Sit alongside your child. Read each slide together and let them say the answer out loud before tapping.
This series follows concrete → pictorial → abstract. Lesson 1 secures bonds within 20 before Lesson 2 extends to 100.
Let's learn to add and take away! 🎉
Today we become brilliant at adding (putting groups together) and taking away (removing some). We'll go step by step. Ready?
Use real objects — pasta, coins, grapes — and physically push the two groups together, then count them all.
Insist on counting all first; counting on (next slide) comes once one-to-one counting is secure.
Adding means putting together
3 apples 🍎🍎🍎 and 2 more 🍏🍏 makes 5 altogether.
3 + 2 = 5
The + means "add". The = means "is the same as".
Practice
You have 4 🍌 and pick 1 more. How many?
💡 Start at 4 and count on one: "five!"
Encourage "put the big number in your head and count on" rather than counting from one every time.
Counting on from the larger number is more efficient; model it explicitly and praise its use.
A faster way: counting on
For 6 + 3, hold the big number in your head and count on: 6 … 7, 8, 9.
6 + 3 = 9
Practice
Count on: 8 + 2 = ?
💡 Hold 8 … "nine, ten."
Practice
Count on: 5 + 4 = ?
💡 Hold 5 … count on four.
Practise bonds to 10 for two minutes daily — short and often beats long and rare.
Automatic recall of bonds to 10 underpins bridging through 10 in Lesson 2.
Magic pairs: number bonds to 10
Pairs that make 10 are best friends: 0+10, 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5. Learn them by heart!
Practice
7 + ? = 10
💡 What does 7 need to reach 10?
Practice
6 + ? = 10
Practice
? + 8 = 10
"Take away" and "count back" work well with objects you can physically remove.
Model subtraction as both take-away and finding the difference; today focuses on take-away.
Taking away
5 cupcakes 🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁, eat 2 — count what is left: 3.
5 − 2 = 3
The − means "take away".
Practice
6 ducks 🦆, 4 swim away. How many left?
💡 Count back from 6: "five, four, three, two."
Practice
9 − 3 = ?
Practice
10 − 4 = ?
Show the four facts together with counters so the link is visible, not just stated.
Inverse relationships support checking and missing-number work in Lesson 2.
A clever secret: fact families
Adding and taking away are opposites.
3 + 4 = 7 ↔ 7 − 4 = 3
4 + 3 = 7 ↔ 7 − 3 = 4
Learn one and you get the others free! 🎁
Practice
If 5 + 2 = 7, what is 7 − 2?
💡 Use the fact family.
Practice
Sam has 9 stickers, gives away 5. How many now?
💡 Gives away = take away. 9 − 5.
Practice
Which makes 10?
Practice
2 + 7 = ?
💡 Hold 7, count on two.
Practice
8 − 3 = ?
💡 Count back from 8.
Practice
If 4 + 6 = 10, what is 10 − 6?
💡 Use the fact family.
Well done!
You finished this lesson. You worked hard and learned something new today. 🎉
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