Planning tool

Students:

• model and describe additive story problems
• understand that adding objects together results in a larger set of objects
• understand that subtracting objects from a set results in a smaller set of objects
• model and describe different ways to make numbers up to 10.

Some students may:

• have limited number naming and counting knowledge, for example, they are not yet able to coordinate saying the number names with pointing to or moving counters one by one. To address this, provide repeated occasions to count sets of objects as well as sounds such as claps and drum beats.
• not understand the commutative property in addition; that it doesn’t matter what order you add two addends, this will not affect the answer. To address this, provide repeated experiences to add two numbers where the smaller number is mentioned first (for example, I have 2 apples and my friend has 4 apples). Help students see that this property gives us choices about how to add numbers.
• believe that adding zero (for instance, 2 plus 0) will result in a larger number because they have learned that ‘adding makes numbers larger’. Similarly, when subtracting zero (for instance, 2 take away 0) they think the answer will be smaller than the minuend. To address this, provide repeated opportunities to explore problems that add and subtract zero.

The Learning from home activities are designed to be used flexibly by teachers, parents and carers, as well as the students themselves. They can be used in a number of ways including to consolidate and extend learning done at school or for home schooling.

Learning intention

• We are learning to describe situations that use addition and subtraction.

Why are we learning about this?

• We use addition and subtraction in everyday life.

What to do

1. When engaged in creative play, notice situations involving addition and subtraction. Consider questions like:

• I notice 3 gumnuts and 2 leaves. How many items altogether?
• Teddy has 4 books and so does Dog. How many do each have? How many altogether?
• I see there are 6 buttons. What if I took away these 2, how many would be left?

2. Read storybooks and discuss situations involving addition and subtraction. Model curiosity and pose questions such as:

• There are 2 lemons here, and 2 more lemons here. How many altogether?
• Dog is joined by his 3 friends. How many animals are there now?
• Oh, the goat just ate an apple! There were 5 apples. How many are left?

3. Link addition and subtraction to everyday situations. For example:

• When shopping, or when playing shops, talk about the total number of items in the basket, for example: 'there are 2 apples and 2 bananas. How many pieces of fruit altogether?'
• When walking as a group, discuss how many people are walking in front, how many are walking behind, and how many people there are altogether.
• When drawing pictures, notice and describe additive aspects such as that the number of legs on a dog (4) and the number of legs on the person (2) makes a total of 6 legs.

Success criteria

I can:

• use language like ‘____ and _____ makes _____’ to describe addition
• use language like ‘_____ take away ______ leaves’ to describe subtraction
• describe different ways to make numbers up to 5, then up to 10.