Bears in Chairs Grades 1 - 2

Adapted for use in this course by Elizabeth Martin from Park Your Car, Navigating through Number
and Operations, PreK- grade 2, Carole Greenes, et al, NCTM, 2003.

Summary
Students explore addition and subtraction by sitting bears in chairs at a table that will hold 10.
They then create and model stories about bears sitting down at or leaving their chairs. The
investigation allows them to explore different models of subtraction, including finding a
missing addend, taking away, and comparing.

Standards
 Standard - CC.2.2.1.A.1 Represent and solve problems involving addition and
subtraction within 20.
 Standard - CC.2.2.1.A.2 Understand and apply properties of operations and the
relationship between addition and subtraction.

Goals
The following objective will be presented to students:
I can use number models for addition and subtraction.

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

 Understand various meanings of the addition and subtraction of whole numbers
 Gain familiarity with the language of addition (in all, altogether, and total) and
subtraction (take away, what is left? how many more?)
 Write number sentences to solve problems

Prior Knowledge
 Counting sets of objects
 Basic knowledge of a 10-frame
 Basic addition and subtraction number sentences
 Sets of numbers that equal 10

Materials
 20-40 small toy bears for each pair of students
 A copy of the black line master "10 Bears in Chairs" for each student
 A copy of the black line master "20 Bears in Chairs" for each pair of students
 A number cube (numbered 1~6) for each pair of students – you can substitute a die.
 Post-It exit ticket

Mini-Lesson
Students will gather on the carpet. We will revisit how we have been working on using
number models to do addition and subtraction. We will visit the objective of the day:
I can use number models for addition and subtraction.

Students will mirror the objective of the day. The anchor chart showing Addition and
Subtraction language will be presented. Students will mirror the words with actions.

For warm-up, we will do some together:

 3 + _____ = 10
 10 – 4 = ________
 If Charlie has 2 bears and Bailey gives him 6 bears. How many bears does he have all
together?
 If Susan had 8 bears and gave 6 of them to Peter, how many does she have left?

Activity
Engage /Launch
Explain that we will be playing Bears in Chairs. Model playing the game under the ELMO.

1. Roll die and place bears in chairs.

2. Roll again and choose to add that number.
3. Roll again and choose to subtract that number.

Review the rules with the class and have them think, pair and share to make sure they
understand. Write the bullets on the board for the rules:
1. Roll a die.
2. Choose to add or subtract that many bears in chairs.
3. If you can’t +/-, skip a turn!
4. The winner fills all 10 chairs.
5. Play again or exchange boards.

Pair up your students, and give each pair one die, two copies of the black line master "10 Bears
in Chairs” and twenty small toy bears. They will have 8 minutes to play the game several
times. Students in math enrichment can be paired together and will be given the “20 Bears in
Chairs” blackline master and forty small bear toys. These partners are:
 Addison – Nolan
 Ashley – Jeremiah
 Mateo – Ben

Explore
Have the students return their supplies and get their white boards. They move to their learning
spots. Now we will use number sentences to tell stories about bears in chairs. Model for them.

There are 8 bears sitting in chairs. 2 more sit down. Now how many bears are in chairs?

We will do Write, Flip, Zip to practice these.

 There are 6 bears sitting in chairs. 3 bears leave. How many bears are left?
  There are 5 bears sitting in chairs. 4 more came and sat down. How many bears are
there in all?
 1.) 3 bears are in chairs. 2 more sat down. Now how many bears are in chairs? 2.) 4
bears leave. How many bears are left?
 BONUS: There are 4 bears in chairs. How many more bears have to sit down at the table
so that it is full?
 BONUS: There are 2 tables. There are 8 bears in one and 9 in another. How many bears
are there altogether?
 BONUS: There are 8 bears sitting at one table and 7 bears at a second table. 5 more bears
need to sit down. Are there enough seats?

Extend
Hand out one bag of bears to each partner group. Students will turn and talk to their math
partner. They will work together to write a number model using their bears. It can be addition,
subtraction or both. Teacher will pick sticks to call on several partner pairs to come to the
ELMO and demonstrate their number model they wrote. They will be asked to write the
corresponding number sentence for their model on their white board

Students will stay seated by their partner. After students are comfortable with bear-in-chair
stories that ask them to add and subtract numbers up to 10, distribute a copy of the black line
master “20 Bears in Chairs” to students who want to try this (and more bears). Have students
work together to write a number model using higher numbers. Others can write a second
number model using the 10 chairs master.

Closing
Still at the carpet, children will be posed the objective of the day again, I can use number
models to do addition and subtraction. We will discuss how we felt we met this objective
today by turning and talking to a neighbor. A whisper release will be done and volunteers
will be called on. The exit ticket self-evaluation will be explained and shown:

(1) There were 6 bears sitting in chairs. 2 more bears sat down in chairs. How many bears
are in chairs now?
(2) There were 9 bears in chairs. 4 got up and left. How many bears are left?

Directions will be reviewed:

1. Write your name
2. Answer the question on the board
3. Place it on the traffic light and get snack.

Children will be released to their seats with a Post-it.

Assessment
 Formative assessments will be used via checklist as students engage in group, individual
and partner activities as teacher circulates among groups.
 Assessment of understanding and self-evaluation will be performed via the Post-It exit
ticket routine. Students will each get a Post-It and will write their name on it. A single
 question will be written on the board and all students will write their answer down.
They will then place the Post-It on either the green, yellow or red lights on the
classroom traffic light as a self-evaluation.

Accommodations
 Children in math enrichment and those who feel confident with the skill can use the “20
Bears in Chairs” blackline master and work with teen numbers as they create their
number stories.
 The student with Down’s syndrome in the class will engage in the math lesson with his
classmates. He will partner with his paraprofessional for the Bears in Chairs game and
when writing number sentences. He will use the worksheet to circle how many bears in
chairs in his number model instead of having to write it out. He will be given the
option of orally showing his number model with the bears in chairs blackline master
instead of visualizing it mentally.

Discussion
Young students should develop an understanding of the various meanings of subtraction.
In the story problems about parking lots, students use subtraction to solve "take away"
problems ("I had 5 cars, and 3 drove away. How many are left?”); comparison problems (“I
have 7 cars and you have 3, How many more cars do I have than you?”); and missing addend
problems (“I have 8 cars. How many more cars must arrive before my lot is full?"). Stories like
these and the addition stories about bears getting up and sitting in chairs increase students’
understanding of the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction.