KS1 Maths — Counting, Adding and Taking Away

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Taught through mealworms, spines and hoglets

Approx. 25 minutes · KS1

Before you start

We are going to count some things that Gary the hedgehog cares about.

There is no timer. If a question is tricky, look at the answer — that is allowed, and it is how everybody learns.

What you'll learn

Count and add up to 20.
Take away.
Find number bonds to 10.
Solve a word problem by working out whether to add or take away.

Part 1 — Counting on

Gary has 6 mealworms in his bowl. We give him 3 more.

Start at 6. Count on: 7, 8, 9.

6 + 3 = 9

A good trickStart with the bigger number and count on the smaller one. Counting on 3 from 6 is much easier than counting on 6 from 3, and you get the same answer.

Your turn

5 + 4 = ?
8 + 2 = ?
7 + 5 = ?

Answers

1. 9 · 2. 10 · 3. 12

Part 2 — Taking away

Gary has 10 mealworms. He eats 4.

Start at 10. Count back: 9, 8, 7, 6.

10 − 4 = 6

Your turn

9 − 3 = ?
12 − 5 = ?
15 − 6 = ?

Answers

1. 6 · 2. 7 · 3. 9

Part 3 — Number bonds to 10

Number bonds are the pairs that make 10. They are worth knowing by heart, because they make everything else quicker.

Gary's bowl holds 10 mealworms altogether.

Eaten	Left
0	10
1	9
2	8
3	7
4	6
5	5
6	4
7	3
8	2
9	1
10	0

Look at the pattern. As one side goes up by 1, the other goes down by 1.

Your turn

6 + ? = 10
3 + ? = 10
? + 8 = 10

Answers

1. 4 · 2. 7 · 3. 2

Part 4 — Word problems

The tricky bit is knowing whether to add or take away.

Add when things are joined together, or more arrive.
Words to look for: more, altogether, and, total.

Take away when things go, or you are finding a difference.
Words to look for: eats, left, gone, how many more than.

Worked example

Gary has 7 mealworms. We give him 5 more. How many now?

"More" and "gives" mean things are arriving. So we add.

7 + 5 = 12

Your turn

There are 8 hoglets. 3 go to sleep. How many are awake?
Rosie has 4 seeds. We give her 6 more. How many altogether?
There are 11 mealworms. Gary eats 5. How many are left?

Answers

1. Take away. 8 − 3 = 5
2. Add. 4 + 6 = 10
3. Take away. 11 − 5 = 6

Part 5 — Questions

1. 9 + 6 = ? (1 mark)

Answer

2. 14 − 7 = ? (1 mark)

Answer

3. 5 + ? = 10 (1 mark)

Answer

4. There are 6 hoglets in the nest. 4 more are born. How many hoglets now? (2 marks)

Answer

Add, because more arrive (1). 6 + 4 = 10 (1)

5. Marvin has 13 leaves. He eats 8. How many are left? (2 marks)

Answer

Take away, because "eats" and "left" (1). 13 − 8 = 5 (1)

Try this

Count something real. Socks, spoons, steps to the door. Then take some away and count again.
Make your own mealworm problem for a grown-up to solve.

Notes for the adult

Curriculum: KS1 Maths — addition and subtraction within 20; number bonds to 10; and solving one-step problems using concrete objects and pictorial representations.

The counting-on trick in Part 1 — start with the bigger number — is worth reinforcing every time. It is the first genuine strategy a child meets, as opposed to counting everything from one.

Part 4 is the real content. The arithmetic is easy by this point; deciding whether to add or subtract is not. The word lists are there to be pointed at repeatedly rather than memorised.

Use real objects if you can. Ten counters, buttons or pasta shapes will do more for number bonds than the table will. The table is a record of what the objects showed, not a replacement for them.

Access: read-aloud, dyslexia-friendly font, enlarged text, high contrast and calm mode. One question per line, answers immediately below each set rather than at the end, so a child does not have to hold a question in their head while they scroll.

No timing, no scoring. Looking at an answer is explicitly permitted in the lesson text.

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