Addition Concepts and Counting Strategy

The addition is one of the most important math concepts kids should learn. Around 6 years old, most kids are ready to learn facts about addition. Mastery of small number addition facts is the foundation for learning other elementary arithmetic. Instead of memorizing the facts, kids should learn effective strategies for addition.

This worksheet uses teddy bears as visual models for kids to explore and grasp addition strategies, including counting all, counting on, and aim for ten. Counting all is to count every number to find the sum. This is often used by beginning learners. Counting on is an introductory addition strategy that is usually used to add small numbers, such as 1, 2, 3, to another number. To count on, kids start with one addend and count up by ones until the second addend is reached. Kids can use the aim-for-ten strategy when one addend is close to ten. For example, when kids add 4 to 7, firstly they can take 3 from the 4, and give it to the 7 to make 10, and then they can add 1 (the rest of the 4) to the 10 to get the sum of 11. This worksheet is a great tool for kids to understand some basic addition strategies. Once they can use these strategies naturally, it will be easier for them to learn addition.