ABC, Easy as 1,2,3

We have started with addition. Well, we have been doing addition since the first day of school in our number collection boxes and daily morning worksheets, but we have actually started concentrating on learning certain steps that will help my students become fluent to 10 as the new common core math standards state.

Below is one of the activities that I do with my students. It is a way of using pictures, symbols, and numbers to represent addition sentences and numbers. I can also differentiate the activity by giving student his or her own set of numbers.

In the first column students use counters to show the two addens. In the second column they draw a picture to represent the addens. In the third column they use numbers and sentences to create an addition sentence. If you look up at the top of the picture you can see the two numbers that this student was given to use to add. Each child received a different pair of numbers. At the bottom, the Postit star shows my commentary about the student's work. We try to use a combination of computer programs, hands on manipulatives, and the provided workbook to practice addition.