Ptasienski 1

Forming Addition Equations for Single-Digit Numbers

Grade-Level: First Grade

Prerequisite Knowledge: Students must previously understand how to count up to two-digit

numbers, identify numbers as greater than, less than, or equal to; and students must be able
define what it means to add.

Conceptual Goal: The mathematical goal for this lesson is for students to understand how to add
single-digit numbers; to establish how students are thinking about single-digit numbers; to
develop the connection between the operations for addition and subtraction.

Behavioral Objectives: Students will use a set of 8 counters to separate them into two parts and
write their own addition and subtraction equations that represent how they separated the
counters. Students will be asked to illustrate their equations. Their challenge is to see how many
different ways they can separate the eight counters, while writing the different number sentences
as they go.

Language Objectives: ( Important Vocabulary)

Separate: two divide or to make groups;
Groups: to make one big set different smaller sets;
Addition: to join together; Subtraction: to take away from

Common Core State Standards:

• Operations and Algebraic Thinking; Understand and Apply properties of
operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction; 1.0.A.3, 4
• Operations and Algebraic Thinking; Add and subtract within 20; 1.0.A.5, 6
• Operations and Algebraic Thinking; Work with addition and subtraction
equations; 1.0.A.7

Principles and Standards for School Mathematics:

• Problem Solving Standard: Build new mathematical knowledge through problem

solving; apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems.
• Representation Standard: Use representations to model and interpret physical,
social, and mathematical phenomena.

Materials: Equations worksheet

Pencil
Eight counters per student
Before:
The teacher will introduce the lesson here. She will get the kids motivated to work by telling
them that they will get to use M&Ms to learn to add today! She will introduce the topic by first
reviewing some addition and subtraction problems with the students on the board. She will ask
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what addition is, and wait for a student to define it. She will provide the definition on the board
with the symbol to go along with it.

She will then ask what “equals” means. She will then provide the definition and the symbol on
the board for the ELL students and the lower-performing students as well.

She will ask the students what 6+4= and what 3+4= and what 4+4=. As she writes the problems
on the board, she will remind the students what the + sign means and what the = sign means
pointing to the definitions on the board. She will wait for the students to raise their hands and
answers the questions.

-She will then place a number such as 4 on the board, and ask the students, “What numbers
added together make 4? Can you think of what numbers put together can make this many?” (as
she holds up four fingers).

-“How do we know that, Ms. Ptasienski?” a student asks.

-“It may be helpful to look at your fingers. Hold up four of your fingers. Try to split those four
fingers into two separate groups.
- How many fingers are on each side?”she will respond.
-“Well, there’s two on one side, and two on the other side,” the student discovers.
-“Very good! What would that look like if it fit in this equation?”
She would then write ___+___= 4 on the board so that the students could see what the equation
would look like.
-“Can anyone help me find which two numbers fit in these two blanks?” the teacher would ask.
-Another student will raise their hand to say, “two and two! Two plus two equals four.”
-“Excellent job", the teacher will encourage.
-The teacher will then go on to ask the students if they thought they could find another way to fill
those blanks, and they will then discover that 3+1=4 and 4+0=4 as well.

During:

After the students completed the large group review of their background knowledge, pass out the
classroom worksheet that they are to complete during class time. Review the directions by
explaining that they are to find as many ways they can to fill in

____+____= 8. Remind them of the way that you did it for the number 4 on the board so they
know how to begin attacking the problem. Before they begin, pass out 8 M&Ms to the students,
and tell them that they may not eat the candy until they have completed the activity and the
teacher has checked to see that their worksheet is complete. Ask the students to draw the way
that they split up their M&Ms below each equation that they write. You may provide the
students with the option to work in partners, and encourage the ELL students to work with one
another to complete the activity as well.
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After they have accomplished the task of the worksheet, tell them to flip over their worksheets to
finish the sentence, “I solved this problem by...” Tell the students that it is important for you to
understand their strategies.

In order to help my students to see how there are many different ways to write an addition
problem with the sum of eight, I would show them that the total number of M&Ms is always
staying the same, but they are just adjusting how many M&Ms are in each group of addends.

-“Ms. Ptasienski, I think that when the numbers you add are different, the answer should be
different too,” says one student.
-“Well, let’s take a look at your M&Ms here. How many do you have altogether? Can we count
them?” the teacher would respond.
-“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. There are eight M&Ms.”
-“Very good! Now, can you split these M&Ms up into two groups for me?” the teacher would
ask.
-The student then splits the M&Ms into two groups—one with three M&Ms and one with five.
-“How many M&Ms are there on this half?” the teacher prompts.
-“One, two, three. Three,” the student would answer.
-“And on the other side?”
-“One, two ,three, four, five. Five.”
-“Now tell me, did you ever change how many M&Ms there were altogether? That part stayed
the same, right?” The teacher would ask.
-“Right, I didn’t change that. So 3+5= 8. Can I just add one from this side to this side?” the
student asked shifting the M&M group sizes.”
-“You’ve got it! Now see how many different groups you can make that still add up to 8,” the
teacher would encourage.

During this portion of the lesson, the teacher would observe to be sure that the students were
using their manipulatives to help them in writing the problems, and that they were recording the
drawings in with their equations. She would be sure that the students were writing the numbers
in the correct places in the number sentence as well.

The teacher may ask some of the following questions to guide the students:
• What is the total number of M&Ms that you have?
• If you break those 8 M&Ms into two different groups on your desk, is there still a
total of eight, or did that change?
• When you divide up your M&Ms, are you writing the number of M&Ms that are
in each group in the blanks to finish your number sentence.
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After:

Before the period ends, and even if all of the students are not quite finished yet, bring the class
together to review some of the ways that they solved the problem. Have 8 large M&M paper cut
outs stuck to magnets on the board so that the kids could come up and show how they split up
their M&Ms to fill in the number sentence. As they come up to split up the M&Ms, have the
class say together for example, “two plus six equals eight.” Then have another student come up
to show how they would write that in the number sentence. Then the teacher could ask if the
students have that example on their worksheet. Students may ask if 2+6 is the same as 6+2, and
the teacher could take this opportunity to answer “yes,” and showing the example using the
M&M magnets on the board as to why it is the same.

“Boys and Girls, you did a wonderful job today creating all of these different number sentences
that all add up to 8! Very good! I was so impressed with how hard you worked! Please go
ahead and eat your M&Ms now! Thank you for a great class this morning!”

Assessment: The students will turn in the worksheet completed in class, and the teacher will
grade that sheet based on correctness of answers. The students who do poorly on the worksheet
will be followed up with by the teacher. (The assessment is the worksheet itself).

Homework: The students will be asked to form just two addition problems for the number ten
rather than for the number eight.

Backline Masters: The classroom worksheet is attached on the back of the lesson plan.

Alternate Approaches/Extensions: For the students that complete the activity with ease, ask
them to see if they can form subtraction problems using the different equations that they made
for the sum of 8. Tell them to begin with 8, and then see what happens when they subtract 2 and
get 6. Is that anything like 2+6=8? Encourage them to look at the relationship between addition
and subtraction.

How this lesson meets the needs of ELL students:

This lesson meets the needs of ELL students because it provides both visual and oral language
support. In the beginning of the lesson, the teacher reviews with the students to remind them of
their prior knowledge. This scaffolds the lesson, and builds background linking the tasks to prior
learning and to familiar contexts. When the definitions were introduced on the board, they were
accompanied with a symbol so that the students could establish a direct correlation between the
symbol and the vocabulary term. The students were encouraged to work in partners, so ELL
students could then pair with one another and use their L1 if necessary to figure out what they
needed to do. Not only that, but the teacher provides the students with manipulatives to work
with throughout the lesson, so that it is easier for the students to identify what each number is
representing in the number sentence. As the students filled out their worksheets, they were also
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instructed to draw out the equations that they were discovering with their M&Ms below the
number sentence to help aide in their understanding of what each number represents. On the
back of the worksheet, the students were also instructed to finish the sentence, “I solved this
problem by...” and describe how they were able to finish the equations. The teacher included a
summary or review at the end of class, where the students used large representations of M&Ms
on the board to show visually how they reached their conclusions. The class shared aloud how
they reached each of their answers, and ever question that the teacher posed was directed in a
basic, uncomplicated way.

Modifications that may promote learning for students with other needs:

Most of the modifications that were made for the ELL students in the class were not obvious
ELL modifications. They were strategies that will be helpful for the rest of the class as well. For
students who are slower learners, scaffolding and building background is huge in triggering their
memories, and ensuring that they are making the connection from one lesson to the next. It
would also be helpful for those students to have something concrete to learn with, like M&Ms,
so that they can form their thoughts visually rather than abstractly. Placing the definitions of the
important vocabulary terms would also be a great reminder for the students if they were to ask a
question about what something meant—they could simply refer to the board.