How can I figure out the total price of these two items? Try applying the make-ten strategy. When one addend is close to ten it is easy to use part of the second addend to make a ten. Nine plus five becomes ten plus four. You can then use your knowledge of ten and place value to calculate that the sum is fourteen. When introducing this strategy, use a double ten frame before moving to a pictorial model to demonstrate the strategy with other facts. So how can I apply that basic number fact strategy here? Well, think of the two numbers as quantities rather than symbols. Twenty-nine plus sixteen has the same value as thirty plus fifteen. That's easy! Thirty plus fifteen is forty-five. With practice, you can use this same thinking for even greater numbers. I see them as quantities. Two hundred ninety-eight plus fifty-seven has the same value as three hundred plus fifty-five. That's three hundred fifty-five. Wow! That's so much easier! Thanks!