Skip to content
LessonPrint

Showing Addition and Subtraction

A 30-minute Kindergarten lesson that gives adding and taking away their first representations — fingers, counters, drawings and acting out — before any equation is written.

Showing Addition and Subtraction is a free 30-minute Kindergarten maths lesson plan for Common Core standard K.OA.A.1 — show adding and taking away using objects, fingers or drawings. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the mathematics, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.

Grade:
Kindergarten
Length:
30 minutes
Standard:
K.OA.A.1

Kindergarten · Operations & Algebraic Thinking

K.OA.A.1

Represent addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds, acting out situations, verbal explanations, expressions, or equations.

Objective

Students will be able to represent an adding or taking-away situation with objects, fingers or a drawing, and say which one is happening.

Students are successful when they can

  • Acts out a joining story with counters.
  • Draws a taking-away story with the removed objects crossed out.
  • Says whether a story is adding or taking away before working out any answer.

What you need

  • Counters, about 10 per child
  • Paper and pencils for drawing
  • A small box or bag for hiding counters
  • The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan

The lesson

Warm-up — show me on your fingers

4 min
  1. Show 3. Show 5. Show 3 and then 2 more without putting the 3 down.
  2. Ask how many now. The children who kept the first three up have already done the lesson's main move.

Teach — two things that can happen

9 min
  1. Tell a joining story: four birds on a wall, two more land. Act it out with children at the front.
  2. Then a taking-away story: six birds, two fly off. Act that out too, with the same children.
  3. Show both with counters: pushing together, and moving away.
  4. Draw both on the board: circles added, and circles crossed out. Crossing out, not rubbing out — the taken ones should still be visible.
  5. Ask what was the same about the two stories and what was different. Both had birds and a number; only one ended with more.
“Adding is when more come to join. Taking away is when some leave. Before you work out how many, decide which one happened.”

Guided practice — tell it, act it, draw it

8 min
  1. Give each pair a story card. They act it with counters, then draw it.
  2. Insist the drawing shows what happened, not just the answer — arrows in, or crossings out.
  3. Swap cards with another pair and see if they can tell which story the drawing came from.

Independent practice

6 min
  1. Children complete a page of adding and taking-away pictures.
  2. The diagnostic question is whether they chose the right operation, not whether they counted correctly.

Close

3 min
  1. Tell one more story and have the class show it with their fingers only.
  2. End on a taking-away story, which is the one they will fold their fingers down for.

What goes wrong, and why

Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.

Draws the answer instead of the story — five circles for 'three and two more'.

Why: The drawing is being treated as a place to record the result, which is what drawing has been for so far. The idea that a picture can show a process is new.

Fix: Ask them to point to the three and then the two in their own picture. When they cannot, the reason for drawing the parts becomes their problem rather than your instruction.

Rubs out the objects that were taken away.

Why: Taking away has been read as making them disappear, and rubbing out is the most faithful version of that available on paper.

Fix: Cross out rather than erase, and ask how many were taken. The crossed ones are the only record of that number, and it is needed for the equation later.

Puts all fingers down and restarts when adding two more to three.

Why: Each number is being built from scratch because counting has always begun at one. Holding a quantity while adding to it is a genuinely new demand.

Fix: Hold the child's three fingers gently in place while they raise two more. The physical constraint teaches counting on faster than the instruction to do it.

If they are not there yet

  • Work within 5, where the whole quantity can be seen at once and attention stays on the action rather than the count.
  • Act every story with real children before it is done with counters. The bodies make the joining and leaving unmistakable.

If they finish early

  • Give a drawing and ask for the story that made it, which is the harder direction.
  • Tell a story where nothing joins and nothing leaves, and ask which it is.
  • Introduce the + and − symbols as shorthand for the two actions they have now acted out.

Exit ticket

Draw this story: there were 5 apples and 2 were eaten. How many now?

What to look for: Five drawn, two crossed out, and 3 as the answer. Only three apples drawn means the story was skipped and the answer computed — ask them where the eaten ones went.

Printable practice for K.OA.A.1

Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.

Questions about Showing Addition and Subtraction

How long does the Showing Addition and Subtraction lesson take?

30 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 4 min, teach 9 min, guided practice 8 min, independent practice 6 min, close 3 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.

Which standard does Showing Addition and Subtraction teach?

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.OA.A.1 — K.OA.A.1, Operations & Algebraic Thinking for Kindergarten: “Represent addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds, acting out situations, verbal explanations, expressions, or equations.” In plain terms, show adding and taking away using objects, fingers or drawings.

What do I need to teach this lesson?

Counters, about 10 per child, paper and pencils for drawing, a small box or bag for hiding counters and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.

What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?

Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: draws the answer instead of the story — five circles for 'three and two more'; rubs out the objects that were taken away and puts all fingers down and restarts when adding two more to three. The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.

How do I know whether the lesson worked?

The exit ticket asks: “Draw this story: there were 5 apples and 2 were eaten. How many now?.” Five drawn, two crossed out, and 3 as the answer. Only three apples drawn means the story was skipped and the answer computed — ask them where the eaten ones went. That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.

Is there a worksheet to go with Showing Addition and Subtraction?

Yes — 2 printable K.OA.A.1 worksheets, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.

Is Showing Addition and Subtraction free to use?

Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on 5 September 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to K.OA.A.1 of the Common Core State Standards for mathematics.