Writing Addition and Subtraction Problems

We have been busy working on computation in kindergarten math! Today we took the idea of the game "Growing and Disappearing Train" and added a step. We wrote number models, or number sentences to go along with the game. Writing on dry erase boards with dry erase markers made writing equations so much more fun!

We've been working on creating our own story problems with Dr. Seuss books, too!  If you have three yellow fish and two blue fish, how many fish do you have all together?  Five fish!

Every day we work on coming up with an equation to make ten.  Today's number is 3.  Each day I use the number of the day and ask:  I have three and I need to get to ten.  How many more do I need? The class calls out 7! Then we write 3 + 7 = 10. 

These are things that are quick and easy to do at home, too!  When driving in the car, encourage your kiddo to come up with story problems like:  Two ducks are in the pond.  One more duck flew to the pond. How many ducks are there now?  Also, practicing writing number models is fun to do, too. Maybe you don't have a dry erase board, but maybe you have paper and pencil, a chalk board, or other way of writing.  Maybe while cooking dinner your child can practice writing equations like:  I put in one cup of milk and one cup of water.  How many cups did I put in?  1 + 1 = 2.

Happy adding and subtracting!