Counting to Add

Mr. Squeaks and Imani want to practice their addition skills. Mr. Squeaks insists they use playing cards, but Imani wants to use dice. Instead, they compromise and find a way to use both! Mr. Squeaks draws a card, Imani rolls the die, and then they use "Counting on to Add" to find the answer. One way to add numbers together is to count on. We use counting on by starting with one number in the addition problem and then counting on the amount of the second number. It's easier to start with the larger number and count on with the smaller one. The number we stop on is the answer! To help count, we can use our fingers or draw dots! Let's try it with six plus two. We'll start at six since it is the larger number. The plus means we're adding so we need to count forward. The second number is two so we count forward two numbers. Let's use the dots on the die to help! Count with me two times from six, seven, eight! Eight is the number we stopped on, so we write it here next to the equal sign. This means six plus two equals eight! Next, Mr. Squeaks draws a nine and Imani rolls a four. To find the answer to nine plus four, we can count on! First, start with the bigger number which is nine. Now, we count on the second number which is four. We count forward because we are adding. Let's use the dots on the die to help! Count with me four times from nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen! We stopped on thirteen so write thirteen here next to the equal sign. Nine plus four equals thirteen! Last, Mr. Squeaks draws a six and Imani rolls a six. To solve six plus six, where should we start our counting? Because both numbers are the same, it doesn't matter which six we start with. How many should we count on? We should count on six more! Let's use the dots on the die to help! Count with me six times from six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve! We stopped on twelve so write it here next to the equal sign. Before we see if Mr. Squeaks and Imani are still playing, let's remember! Today we learned about counting on to add. When adding two numbers, we can count on to solve. First, start at the larger number. Then, count on the second one. We can use our fingers or draw dots to help count it out. The number we stop on is the answer! Always write the answer next to the equal sign. "This has got to be the last round, Imani!" "Agreed, I'm pooped from all this heavy lifting!"