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Original poster

How do you teach number bonds?

35 replies

crazygracieuk · 16/12/2011 16:59

Today is the last day of school. When we got home I had a look in my y1 spn's bag and he has homework. It asks me to practice number bonds to 20 as he's being tested on them when he gets back. I have no idea how to teach them or how the teacher will ask the question.

I'm pretty sure that he doesn't know them and not sure how he's supposed to work them out.

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Original poster
crazygracieuk · 16/12/2011 17:04

He had homework a few weeks ago where he had to work out 10 ways to make 20. If I recall correctly he used a 100 square - was this not right? Should he be able to do it without? Unfortunately I don't know anyone in his group so can't ask.

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snowball3 · 16/12/2011 17:27

He should be beginning to recall number bonds to 20 automatically, ie from memory rather than by working them out. Does he know his number bonds to 10? ( ie if you say 8 and ? does he know the answer is 2) if so, you now need to extend these to 20 so if 8+2 is 10, then 18+2 and 8+12 are 20. Look at how you are adding one ten to either side of the addition sign, so you will need to add 10 to the answer ( ie 20 instead of 10)

Our year 1's play lots of "snap" type games, spread cards face down, pick up 2 and see if they make a number bond to 20, if so keep them, if not try again etc) but number bonds, like times tables, need to be memorised by rote as well as understood!

Groveregg · 16/12/2011 17:36

No if it's the same as at our school, they are just talking about 2 numbers that add together to make 20 eg. 17 and 3 are number bonds, as are 12 and 8. Not sure how you are meant to teach them yourself though. My ds did them at school recently and if he has say 12 sweets I ask him how many more he would need to get to 20 and he can do it if he has a think. Hope this helps

strictlovingmum · 16/12/2011 18:14

DD does it at school, not sure in which way, but at home we do it simply five minutes a day while cooking or doing something else.
I ask her;
10+10
18+2
17+3
15+5 and so on
to begin with she would count in her head and get to the answer, but now it comes automatic, she knows the answer by memory, same we do with taking away, hope this helps.
Above 20, e.g..
20+20 is the same as 2+2 adding 10 to it, or 30+20 same as 3+2 adding 10 on top of it.Smile

Joyn · 16/12/2011 21:39

Dcs school sends home minute maths, with number Bond sums on, within 20 or whatever. The idea is drill them until they can recognise things like 17+3 as quickly as we can. Get some raisins & get practising. Then write them out together. Then verbally throw them at him verbally. Good luck.

Fraidylady · 16/12/2011 21:43

Ping pong's a good game.
You say ping, he says pong; you say ping, he says pong; you say 19, he says 2; you say 16, he says 4; you say 2, he says 18; you say ping, he says pong; you say 12, he says 8; etc, etc!

Fraidylady · 16/12/2011 21:43

Hahahahah you say 19, he says 1 (of course!) Grin

exoticfruits · 16/12/2011 21:57

Try the number bond machine here

exoticfruits · 16/12/2011 21:59

Even better games here. They are fun-just do 5 mins a day.

exoticfruits · 16/12/2011 22:00

Save the whale is good out of the last one.

beautifulgirls · 16/12/2011 22:11

We allocated "ownership" of numbers in pairs between family members so DD had to must remember who owned which numbers. She found it very easy to make the change from number bonds to 10 to then put a one infront of one of the numbers and keep the pair otherwise the same to create the number bonds to 20. Turn it into a game somehow and it will seem much easier. Don't try and throw all the pairs in at the same time either, one or two a day and revise the ones you already did and it will seem easy.

putmeashape · 17/12/2011 05:44

Ping Pong is the best, especially if the child likes games or is competitve. I did it with ds where I would ask him one and he would ask me one. Got bonds to 10 done in about a week with him.

oddgirl · 17/12/2011 09:37

1+9 are number bonds
2+8 are friends
3+7 and 4+6
5+5 are twins

Sing to "Row, row row your boat"-works a treat...

PastSellByDate · 17/12/2011 11:36

Hi craziegracieuk

I'd suggest getting 20 similar lego pieces or checkers (or other unmarked game pieces - maybe connect four markers, that kind of thing).

Then visually review the different ways you can make 10 or 20.

The other fun game is to do it with playing cards. Ace = 1, then 2 - 10 as normal, Jack is 11, Queen is 12 and King is 13. Shuffle the cards and put them face down. Now pick a card. Say you pick 5 - then ask 5 + ? = 10 or 5 + ? = 20. (I find this game is easier if you have had some plays with the marker first).

If you have snakes and ladders - this is really useful for adding up to 100 (or playing backwards for subtractions from 100 down to 0). Try to get them to work out the answer - rather than just move the piece. So if he is on square 4 and he rolls a 4 - ask what the answer will be. Try adding four ones or two twos if he can't make the jump of four to square 8 right away. Then count the squares and see if you are right.

learnandsay · 17/12/2011 19:41

Woa!! Number bonds? Whtaaaat?

What's wrong with plain old addition and subtraction? 20 - 2 = 18

16 + 4 = 20

why do we have to give it some unnecessary jargon and go around memorising relatively simple sums?

Is 50 + 50 = 100 a number bond?!!! Good grief! What's the world coming to?

exoticfruits · 17/12/2011 19:46

It isn't addition and subtraction as a sum-it is a number bond, which combinations of numbers =20 etc and very useful. It needs to be instant recall. The ping pong game is very good and should be that quick-e.g. ping -pong 9-11 etc.

WowOoo · 17/12/2011 19:47

Learnandsay :because it's easier to say 'number bonds to 10' than 'all the different combinations of numbers that add up to 10'. Smile

mrz · 17/12/2011 19:48

A number bond is an addition fact It's about knowing pairs of numbers that added together make a given total rather than being able to complete a simple sum.

? + ? = 20 rather than 15 +5 = ?

mrz · 17/12/2011 19:50

I usually say know pairs of numbers that add to 20

learnandsay · 17/12/2011 20:18

Thanks, mrz. That was a helpful webpage. It just staved off my apoplectic fit. I suppose the idea isn't quite as subversive as I'd imagined it. But if teachers and educational theorists want children to play with numbers and see how many different ways you can parcel ten, twenty or even thirty up into two portions, why don't they just say so? Why give the practice some silly jargonny name?

Surely all additions are then "number bonds".

I hope there aren't too many unnecessary jargonny words in modern primary maths. I feel a wave of hostility brewing! I hate jargon with a passion. And unnecessary jargon more than just about anything else on earth!

learnandsay · 17/12/2011 20:25

Has anyone considered the fact that jargonising primary maths might alienate parents who then avoid helping their children because they feel as though they can't understand what on earth the teacher or homework book is talking about. Even though the task is likely to be simple enough. I'd better stop typing now. I can feel another wave coming on!

exoticfruits · 17/12/2011 22:36

All number bonds could be addition, but they could equally be subtraction. You are also not doing it in isolation-you have to say which number bonds you are looking for- as in number bonds for 20.
It doesn't really matter what you call it, the fact is the DC should know them instantly (like tables) so that if you say 55 they can instantly tell you 45 to make 100.
Can anyone think of a better term?

Joyn · 18/12/2011 00:12

Number bonds, chunking, blank number lines -were the terms just invented to confuse us parents? And don't even get me started on graphemes . None of these things are complicated, once you know what they are, but it does make you feel a bit incompetent when your dcs start school. It certainly gives you the impression that school is a very different from when we went.

Eyfs & NC levels are also pretty complicated to get your head around aren't they? And I don't think the transparency is there to help people get a handle on it all. You actually do need to put a bit of work in to understanding it all & am I right to imagine that can put some parents off helping their dcs as they feel they don't really know how to help? I know I was reluctant to teach my dcs too much phonics for fear of getting it wrong before I knew exactly what approach their school was using.

exoticfruits · 18/12/2011 08:30

It has always been the same. My father used to moan that it was all different when he was at school and he didn't understand the 'new methods' and I am over 50yrs. No doubt our DCs will be saying it has all changed. I don't see why people can't be a bit flexible and find out what they mean.
I can't think of a better term than 'number bonds'-and no one has given me one yet. It is a lot more concise than 'addition and subtraction facts for a given number'.