Addition within 10: Concrete and Pictorial

Free sample questions, a clear explanation, and 5 practice skills with an AI tutor that guides without giving the answer away.

Let's Be Addition Superstars!

Have you ever built a tower with LEGO bricks? Imagine you have 3 red bricks. Your friend gives you 2 more blue bricks. How many bricks do you have to build with now? You just did addition! Adding is simply putting groups together to find out how many you have in total. It's like making your LEGO tower bigger and bigger!

Step 1: Add with Your Hands (Concrete)

The best way to start adding is by using real things you can touch! Let's call these our "counters." You can use blocks, crayons, or even yummy snacks. If you have 4 carrot sticks and you get 3 more, you can line them all up and count them one by one. One, two, three, four... five, six, seven! You have 7 carrot sticks. Easy peasy!

Step 2: Draw the Story (Pictorial)

What if you don't have your counters? No problem! You can draw a picture. Instead of real carrots, you can just draw circles. Let's draw 4 circles for your first carrots, and then draw 3 more circles. Now, count all the circles. You still get 7!

We can also show this with a Number Bond. Think of it like a number family! The two smaller numbers (the parts) join together to make the big total number (the whole). For our carrots, 4 and 3 are the parts, and 7 is the whole!

Key Takeaway!

Adding is as easy as 1-2-3!

Step 1: Use real objects to combine groups.
Step 2: Draw a picture or a number bond.
Step 3: Write the number sentence!

Step 3: Write the Secret Code (Abstract)

Now you're ready to be a math detective and write a number sentence, which is like a secret code! We use a plus sign (+) to mean "add" and an equals sign (=) to mean "is the same as."

4 + 3 = 7

Game Time: Roll and Add to 10!

Let's play a game to practice!

What You Need: One die and 10 small counters (like beans or buttons).
How to Play:
1. Start with zero counters.
2. Roll the die. Let's say you roll a 3. Place 3 counters in front of you.
3. Roll the die again. Maybe you get a 5! Add 5 more counters to your group.
4. Count your total! 3 counters plus 5 counters equals 8 counters!
5. Keep rolling and adding until you get a total of 10!

Awesome work, Math Explorer! You are getting so good at putting numbers together!

Sample questions

1. Mia has 3 red apples. Her friend gives her 2 green apples. How many apples does Mia have in all?

○ 3

✓ 5

○ 4

○ 6

Answer: 5 — Count all the apples together!

2. There are 4 blue cars and 3 red cars in the toy box. How many cars are there altogether?

○ 4

○ 3

✓ 7

○ 8

Answer: 7 — Put the blue cars and red cars together and count them.

3. Lily picked 5 yellow flowers. Then she picked 1 pink flower. How many flowers did Lily pick in total?

○ 5

○ 1

○ 4

✓ 6

Answer: 6 — Start with 5, then count one more.

Skills in this topic

Combine two groups of concrete objects to find the total sum within 10.
Represent addition situations within 10 using pictorial models.
Write addition equations (e.g., a + b = c) to match concrete and pictorial representations within 10.
Solve addition problems within 10 using number bonds.
Design a simple game where players add numbers within 10 using dice and counters, explaining the rules.

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