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 Australian Curriculum
- FoundationModelling adding and taking away, and partitioning and combining collections up to 10 (AC9MFN04).
- Year 1Adding and subtracting within 20 with materials, part-part-whole knowledge to 10 and a range of strategies (AC9M1N04).
The Foundation standard talks about children modelling sharing, adding and taking away, so picture problems sit just after hands-on work with counters. Tell a short story to go with a problem before children count, so the number sentence has a meaning.
Within 20 matches the Year 1 range, which Version 9.0 strengthened. Year 1 classes can move to Numbers only once picture problems are easy, and then on to the addition and subtraction worksheets.
Summarised in our own words from the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics, Version 9.0 (ACARA).
