➕ Adding and Taking Away: Put Together, Take Away

Hello! Today we will learn about adding and taking away. Apples, birds and a little frog will help us.

There are 3 apples on one plate. There are 2 apples on the other plate. Let’s put them together. Now there are 5 apples. Putting together is called adding. 3 + 2 = 5.

4 fish are swimming in the tank. 3 more fish swim in. Now there are more fish! Adding on is adding too. 4 + 3 = 7.

There are 8 birds on the wire. 3 birds fly away. 5 birds are left on the wire. When there are fewer, we take away. 8 − 3 = 5.

Let’s hop forwards on the number line. The frog is on 6. It hops 3 steps forwards: 7, 8, 9. The frog lands on 9. Hopping forwards is adding. 6 + 3 = 9.

Now let’s hop backwards. The frog is on 9. It hops 4 steps backwards: 8, 7, 6, 5. The frog lands on 5. Hopping backwards is taking away. 9 − 4 = 5.

A seesaw! There are 5 balls on the left. There are 3 balls on the right. The left has more balls, so the left side goes down. Let’s add 2 balls to the right. Now both sides have 5 balls. The seesaw is balanced! The equals sign tells us both sides are the same: 5 = 3 + 2.

There are 3 red beads and 4 blue beads: 3 + 4 = 7. Let’s swap the beads round: 4 + 3 = 7. Even if we swap the numbers we add, the total stays the same.

Summary: When we put together or add on, we add. When there are fewer or some go away, we take away. Equals tells us both sides are the same. Now try it in Seesaw Market!