Sharing some of our Maths Learning

At Maths time we have been looking at strategies we can use to solve addition and subtraction problems. One strategy is called Counting On. When we count on we hold the biggest number in our head and count on from this number as many as we need to get to our total.

We practised this with counters in a circle. First we counted how many counters there were of each colour.

This told us what the problem we were trying to solve is. We wrote this down:

 We then started from the biggest number and counted on the smallest number to find the answer.

We have also been using a number line to practise our addition and subtraction and our Counting On. Firstly, we listened to the word problem and wrote down the equation that we were trying to solve. Then, we would take a counter and find where on the number line to start. We would move it up or down to find the answer.

When solving addition problems with bigger numbers we can use Place Value to help us. To solve 54 + 25, we got 5 bundles of 10 sticks and 4 loose sticks to show 54, and 2 bundles of 10 with 5 loose ones to show 25. Next, we put all the bundles together and skip counted in 10s to get to 70. Then we counted all of the loose sticks to get 9. We added 70 and 9 to get 79. We can also show this on the abacus.