One more week left until the new school term begins. How quickly time flies! I really appreciate the privilege of having school holidays. Not only does it give us a chance to rest, but it also allows us to spend time perfecting our teaching practice by doing research, being creative and developing our plans. As I continue to work on my maths plan for the term, I have put together one more list of ideas to help you with teaching addition to your students. So, here is Part 3 of the Addition Activities Series. (If you missed Part 1 and Part 2 of the series, you might want to read those first.)
Counting On with Number Lines
Number lines can be a great visual tool to help students with addition. Number lines work particularly well when teaching children the ‘counting on’ strategy. This strategy involves students starting with a number and then counting until they reach the answer to their equation. Number lines can easily be drawn up on whiteboards or in books, and are useful for those students who need a back-up strategy when working out addition.
If your students are not yet familiar with number lines, another way to teach them this strategy is by using pictures. I like to combine pictures and numbers so that my students become familiar with written equations too. Simply give students a starting number, and then ask them to ‘count on’ from that number, using the pictures to help them. The ready-to-use resource pictured below can be found here.
Hundreds Charts
Hundreds charts can be used in so many ways! They are great for teaching addition because they help students to keep track of their counting. They also encourage students to begin skip counting, which leads into multiplication. I find that it’s helpful to give all students a copy of a hundreds chart at the beginning of the year to keep as a reference tool. Simply have them glue it into the back cover of their maths book, or keep a laminated copy on their desk. That way it is easy for them to find it when they need it. There are lots of designs available out there, but these cute woodland animal themed hundreds charts are my personal favourite.
I first discovered this game a couple of years ago and every time I have used it in the classroom it has been a hit! To play ‘I Have, Who Has’, hand out a card to each student. Ask students to sit in a circle with their card. The first student will read out their card. Then, all of the other students need to look at their card to see if they have the correct answer to that equation.
When using this game to practise addition, it might sound something like this: I have the first card, who has 233+ 479? The student with the answer reads their card aloud next. (For example, I have 712. Who has 443 + 535?) The game continues until everyone has read their card in the correct order.
Addition Mazes
Addition Mazes are perfect for students who like a challenge! To complete an addition maze, students need to work their way through the maze by colouring in all of the equations that have the same answer. For example, if the answer to the maze is the number 20, they need to colour every equation that equals 20 to get through the maze.
Colour-By-Number
Another colouring activity that is always very popular with students is the ‘colour-by-number’. Here, students will get a colour guide, and they need to match the correct colour to each equation. The great thing about colour-by-number activities is that it is so clear for the teacher to tell when a student is confident with their addition and when they need more practice. Plus, the students enjoy colouring pictures during their addition lessons!
I hope that you and your students enjoy trying out some of the ideas covered in this series. Now I think I’m going to get back to enjoying my last week of the holidays before they’re over!
Do you want some more maths teaching tips while you’re here? Then have a read of my post on promoting children’s problem solving skills.
Have a question or a request? You can contact me at: blueskydesignsbymrst@gmail.com
The Musings of Mrs T 
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