6 Great Ways to Teach Addition

This is a difficult unit to plan for, because I still have a good handful of kiddos who are struggling with numbers and counting. I want them to be able to fully participate without needing help every step of the way.

What I've found works best to start out are art projects. We can play around with the pieces before we glue them down, and the strugglers don't have to struggle! Bonus: they are working on fine motor and following directions at the same time. :)

Here are the projects I used this year:

WATERMELON ADDITION from Mrs. Cate's Kindergarten

 

We used real sunflower seeds for this one! After they cut/glued their watermelon together, I gave each child between 3-6 seeds. Since this was their first addition project, they had a hard time understanding that they had to put the seeds into 2 groups, even after some modeling. Next time maybe I'll draw a line down the middle of the watermelon template.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished products! This one is from Mrs. Cate's Kindergarten blog.

I used the template provided on All Kids Network.

LADYBUG ADDITION from The Measured Mom

 

Again, I forgot to take pictures! But this is what my sample looked like. The template has the head and body pre-drawn for them, but then I had them create the antennae, 6 legs, and spots on their own. They could decide how many spots they wanted to use.

M&M COOKIE ADDITION

 

This one was really fun! I didn't use a template here. I just gave each child a sheet of brown paper and had them draw their own circles. It was such a challenge for them to make the cookies the right size (big enough)! For some reason they like to draw really small!

I honestly can't remember where I found this idea. If anyone knows, please send me a message so I can give credit where it is due! It's a keeper though!

MARSHMALLOW ADDITION from the Wood Kinder Class

 

For this craft, kids cut out 2 coffee mugs (from a template) and glued them onto another sheet of paper.



I gave each child 5 marshmallows and we played around with different combinations of 5 before gluing them down.

SNOWMAN ADDITION from The First Grade Parade

 

 

I had lots of construction paper squares out for the kiddos to use- I asked that they use only 2 colors and make a pattern. Next, I had them add up how many they used of each color.

DOMINO ADD IT UP is a freebie from TeachersPayTeachers

 

I wasn't sure how they'd do with this one, but I was impressed.

You wouldn't think this would be enough practice with the actual math for them to really start to understand it, but you'd be amazed! I think the key is that they ENJOY it. And they can see how they could use math in real life with real objects.

In the past, my addition unit mainly utilized 2-sided counters and whiteboards. We'd model story problems and write number sentences. This was really frustrating for them and they got bored of it quickly. Next week I'll introduce some addition math centers and partner games so they can really hone their skills.