The Best Ideas For Teaching Addition In Kindergarten

So you’ve taught the number basics and it’s time to start introducing and strengthening your student’s skills in Addition. It may seem overwhelming and I understand. Some students are ready while some aren’t quite there yet, the planning and prepping, and the assessments. I’ve been there and I’m here to help! Teaching Addition in Kindergarten does not have to be overwhelming, let me help!

Addition In Kindergarten

I follow the same strategy when I introduce anything new to my students. There are five steps and they are as follows:

Introduce Addition or Subtraction with Picture Books – Using picture books is a great way to introduce a skill or concept. There are many great books to help teach addition/subtraction. You can check out some of my personal favorites HERE.
Create an Interactive Anchor Chart WITH Students – I teach 9 different addition and 8 different subtraction strategies. Each day we learn a new strategy, we add it to the anchor chart. The Addition Strategies and Subtraction Strategies from Kindergarten Chaos are a great resource that include anchor chart clip art images.
Little Learners will follow along with their own addition/subtraction activity book during whole group – They will practice the specific strategy in their book, with the teacher modeling and demonstrating it.
Independent practice is imperative. Students need to show what they have learned, and the teacher needs to be able to assess what each student knows and demonstrates.
Hands-On Authentic Practice: All learners need opportunities to practice the skills that they have learned. More practice and more exposure helps to ensure mastery of the skill.

Wait! I have more..

I’m not just going to share this tried and true strategy with you, then leave you to fend for yourself. I created a complete resource as an easy way to implement the above steps in teaching addition to little learners.

Do you see that list? This 100 page resource has almost everything you need. So your introduction to addition planning can be completed with this ONE resource!