intervention Kit. We have assigned a full time maths intervention teacher, who is working predominantly with the program with identified students in our year 3 to 6 cohort. Adding to this we also have several of our support staff engaging in small group work using the program. We have seen an absolute 100% turn around in our students’ confidence, alongside their ability to respond with a deeper understanding of the concepts they have been addressing. It is so heart-warming to see. The program has allowed all the staff involved to see how rich and crucial the concepts are. As a school we are now converts to the value of the Bond Blocks as a mathematical tool that support building strong mathematical foundations, hence our latest purchase to support our year 1/2 students ‘nail’ their understanding of counting and addition and subtraction. Thank you so much for creating such a valuable resource for our students.
Terri T.
Dandenong Primary School, Victoria
The activities are prescriptive, quick and easy with few materials required. The students particularly like the partner games. I was surprised how quickly I saw student progress. It was obvious in their speed and accuracy. The wooden blocks are the genius element of this program - so simple yet effective. The children can see, touch and manipulate the numbers and see them in relation to each other. I would highly recommend this resource for every K-6 teacher. It is applicable for intervention and core teaching.
Amanda H.
Intervention Teacher
It’s fun. The blocks are made out of wood with numbers on. You get to build a wall, it’s tricky at first but quite fun when you complete it. I’ve learnt my number bonds of 10, 8, 5, 7, and 6. It wasn’t hard to learn because the activities are games.
Ashley
Student

Aims of the Bond Blocks Maths Intervention Program

Use the Bond Block System to develop:

  • Fluency with number bonds, leading to recall.
  • Addition and subtraction to 20 and beyond.
  • Robust understandings of addition and subtraction concepts, and relationships between them.
  • Flexible, efficient calculating strategies.
  • Number concepts including place value.
  • Mathematical reasoning and problem solving.

Take a moment to check out the site

Check out what a lesson looks like or peruse our FAQ. There are also fantastic support materials in our teacher notes section, including a 3-page document asking the question “Is the Bond Blocks Maths Intervention Program evidence-based?” which helps demystify what ‘evidence-based’ does and does not mean.

Or, take a look at what assessment materials you get along with this fantastic maths intervention support program that is now used across Australia.