Math Practice: Finding Addends

Building number sense is a big part of first grade math. We want to give students multiple experiences and varying opportunities to build their sense of number.

Show Me and Blockout are two of the activities I use to build number sense.

I use Show Me at the beginning of the year.

Pre-School through Grade 1 Activity Cards

The Show Me cards were developed by Larry Ecklund. The students practice identifying sets of addends for specific sums. 

They cover the sets of addends with colored transparent markers. The colored markers are orange, green, yellow, blue, and red. All of the addends in a set are covered with the same color. The side of an element/number in a set must be touching the side of another element/number in the set. The object is to cover all the squares on the card.

I use Blockout, as the year progresses, when students who are able to progress from counting the number of pictures to adding numbers.

The set I own progresses from sums of 6 through sums of 12. The cards for each sum progress in difficulty {levels a through h}. 

I introduce the activity in small groups, and then it becomes an independent activity. It's a great activity for a math center or math activity when students complete assignments. 

I use them in different ways, depending on the needs of my students. Sometimes I have students work with a partner to complete the cards. Because of the different levels, students can work at varying independent levels.

I love the flexibility of them. They can be used for guided groups, individually, or even used for team games. 

I've had them for such a long time, that I wasn't sure they could still be found. I found a few resources for them. Click on the pictures to get more information.

I would love to hear about activities you use in this area to build number sense.