Make something smaller in size or quantity.

Understand subtraction as decreasing an amount

Maths

In this unit pupils will find missing addends in equations. They will partition a whole into 2 parts representing first, then, now stories with subtraction equations. They will learn + and - are inverse operations. In the future unit pupils will explain that addition is commutative. They will find pairs of numbers to 10 and add or subtract 1 from any number.

In prior learning, pupils will have learnt to count confidently and have developed a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers. In this unit pupils will find missing addends. They will partition a whole into two parts and represent it with subtraction equations learning that addition and subtraction are inverse operations.

Additive structures: addition and subtraction

The amount left at the end of the story. 

Alex writes an equation to match his story.  
7 - 2 = 5 
What does the 5 represent?

First, there were 5 pencils. Then, 2 were taken. Now, there are 3 pencils.

First, there were 3 pencils. Then, 2 were put in. Now, there are 5 pencils.

First, there were 5 pencils. Then, 3 were taken. Now, there are 2 pencils.

Which set of counters would represent this story? 
First, there were 10 pounds in my pocket. 
Then, I spent 4 pounds. 
Now, there are 6 pounds in my pocket. 

Write a subtraction equation that could represent the counters. 

What subtraction equation could represent this story?
There were 5 children altogether in the whole group. 
1 had brown hair. 
How many did not have brown hair? 

Alex writes this addition equation to represent the bar model.  
2 + 7 = 9  
Which subtraction equation could also be represented by the bar model? 

Which set of counters could represent this story? 
There were 6 teddies altogether in the whole group. 
4 were small teddies. 
How many were not small teddies? 

Tick the subtraction equations which could be represented by this bar model. 

There are 3 birds in the tree and 2 on the fence. How many birds are there?

There are 5 birds. 2 are on the fence. How many are not on the fence?

This lesson will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Understand subtraction as decreasing an amount

Lesson outcome

This lesson will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.