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Stage 1
Children are taught that addition is the combining
of two or more amounts. They begin by counting
all of the items in the groups, then move on to
counting on from the largest amount. Children
are encouraged to develop a mental image of the
size of numbers. They learn to think about
addition as combining amounts in practical, real
life situations.
They begin to record addition number sentences
such as
2 + 4 ! and " # + $ and # + 2 + 4 %
Stage 2
Children move on to using &ase '( e)uipment to
support their developing understanding of
addition.
'' + $ '!
'' cubes are lined up *' ten and ' unit+one,.
$ cubes are added to the line of '' giving a total
of '!.
-f possible, use two di.erent colours of base '(
e)uipment so that the initial amounts can still be
seen.
Stage 3
Children continue to use the &ase '( e)uipment
to support their calculations, including
e/changing '( units+ones for ' ten when the total
of the units+ones is '( or more. They will record
their own drawings of the &ase '( e)uipment,
using lines for '( rods and dots for the unit
blocks.
#4 + 2# 0
The units+ones are
added 1rst 4 + # 2
The tens are added
ne/t
#( + 2( $(
&oth answers are
put together $( + 2
$2
2" + #! 0
The units+ones are
added 1rst
" + ! '4 with ten
units+ones
e/changed for '
ten.
3 ring is put around the units+ones not e/changed
4 this is the units part of the answer. The tens are
then added, including the e/changed ten, to
complete the sum.
Stage 4
!$ + 22
Stage 5
This is the 1nal stage of the method, and should
be continued to be used for all written addition
calculations.
The e/ample top left would be 5said6 as follows7
$ + " '#, put # down and carry the '(
2( + 4( + '( that was carried over 2( (7
written in the tens column)
!(( + ( !(( (6 written in the hundreds
column)
Children should not be made to go onto
the next stage if:
1) they are not ready
2) they are not !on"dent
Children should be en!ouraged to
!onsider if a mental !al!ulation #ould
be a$$ro$riate before using #ritten
methods
Children will be e/pected to use this method for
adding numbers with more than # digits,
numbers involving decimals and adding any
number of amounts together.