Parent guide · Kindergarten Math · Unit 5
Lesson 5.1 Taking Away
Written for the parent. Read the Say this lines aloud as they are, or in your own words. Answers for you are marked Listen for.
At a glance
- Time
- 5 sessions of 15–20 minutes
- Goal
- Take away from a group. Count what is left.
- You need
- Counters (dried beans, buttons or pebbles)
- A few cups
- Pencil and crayons
- A King James Bible
- Worksheet A · Worksheet B · the lesson page (it also has a short video (2:41))
Steps
Do this: Ask these out loud. Your child answers out loud; no paper needed.
- Ask: “1 − 0” Listen for: 1
- Ask: “3 − 0” Listen for: 3
- Ask: “2 − 0” Listen for: 2
- Ask: “1 − 1” Listen for: 0
- Ask: “6 − 3” Listen for: 3
Say this: “When some are taken away, we subtract. We count what is left.”
Say this: “Taking away makes the group smaller.”
Say this: “Take away: remove some from a group.”
Say this: “Left: what remains.”
Show: 8 − 1 = ___
Say this: “Start at 8 and count back 1: 7.”
Say this: “8 − 1 = 7”
Answer: 7
Show: 9 − 7 = ___
Say this: “9 − 7 = 2”
Say this: “Check: 2 + 7 = 9”
Answer: 2
Do this: Your child does these with you. Let them try first; help only after a real try.
Ask: 3 − 3 = ___
Listen for: 0
If stuck: Start at 3 and count back 3: 2, 1, 0.
Ask: 5 − 1 = ___
Listen for: 4
If stuck: Start at 5 and count back 1: 4.
Ask: 4 − 0 = ___
Listen for: 4
If stuck: 4 − 0 = 4
7 more practice items on the lesson page, and on Worksheet A and Worksheet B.
- Counting the ones taken away instead of the ones left.
Put up to 10 counters under a cup. Take some out and show them. Your child says how many are still hiding, then checks.
Say this: “Tell me what you learned today. Show me with your hands or the counters if you like.”
Listen for: Take away from a group.; Count what is left.
What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
The shepherd noticed when one sheep was missing. Taking away helps us see what is gone. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost.
Count back from 10 to 0 every day, then from 20 to 10.
Spread over the week
5 sessions of 15–20 minutes. Stop while it is still going well.
- Session 1. Warm-up, then teach the new idea (steps 1 and 2).
- Session 2. Warm-up again, then show how with the examples.
- Session 3. Practice together, then play the game.
- Session 4. More practice on the worksheet, and the daily habit.
- Session 5. Quick check: narration and a few practice items. Move on when it is mostly right.