I wish I could take credit for creating this fun addition activity.
The truth is that this addition activity was created by my seven-year-old, and it is brilliant.
He took his love for numbers and twisted it right into alphabetical order.
Your big kids are going to get a kick out of this math game!
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How do you teach addition to Kindergarten?
The answer is you wait until it is time for the individual child.
We must wait to teach addition to Kindergarteners until they have a strong number sense. I have an entire roundup of ideas for Kindergarteners that will help get these conversations going!
Here are some things we are looking for before teaching addition:
- Understands five objects are five objects regardless of their arrangement.
- Practice placing a group of objects into a ten frame.
- Uses and understands a number line.
Once we can confidently say our Kindergartners have a strong number sense, we can introduce adding!
My seven-year-old created this creative addition activity and won’t stop playing.
This addition activity comes AFTER your child has been introduced to addition and has had a chance to explore what adding two numbers means.
Once your child has a strong sense of adding, you can add another layer with this math game!
It began with A+A = B.
This equation equals B because A is the first letter in the alphabet.
A1 + A1 = B2
The answer is B because B is the second letter in the alphabet.
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Next, the addition equations continue to build.
Here is why G + K = R:
- G is the 7th letter
- K is the 11th letter.
- R is equal to 7 + 11 since it is the 18th letter in the alphabet.
The decoding is what makes this addition game so much fun! My first grader will not stop adding different combinations.
Let’s get this fun addition activity set up for your big kid!
Materials
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Markers
Here is our entire supply list of items we use most often!
Setting up takes only a few minutes.
Tape the white paper on your table or a vertical surface.
Write the alphabet on the top of your paper to use as a reference.
Begin to create addition problems based on the alphabet sequence. You want to make sure the total amount does not exceed 26.
Invite your first grader to dive in after asking them to decode the amount for each letter.