Adding by 5 is Week 6 for mastering basic math addition plan for Grade 1. By this time, the child has mastered about 85% of all the addition facts already. You may proceed with learning how to add with 5 or review the previous weeks. Adding by 5 introduces a new teaching strategy which is subitizing.
Adding by 5 Teaching Strategies
The strategies below are just suggestions. It may work or may not work with your child. I suggest using one strategy at a time. If the strategy already works, stick to it. Having too many strategies can be confusing also. If your child has developed their own strategy to consistently arrive to the correct answer, use it as well. In fact, that may be the best strategy!
- Memorize. If you check the addition facts learned so far, there will only be 3 addition facts left to learn for adding by 5. The other 7 addition facts has been mastered in the previous weeks already. Memorizing 3 more should be simple, right? The remaining 3 are 5+3, 5+7, 5+8. You may want to review the strategies for the other 7 that were previously mastered.
- Subitizing. TeachMath defines subitizing as “the ability to ‘see’ a small amount of objects and know how many there are without counting.” It’s like rolling a dice and knowing the number right away without even counting each dot. Subitizing is a great tool for adding by 5. You can use the hands, dots, frames, playing cards, dominoes and other visual aids. Subitizing will only work if the pattern can be easily recognized by the child.For example, holding up 8 fingers will show 5+3. If the child can easily recognize it as 8, they would be able to associate it as 5+3 with the fingers. This works well for adding 5 with 0 until 5.
For 5+7, the child should be able to recognize that two 5s is 10. Then they need to add 2 to come up with the final answer of 12. This is a bit difficult to show using the fingers since it is more than 10 already. You can use other visual aids other than your hands to practice subitizing.
Adding by 5 Worksheets
Use the worksheets below to practice adding by 5. I recommend having 2 worksheets per day only.
The first four worksheets below are good for 2 days of practice.
 |
 |
 |
 |
The next four worksheets has a line for TIME. You can use this to time how fast your child can answer the 20 items correctly. The goal is to be fast and accurate at the same time. Thus, if the child makes a mistake, 10 seconds is added to the total time.
No need to set a time limit. Just use the time as a comparison with previous worksheets.
These timed tests are optional. You may opt not to take note of the time. Some experts believe that timed tests have a negative impact on kids. Aim for accuracy over speed.
- Speed Test – Adding Near Doubles Worksheet #1
- Speed Test – Adding Near Doubles Worksheet #2
- Speed Test – Adding Near Doubles Worksheet #3
- Speed Test – Adding Near Doubles Worksheet #4
Read also our 8-week Basic Math Addition Mastery Plan.
