Addition

Materials
- 3 boxes with sets of small cards, including 9 units, 9 tens, 9 hundreds and 3 thousands.
- 1 box with a set of large cards from 1 to 9000.
- An ample quantity of loose unit beads, ten-bars, hundred squares and thousand cubes.
- 3 trays and 3 little bowls for the loose beads.
- 1 larger tray with one extra bowl.

Notes
When you give the cards or have the children read the numbers always start with the units.  


Static Addition

Presentation

1. Invite a minimum of three children to come and work with you. Have them unroll three large mats and have them bring the materials.
2. Have one child lay out the large cards as explained in Introduction to Symbols.
3. Have another child lay out the beads for the “supply mat”.
4. Have the children place three small mats between the two large mats.
5. Have the children set up their set of small cards as with the large cards but only having 1000-3000.
6. On the third large mat, have the children place three trays.
7. Ask the three children to take their trays to the small mats.
8. Tell the first child to get the cards for: 2 units, 3 tens, 2 hundreds, and 3 thousand. Have the children place each card at the bottom of their tray. See diagram:
   
   





9. Have the second child take the cards for: 2 units, 1 ten, 3 hundreds, and 2 thousands.
10. Have the third child take the cards for: 1 units, 2 tens, 5 hundreds, and 3 thousands.
11. Have the children bring their trays back to the large empty mat and have the children sit on the opposite side as the directress.
12. Review with each child how many units, tens, hundreds, and thousands are on his cards before sending them one by one to the Supply Mat to get the appropriate beads on their trays.
13. Once each child has returned, check what each child got by having him count his beads: units, tens, hundreds, thousands.
14. Once the first child has checked, have him supper-impose his cards (as shown in the Formation of Numbers).
15. Have the child read with you that this child has 2 units, 3 tens, 2, hundreds, and 3 thousand. Then say, “So he has 3232 beads.”
16. Repeat after each child has verified his beads.
17. Tell the children that you are going to get something very special. Bring back a large scarf and place it on the directress tray.
18. Tell the children that we are going to see how many beads we all have if we put them together.
19. Ask each child, one by one, to gently place their beads anywhere on the tray.
20. Say, “Wow, we have a lot of beads.” To reinforce this idea, lift the scarf by the four corners to show that it is heavy.
21. Tell the children that we are now going to count how many beads we have altogether.
22. Ask the first child to take out all of the units and to place it in the directress’ dish.
23. Have each child take out the tens, hundreds, and thousands and place them to the side of the directress tray.
24. Remove the cloth.
25. Have the first child count the units and then go to the large mat to get the appropriate number card. Have him place the card below the unit dish.
26. Have the second child count the tens. Have him get the appropriate number card from the large mat and place it below the ten-bar pile.
27. Repeat for the hundreds and thousands.
28. Have a child superimpose the cards together.




29. Tell the children that when we put all of the beads together we had (as you point have the children say with you): “7 units, 9 tens, 7 hundreds, 6 thousands.”
30. Then say, “So altogether we have: six thousand, seven hundred, and ninety-seven beads.”
31. As you tell the children, collect their small cards, keeping them superimposed and place them in the top right corner of the mat. “So we put 3232, and 2312, and 1253 all together and when we did this we got (move 6797 below the small cards) 6797.
32. “And you have just done addition!”
33. Do several examples of Static Addition before moving on to Dynamic Addition.
    
    

Dynamic Addition

Presentation

1. The presentation begins exactly as in Static Addition but have the children take cards for a problem where they will have to carry over. These numbers could be: 3323, 2456, 1345.
2. Repeat all the steps through 23 as above but there is no need for the scarf this time.
3. When the first child counts the units and reaches 10, point this out and have him exchange ten units for a ten-bar. Have him count the rest of the units and then go get the card for that amount. (4)
4. Repeat for the tens, hundreds, and thousands, changng when needed.
5. Finish the exercise as for Static Addition.

Purpose

Direct
To give the impression of the nature of addition, that is of two or more small numbers coming together to form one larger number. 

Control of Error
Initially the Directress, and later on, the child when he knows the process. 

Age
4 – 5 years

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