Why number bonds matter
Knowing that 8 and 2 make 10 is the key to adding 8 + 5 in your head: 8 + 2 + 3. Bonds and fact families make that connection visible.In the MATATAG curriculum
- Grade 1Composing and decomposing numbers up to 10 with concrete materials, and adding with sums up to 20.
- Grade 1Finding the missing number in an addition or subtraction sentence.
- Grade 2Subtraction as the inverse of addition.
The guide does not use the term “number bond”; it speaks of composing and decomposing numbers. A part-part-whole diagram shows exactly that, and in Filipino the words are bahagi (part) and kabuuan (whole or total).
Fact families pick up the Grade 2 idea that subtraction undoes addition. Bonds to 10 and to 20 are the Grade 1 range; bonds to 5 suit Kinder children who are ready for numbers.
Summarised in our own words from DepEd’s MATATAG Mathematics Curriculum Guide, Grades 1–10 (2023).
