Learning Subtraction with Story Problems

After addition, students learn to subtract. So naturally in my class, we learn addition first, and then subtraction. With subtraction, I was taught there are 3 visualizations. Take-away, Comparison, and Missing Addend. In my post this evening, I am going to give you the 3 basic steps and then give you examples using story problems. I have also created videos for each example.




Take- away, is when one set is getting smaller or reducing. For example, Joseph has 8 pens. He gives 3 pens to Larry. How many pens does Joseph have now? 8 pens -3 pens = 5 pens

Missing addend, is when you visualize one set getting bigger. I would ask my students the question "How much more..". For example, Tiffany wants to purchase a bottle of nail polish. She has 3 dollars, but the nail polish costs 5 dollars. How much more money does Tiffany need?

3+?=5

Comparison, is when you compare 2 sets and see which is larger. For example, John has 4 CD's. Peter has 1 CD. How many more CD's does John have than Peter?

The cool thing is that I tried the Take-away method, with my boyfriend's son. He is 3 years old. Last night I put 3 dollars in front of him, and said "If you have 3 dollars, and I take away 2, how many dollars do you have left?" He looked at the money, count it and said "1". Then I asked, "If you have one dollars and I give you 2, how many dollars do you have now?" Again he would look at the money, count it and said "2". Pretty cool that with visual aids, I was able to teach a 3 year old to recognize that he was either gain or losing an object.