From pictures to numbers
Young children understand addition as putting groups together long before they can work with symbols alone. Picture problems keep that meaning in front of them: two groups to count, then the same problem written as a number sentence. When they count confidently, switch to Numbers only.
Three steps up
- Within 5. Small groups children can see at a glance.
- Within 10. The facts that make ten, the base of later mental maths.
- Within 20. Adding to and taking from teen numbers.
Ready for more? The addition and subtraction worksheets go on to two- and three-digit numbers.
In the MATATAG curriculum
- KinderPutting together and taking away, using locally available materials.
- Grade 1Addition with sums up to 20, described as counting up and putting together.
- Grade 1Subtraction as taking away, with numbers up to 20.
Sums within 5 and 10 suit Kinder, and within 20 is the Grade 1 range. In Grade 1, addition comes in the first quarter and subtraction in the third, so the take-away sheets fit later in the year.
In Filipino lessons addition is pagdaragdag and subtraction is pagbabawas. Act each problem out first with real objects, such as mangoes in a basket, before moving to the pictures.
Summarised in our own words from DepEd’s MATATAG Kindergarten Curriculum Guide and Mathematics Curriculum Guide, Grades 1–10 (2023).
