Teaching addition to kindergarten students can be a lot of fun. However, we need to make sure foundational skills are in place before we teach it. This blog post is the first one in a two-part series. You can find part two here.
What are the prerequisites to teaching addition?
During the school year, my addition to 10 unit is the second unit that I teach. I begin the year with going through number sense to 10, sometimes 15. I want to make sure most of my students are comfortable printing and playing with numbers before I start addition. Why is number sense important? If you are new to teaching, and you are teaching preK, K or grade one, number sense is absolutely foundational to so many math skills that we need students to master during the year. If you have not taught numbers 0-9, start with this blog post, On the set up of Numbers 0-9.
Skills they should know:
- Number Recognition to 10
- 1:1 Correspondence (put 10 blocks in front of a student and have them count them, touching each one)
- Being able to play with manipulatives and see the connection to numbers
- Number Sense to 10 and higher (perhaps to 15 or 20)
If you feel that your students are pretty comfortable with the above skills, incorporate math vocabulary into your numbers talks to get them ready.
Basic Math Vocabulary
Words that students will learn include: more, add, together, total, sum, addend, in all, and plus (there are a couple more). Sometimes students are familiar with a couple of these because the teacher in their previous grade taught them (thank you!). Have you heard of Gus the Plus? He’s been around for at least 10 years. I met him on Pinterest (I do not know who started him and his pals, Linus the Minus and Eshaal the Equal).
Start with Play
When we start to teach a new concept and it involves manipulatives, it is a good idea to let students play with the manipulatives prior to the lessons. Whether the manipulatives are blocks, bears, ten frames, etc., children are naturally curious so let them act on that curiosity for a few minutes. This also eliminates the want to play with the manipulatives during the lesson (for most students).
If you have iPads/tablets in your classroom, have you tried Boom Cards? I try to give students time on tech devices once a week. They are either learning coding and practicing math skills. This BUNDLE has been used a few times with my students.
We are going to be moving into different addition strategies.
Until then,
Happy Teaching!
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