#1529. Teaching of addition

Mathematics, level: Elementary
Posted Tue Nov 7 07:26:23 PST 2000 by Edwin Sokalski (e_sokalski@hotmail.com).
IUP, Indiana Pennsylvania
Materials Required: colored blocks, paper with numbers on them
Activity Time: about 30 minutes
Concepts Taught: addition

Lesson on Addition for a first grade classroom

Objectives

2. At the end of this lesson the students should be able to add different objects
together to find out how many objects there are total
1. The students should be able to explain up to 3 different reasons that being able
to add is important

Materials
1. 5 colorful building blocks
2. 5 pieces of paper with the numbers 1 through 10 on them

Introduction
The teacher should start out by explaining that addition is simply the combination of 2 or more different groups of numbers. For example if you have a pile with 2 objects in it and another pile with one object in it you get three. The teacher should count the separate piles, then put the piles together and count them again. Next the teacher should get five students to come up to the front of the room. The students should be split up into 2 groups one with 3 individuals and the other with 2. The students in the first group should each get pieces of paper with the numbers 1, 2 and 3 written on them. The students in the second group should get the numbers 4 and 5. The class should then count the students in the first group. The teacher should then say that we are now going to add 2 and 3 together. As the group of two moves to the group of three the teacher should say that we have just added 2 to 3. The students should then count the this new group and come up with the number five. The teacher should not move on if the students do not readily recount the new group and do not seem to understand that the groups have now been combined.

Main lesson
The teacher should now talk to the students about the different ways we can use addition in our everyday lives. The teacher should give the example of figuring out how many fish are in the fish tank. The fish could be separated in several ways depending on what fish are in the tank. If there is 1 black fish and 2 gold fish this is an easy number for the children to add. The teacher should then have the students take turns going around the room and looking for things they could add together. The teacher should be accepting of most anything the students want to add. If one student want to add three block and one desk that is ok.
The teacher should then ask the students about things in their homes that they can add and ask everybody to think of something at home tonight that it could be beneficial to add.

Conclusion
As a conclusion to this lesson the teacher should have several different objects that she has gathered for the students to add. Each student should get a chance to do this. If any students make a mistake the teacher should correct them and help the students by having them count each pile and then count the piles together.

Evaluation
The students should be informally evaluated based on how the teacher has observed them answering questions. A short quiz could be used as well, but should not take more then five minutes to finish.