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.CAPS links
- Grade 1Practises number bonds to 10 and recalls addition and subtraction facts to 10.
- Grade 2Practises bonds to 20 and uses the relationship between addition and subtraction.
- Grade 3Practises bonds to 30.
“Bonds” is the everyday word in South African classrooms, and CAPS lists the bonds each grade should know or recall fairly quickly as part of mental mathematics. The fact family triangle shows the link between adding and taking away that CAPS names as a calculation strategy from Grade 2.
This maker goes up to 20, which covers Grades 1 and 2. For the Grade 3 bonds to 30, pair it with mental maths where children find the missing part aloud.
Summarised in our own words from the DBE’s Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for Mathematics, Foundation Phase (2011).
