From facts to borrowing
- Within 10 and 20. Subtraction facts, like 13 – 5, a whole sheet at a time.
- Two digits, no regrouping. Every top digit is big enough: subtract the ones, then the tens.
- Two digits with regrouping. When the top ones digit is smaller, take one ten and make ten more ones.
- Three digits. The same steps across tens and hundreds.
Check by adding
Every subtraction has an addition hiding in it: if 72 – 38 = 34, then 34 + 38 = 72. Children who check their answers this way catch their own mistakes and learn how the two operations fit together. The addition worksheetsuse the same levels.
NCF and NCERT links
- UKGThe NCF-FS (C-8.6) has children taking out up to 9 objects from a group and counting what is left.
- Class 1Children solve subtraction within 9 using real objects, learn the − sign and see how subtraction undoes addition.
- Class 2Children subtract numbers up to 99 using place value; NIPUN Bharat also lists subtracting numbers up to 99 as a Class 2 target.
Many Indian teachers still say “borrowing” rather than “regrouping”; both words describe trading one ten for ten ones. Use whichever your class uses, and show it once with bundles of sticks.
The NCF-FS asks for problems from daily life. After a sheet, try one about change at a shop: “You had ₹50 and spent ₹23. How much is left?”
Summarised in our own words from the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCERT, 2022) and the NIPUN Bharat guidelines (Ministry of Education, 2021).
