Year 1

We can take away one-digit numbers from each other and from simple two-digit numbers.
We can find the difference between two one-digit numbers.

Year 1 Unit 6a

What we are learning:

• We are learning to take away, or subtract.
• Start with practical objects
• Your child may count a set of objects, and then recount them from 1 when you take some away – this is fine if it is what they need to do at first
• Don’t be tempted to set these out as formally yet – you are still reinforcing the concept and understanding of subtraction
• Lots of children find the concept of ‘difference’ tricky because the everyday meaning of the word difference is not the same as the mathematical meaning of the word ‘difference’. Therefore, children need lots of practical, real life experiences to develop their mathematical concept of ‘difference’

ACTIVITY 1: TAKING AWAY USING OBJECTS

ACTIVITY 2: TAKING AWAY USING A NUMBER LINE

ACTIVITY 3: FINDING THE DIFFERENCE USING A NUMBER LINE

ACTIVITY 4: FINDING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 2 TWO-DIGIT NUMBERS USING A NUMBER LINE

ACTIVITY 5: COUNTING ON AND BACK USING A NUMBER LINE

Activities you can do at home:

Using food i.e. biscuits. We have 6 biscuits. Let’s eat one each – How many are left? Try this with lots of different foods. You can eat them, hide them, give them to a toy… Children do like hiding things and this is useful because if they forget how many have been hidden they can check.

Use larger numbers. Repeat the same subtraction calculations using different objects – this will help your child to remember that 6 take away 2 is 4 because they have seen it in a number of different ways.

Ask them to make up a ‘sum’. Can you show me and tell me a take away story where the answer is 5?
Can you show me another way?

Don’t forget to include the subtraction of 0, e.g. What is 5 take away 0?
The answer is still 5 as we did not take anything away so we still have the five we started with. The understanding of how zero works is an important stage for children’s maths development.
After doing lots of activities using practical objects you can identify the numbers on a number line – colour the space between the numbers on the number line and count up from the smaller number to the bigger number to find the ‘difference’ or count back to the smaller number from the bigger number to find the ‘difference’. Using a number line helps your child to see the size of the ‘difference’.

Good questions to ask:

What is the difference between 7 and 10?
Can you count on from 7 to 10?
Can you count back from 10 to 7?
What is 7 less than 10?

If your child:

Gets confused by the varied language of subtraction (e.g. subtract, take away, find the difference)
Use the language they are most confident with until they are secure, and then introduce other terms that mean the same Is confident with the different terms and methods for subtraction
Ask them to find the difference between numbers using a blank number line, (one with no numbers on it), so that they have to decide which numbers to write on to the line to help them