Addition Basics

Addition is really just adding something to what you already have, even if that something is nothing!

It’s really important to have your child understand what addition is, first, before you have him or her start to do addition problems.

Let’s say I have two balls, like above, if I get (or add) one more ball I will have 3 balls. You can show your child this, over-and-over again, with different items: shoes, toys, books, pencils, money, etc. You can do this until you see him or her start to get the hang of it—they should understand that adding means you bring on more to what you already have.

You can take 2 shoes, for instance, and tell your child to add 4 more shoes to the pile. Then ask, “How many shoes do you have now?” You can then demonstrate how 2 + 4 = 6.

This is all a part of the learning process and addition is one of the major skills your child will use in school and in life.

You can think of a very general, step-wise, process for your child a they learn addition:

Pre-school and Kindergarten

  • Recognition of numbers

  • Ability to write basic numbers (0 - 9)

  • Ability to count up to 10 or more in pre-school and up to 30 or more in kindergarten

  • Ability to add sums (do problems where the answer is no higher than 20—depending on teacher’s guidance could be less)

1st Grade

  • Ability to count up to 100

  • Ability to add sums (problems where the answers are at least 30-depending upon teacher’s guidance, could be higher)

  • Ability to write numbers up to 30 or higher (depending upon teacher’s guidance)

  • Children will begin subtraction here as well (if it hasn’t already been started in kindergarten)

2nd Grade

  • Ability to add sums (problems where the answer is at least 100)

  • Ability to solve double-digit addition problems (Ex: 28 + 10). Sometimes regrouping (or carrying over) may be introduced to children in 2nd or 3rd grade

  • Place values might also be introduced at this stage

  • Children will do even more with subtraction here and other areas of math (such as time, shapes, etc.)

3rd Grade

  • Ability to add three-digit numbers and to carryover when needed (Ex. 192 + 724)

  • Ability to solve four or five-digit addition problems (that require or don’t require carrying over)

  • Ability to understand that numbers have values assigned to them based on the place they are in the numbers (place value up to 100s or 1000s)

  • Ability to use and identify the expanded forms of numbers (329 has 3 hundreds, 2 tens and 9 ones)

  • Children will use these expanded forms to solve some addition (and multiplication or subtraction) problems.

There is more that will take place in 4th and 5th grades, but this can serve as a check for you, if you are helping your child learn addition through the first several years of elementary school.

Summary

  • Addition is simply bringing more on to what you already have.

  • Make sure your child understands addition (and that they can count and write their numbers), then take them through higher and higher math problems to solve as they learn to carryover with addition and more about place values.

Danita Smith