Teaching Counting Skills (& Simple Addition!)

Designed by the creators of Activity School Bus, this worksheet is great for reviewing counting skills as well as introducing your preschoolers to addition! While it might seem daunting at first (any new and unfamiliar skill will!), your students will be delighted to note that they have already mastered half of the new skill. If they can count, they can figure out these simple addition problems.

Before beginning, make sure to...

• Introduce your students to each new math sign to be encountered - both "+" and "=".
• Help them understand the concepts of addition in terms they've already become familiar with. For example - addition is simply grouping - taking two sets of items, the one before the plus-sign and the one after the plus-sign, and putting them together.

Considerations

• Laminate the worksheet and use fun math counters (i.e. jelly beans, skittles, M&Ms, etc.) to construct the appropriate answer to the addition problem. Students can see visually how the first set of two apples combines with the second set of two apples to become a larger set of four. After completing each problem with counters, have students use dry erase crayons to practice scripting the numbers in each problem (i.e. 2 + 2 = 4) to strengthen number recognition and writing skills!
• Have students color each "set" a different color to help them differentiate the groupings. [NOTE: This could be a great review of primary and secondary colors! Students color the first group red and the second group blue, then draw out the problem answer, coloring the final group purple! Do the same with blue & yellow, red & yellow, etc.]

This is a great introductory addition exercise that can be used over and over! Be sure to visit Activity School Bus for the download and many other great worksheets!

Happy Adding!