year 1 - adding tens and units?

[familyfun]

dd is in year 1 and said they had to add 32 + 24 for example.
she said they used a number square?? but the "clever children" (her words) didnt need a square but she had to have a square.

how are they taught this please?

dd says she is no good at maths, i dont know how much she is struggling or worrying over nothing.
i asked her what 30+20 was and she said 50. i asked her to add the units then the tens but she didnt know. she was trying to count on 24.

[learnandsay]

An almost identical discussion started yesterday

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1652679-Adding-two-digit-numbers

And another one at about the same time
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1628578-yr1-struggling-with-maths

[familyfun]

ok thanks.
anyone help me on whats a number square?

[DeWe]

Number square has all the numbers written in a 10 by 10 square. So to count on units they move on left to right. To count on in 10s they move down. If you google number sqare you can find some to print out and your dd can use it at home.

In year 1, not using it would basically be doing this in their head. So if I asked ds (year1) your question he would say to himself "2+4 =6, 30+20 =50, so the answer is 56".

[familyfun]

dd couldnt do that in her head.
i wrote the sum down in a column so she could see the units and tens.
she did 2+4=6. 30+20=50 but wrote 506
she also thinks 100+1+1001, she says hundred and one but writes it wrong.
shes not finding it easy and it bothers her because she is good at reading and writing so wants to be good at maths

[learnandsay]

Well, you're doing the right thing then. Teach her carefully what people have said about understanding what units, tens, hundreds, thousands and so forth are, and why they are different from each other and how they are written. And then make a big cartoon with all of the easy mistakes on it and stick it on the wall so that your daughter remembers the easy mistakes and the two of you can very soon look back and say do you remember when 56 looked like 506? And do you remember when 100+1 looked like 1001?

And your daughter will be able to explain to you in perfect detail why 1001 is different from 101. It's a question of practice, understanding and enjoyment. My daughter is constantly explaining to me the difference between this thing and that thing.

[mumteacher]

Familyfun it seems like your DD needs to understand what tens is and what is meant by units.

If you have cubes that fix together or lego ask DD to fix ten together and call 1 ten - that's it's name. Keep going till you have 9 tens. Then give her ten single cubes/lego pieces and get her to name each one unit 1, unit 2 ....

Then share them out between you and telling each other what you have mum has 45 DD has 55.

Ask DD to give you 1 ten. Then count how many you have Then ask for 2 units. Again count how many you have, then 2 tens and 3 units. Next her turn to ask for some from you.

She mustn't say 21 she has to say 2 tens and 1 unit.

This will help her "see" how 21 is made up. So when she comes to adding 21+34 she will see it as 2tens and 1 unit not just 21.

'drawing a picture' in her mind in this way and she's be adding them in her head in no time.

[familyfun]

thanks.
we have counters, so i put lines of 10 counters and left a few as units. i put 2 tens 2 units one side and 3 tens 1 unit the other side and asked her to add them. she put the 2 units and 1 unit together into a line, then counted the tens in tens and said 53 so she can do it visually.
i also tried 18 + 23 using the lines of tens and units again. she put the 8 and 3 units in a line but said theres too many so moved 1 away as a separate unit and counted in tens 40 + 1 = 41 so she has an understanding.
i think its writtedn numbers she struggles with so i just need to write a few down with her and teac her not to include extra zeros.

[mumteacher]

Seems her struggle is when there are more then ten units hence carry over to the tens is required.

Remind her of what she did when she said there's too many and she removed 1 unit and counted the rest as a ten.

[PastSellByDate]

Hi familyfun:

having just skimmed this I wonder if the problem is you are using the same counter for both tens and units. This visually looks the same so the concept that 10s are different from units can be difficult to absorb.

Try using food. Maybe raisins for units and grapes for tens.

Then explain that when she has 10 raisins she can exchange them for 1 grape or when she needs more raisins she can cash in a grape for 10 raisins.

Then start doing additions with 2 digits (first not carrying - and see how that goes and then carrying).

Because it's visual and there are different items for tens from units - it reinforces that the digit in the tens column is worth something different from the digit in the units column.

HTH

[familyfun]

thanks, will be playing more adding games likes shops etc but she definitely needs to write numbers more.
she often asks is 17 seventeen or seventy one or asks how do you write 25 is it 2 5 or 5 2 so clearly its not sinking in.

written down, she cant do 9/3 but if i give her 9 sweets and ask her to share with me and dd2 she gives us 3 each.

written she cant do 10*5 but if i say 10 raisins each for 5 people she gets 50.

its like she needs a visual or a scenario to work it out.

would it be odd to ask teacxher for some maths homework? she only ever gets a reading book and a few literacy questions

[Tgger]

It sounds like your daughter is doing fine but as you say hasn't grasped the written aspect.

I would just practise this itself rather than the sums. So check she can write the numbers up to 20 first and stick with that until she is consistent, then show her the three figure ones, but maybe just show them rather than work with them to start with, so she can recognize them at least.

I think your first example is quite tricky for Year 1- yes they do teach them how to do those, but it's sort of like reading, first you need to be consistent on the basics, eg number bonds up to 10, counting in 10s, writing the numbers. DS, same age probably couldn't do that sum without me taking him through it step by step. I don't think it's any lack of ability rather than lack of practise for him which will be remedied with time.

DS has a homework sheet that they have to pick from each week and this term it includes some maths problems (quite basic) so no, I don't think it would be such an odd request. Practice makes perfect!